The Bay of Arcachon

Born in the Gironde, Charles Lacoste studied in Bordeaux, where at the age of fourteen he befriended the poet Francis Jammes and the future collector Gabriel Frizeau. Jammes was to be a lifelong friend and champion of the artist, while Frizeau became Lacoste’s first significant supporter and patron, in the early years of his career. Lacoste, whose mother was of English descent, made three trips to London; in 1894, 1896 and 1897, and was inspired by the work of John Constable and J. M. W. Turner which he studied on repeated visits to the National Gallery, and which influenced his own particular interest in exploring atmospheric effects in his landscapes. From 1894 onwards Lacoste’s works were characterized by a certain stillness, and he often painted landscapes at sunrise or sunset, at night or by moonlight, with snow, mist or fog. This is particularly true of the landscapes he painted in London, which capture something of Whistler’s Thames nocturnes of twenty years earlier.

Dated September 1895, this atmospheric oil sketch is an early work by the artist, done several years before he settled in Paris. Lacoste and his family would often spend summers in Arcachon, a seaside town in the Gironde in southwestern France, and by 1891 he was painting views of the bay and its boats.