Albert Marquet was a French painter closely associated with Fauvism in his early career and a contemporary of artists such as Henri Matisse and André Derain. Although he exhibited alongside the Fauves and shared their interest in bold colour early on, Marquet quickly developed a more restrained and personal style. He became known for his understated palettes, strong compositional structures, and a lifelong fascination with water—rivers, ports, coastlines, and city waterfronts.

Throughout his career, Marquet travelled extensively, painting ports and waterways across France, Europe and North Africa. His work is distinguished by its balance between realism and abstraction, combining careful observation with a simplified, almost architectural sense of space. Unlike more expressive modernists, Marquet sought calm, order and clarity, qualities that define his most admired works.

Sortie du Port de La Chaume, Les Sables d’Olonne is a quietly evocative work that captures the calm geometry and subdued atmosphere of a coastal harbour on France’s Atlantic coast. The scene depicts the exit of the port at La Chaume, where water, boats and the harbour wall meet in a balanced and understated composition. Rather than dramatizing the maritime setting, Marquet presents it with clarity and restraint, inviting the viewer to linger over the subtle relationships between space, light, and form.

Marquet’s palette is characteristically muted and harmonious. Soft blues, greys, sandy ochres and restrained greens predominate, creating a cool, atmospheric mood. The brushwork is controlled while light is diffused and even, with no sharp contrasts, lending the work a sense of calm permanence. This restraint enhances the meditative quality of the painting, emphasising observation over expression.

Painted in 1933, the work reflects Marquet’s mature period, when his style had become increasingly distilled and serene. While rooted in direct observation, the scene is subtly abstracted, focusing on essential forms and spatial relationships. There is little emphasis on human activity; instead, the port appears momentarily paused, reinforcing a sense of timelessness and quiet contemplation.