Maria Melania Mutermilch (Mela Muter)

Collection of the artist, Paris
Collection of the Raskin family, New York (acquired directly from the artist in the early 1940s)

Muter traveled extensively to Collioure; she visited nearly every year between 1921 and 1926, and she painted this port many times--Chateau Royale serves as a reference point in the background. Collioure and Chateau Royale were sources of inspiration for many early 20^th century artists, including Fauves Matisse and Derain, as well as Cubists Braque and Picasso. Muter sometimes invoked her own Fauvist tendencies by infusing her Collioure seascapes with a lively color scheme, and she illuminated her colors with a very specific sun, characteristic to that part of France. This painting, however, depicts the port at a time when there is no activity--most boats are docked, the waterfront is abandoned, and the colors are subdued; the days work has come to a close.