Etienne DINET (Paris 1861-1929) Lot n° 19

Smokers in the starry night in front of the marabout of Sidi Brahim Oil on canvas of origin 38,5 x 55,5 cm Signed, located and dated lower left E.Dinet Bou Saada 1894 In his night scenes, Etienne Dinet excels in the treatment of the mysterious lights of the night. Assembly around a fire, Storyteller's tale, Smokers under the stars, Nomads near a tent are subjects in which the artist represents the daily life and worship of the people around him. Later, we can see in his work, his attachment to the treatment of twilight by the number of religious scenes that he chose to realize under a starry sky. "There is in the Sahara an extraordinary moment: it is the fall of the day. Something strange happens then, like a transubstantiation. With the disappearance of the sun, the earth takes back its rights. It will give back all that it has accumulated during the day, and this until the arrival of complete darkness. The sky becomes a decor, in indirect lighting. The ground lights up strangely. The colours then find their pure tonality, without shadow or chiaroscuro. They spread out in remarkably homogeneous patches, separated by shades. They are then composed in a subtle chromatism. François Pouillon, Les deux vies d'Etienne Dinet, peintre de l'Islam, ed. Balland, 1997, p. 161.