Félix Vallotton: Seine Landscape in the Footsteps of Poussin

There's a greenish quality to the evening. The sky has the hue of the Seine, and the last visible clouds reflect the movement of the water. The composition resembles a kind of chiasm, with alternating stripes. The shadows give an impression of tranquillity, a breath of air, and the tone is almost elegiac. The colors in this painting have long been a mystery. The hint of a sunset, an orange spot, a cloud within a cloud, was difficult to perceive in the black-and-white reproduction that accompanied the leaflet for La Seine aux Andelys, le soir ( The Seine at Les Andelys, Evening ) . The canvas, described in no. 1596 in Marina Ducrey's third volume of Vallotton's catalog raisonné, was not unknown: sold by the estate in 1932, it had remained in private hands ever since. Painted in 1924, shortly before the artist's death the…