The Port of Cannes

Bonnard was a talented artist with a gift for portraying color and light in his paintings. Floating, color-filled objects were a typical element in his paintings. In 1926, Bonnard moved to Le Cannet, off the coast of Côte d’Azur in Southern France, a few miles north of the resort destination of Cannes. He was entranced by the light in the South of France, and created over 300 paintings during his stay along the Mediterranean coast. The painting depicts an incoming storm, with gray billowing clouds quickly moving toward the boats along the shore, their wooden masts creating the bleak silhouette of a forest of mast poles.