Evening, Tangier

'Throughout his long and sometimes tempestuous career, Lavery was most at peace on the beach at Tangier. Here he habitually studied the sea in all its moods. He was fascinated by the dramatic skies which occurred, even on calm days, at the point at which the Mediterranean and Atlantic climates collided. The sea could often change colour within seconds. Time of day was also important, and around 1910 the painter came to prefer those calm late afternoons when he could absorb the pinks and mauves of the sky. The mood was often enhanced by the noise of a distant steam turbine as a ship passed up or down the Straits. The present sketch well illustrates one of those moments of serenity. A number of small canvas-boards were painted from this vantage point'.
(Kenneth McConkey, private correspondence, March 2000).