Figures on the beach of Viareggio, Italy

Israels painted a series of beach scenes in Italy during the 1920's that primarily depict Venice and Viareggio, like in the present painting. The fluent Italian speaking Isaac visited the picturesque town of Viareggio in 1923 for the first time and would return a few times in the late 20s. Situated on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in the North of Tuscany, Viareggio became a popular destination in the first decades of the 19th Century with illustrious visitors such as the author Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) and the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924).

The present lot is a delightfully luminescent example of the Italian beach series that is executed in the 1920's. Using a colourful palette of pinks, blues, red and a striking turquoise in the sea, Israels has allowed form to dissolve in the Italian sun. The apparently spontaneous impression of Isaac's painting is a little deceptive. The artist would often make his models stand still in the hot sun for a long time in order to be able to study every aspect of their pose.