Marthe Debes (1893-1967) The Salmon Gate In Rocamadour

Marthe DEBES
(Strasbourg 1893 – Paris 1967)
The Salmon Gate at Rocamadour
Oil on panel
H. 36 cm; W. 53 cm
Signed lower right. Located on the back.

An Alsatian painter trained at the Strasbourg School of Decorative Arts, Marthe Debes belongs to the Post-Impressionist movement of the early 20th century. Active from the 1920s, she exhibited regularly at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des Femmes Artistes Modernes, making her mark in an artistic milieu still largely dominated by men. Settling in Paris, Debes discovered the Lot region between the two World Wars. She stayed several times in this unspoiled area of southwestern France, particularly in the village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, then a favorite among artists and writers. This hilltop village became a central motif in her work, which she interpreted with great color sensitivity and a keen sense of composition. Through her landscapes of the Lot region, Marthe Debes captured the golden light of Quercy summers, the steeply pitched houses clustered around the fortified church, and the cool shadows of the narrow streets. Her painting combines rigorous drawing with a free brushstroke, in a range of warm, muted tones that convey the mineral and secretive character of the region.

The work presented here, typical of this style, delicately captures the charm of the houses at the foot of Rocamadour, whose medieval facades are nestled into the steep slope. The viewpoint, set back from the street, offers an unusual perspective on the Salmon Gate. Marthe Debes belongs to that generation of traveling artists who brought an original perspective to the French provinces. Through her canvases of the Lot, she contributed to the creation of a pictorial image of the region, outside the then-emerging tourist circuits. Her work, discreet but rigorous, deserves wider recognition today, reflecting the attentive gaze she cast upon the landscapes of France.