Fishing vessels at Concarneau, Brittany

O'Kelly made numerous visits to Brittany throughout the 1870s, 1880s and the first two decades of the twentieth century, painting at Pont-Aven and Concarneau amongst other places. When Pont-Aven became overcrowded with artists from the 1800s onwards, the fishing village of Concarneau became a popular alternative painting colony. The present work is one of a number of O'Kelly's views of the harbour, from which over twelve hundred fishing boats operated.
(see N. O'Sullivan, Aloysius O'Kelly, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art exhibition catalogue, Dublin, 1999, pp. 59-62).