Houses by the Sea

Chaim Soutine likely painted this work during his time in southern France, where he produced numerous landscape paintings between 1919 and 1925. His houses tilt and sway, rendered in thick, swirling brushstrokes that give the scene a sense of turbulent energy. The coastal setting suggests this may be from his Cagnes-sur-Mer period, when he worked near the Mediterranean.

Soutine's landscapes divided into two distinct periods: the darker, claustrophobic Céret paintings and the brighter, airier Cagnes works. At Cagnes, he traded his browns and ochres for saturated blues, yellows, and reds to capture the sunny Mediterranean climate. His brushwork remained characteristically chaotic, creating surfaces that seem to vibrate with movement.

A key figure of the School of Paris, Soutine bridged European Expressionism and what would become Abstract Expressionism decades later. His Céret landscapes in particular are now celebrated as precursors to the American movement. This painting remains in a private collection, though major examples of his landscape work can be found at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.