Seascape - Louis Cabié

Louis Cabié (1854–1939)
Seascape
Oil on panel
17 x 23 cm
Signed (lower right): “Louis Cabié”

Louis Cabié was born in Bergerac, in Dordogne, and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux before embracing the aesthetics of the Barbizon School. Inspired by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Théodore Rousseau, he devoted himself early on to painting nature in a sincere, intimate, and luminous style. From 1887, he exhibited regularly at the Salon, received several awards, and taught in Bordeaux, where he influenced young landscape painters in southwestern France. He dedicated his life to the landscapes of the Dordogne and Gironde regions, working directly from nature.

His favorite subjects were calm rivers, undergrowth, sunken lanes, and hillsides bathed in mist or diffused light. He also painted, though less frequently, seascapes and estuary landscapes, with the same attention to capturing quiet atmospheres.

The application of oil on a wooden panel allowed him a direct, rich, and spontaneous approach when painting his studies en plein air. In this intimate Seascape, the brushstrokes are thick and fragmented, following the sinuous movement of the waves. The palette of grayish greens, deep browns, and warm ochres evokes the gentle sound of the sea breaking against the rocks. Painted from life, this small panel reflects the intimate and sensitive spirit that characterises Cabié's art, whose works are exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Laval, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux.