Sir Winston Churchill, K.G., O.M., F.R.S., HON. R.A.

The Artist and thence by descent to his daughter Mary

London, Sotheby's, Painting as a Pastime: Winston Churchill - His Life as a Painter, 5th - 17th January 1998, cat. no.27, illustrated p.98.

David Coombs, Churchill: His Paintings, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1967, cat. no.104, illustrated p.33;  
Mary Soames, Winston Churchill: His Life as a Painter, William Collins Sons & Co., London, 1990, cat. no.18, illustrated p.55;
David Coombs and Minnie Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill's Life through his Paintings, Chaucer Press, London, 2003, cat. no.C104, illustrated p.31;
David Coombs and Minnie Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill His Life and His Paintings, Ware House Publishing, Lyme Regis, 2011, cat. no.C104, illustrated p.31.

Condition report prepared by Hamish Dewar, December 2014. Structural condition The artist's board is providing a secure, stable and structural support. Paint surface The paint surface has a slightly uneven varnish layer and should respond well to surface cleaning and revarnishing. No retouchings are identifiable under ultra-violet light. There is one very small area of loss in the centre of the composition which would appear to have occurred while the paint surface was still wet and therefore during the painting process. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in excellent and stable condition and should respond very well to surface cleaning and revarnishing.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

We are grateful to David Coombs for his kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work.

'I must say I like bright colours ... I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns' (Churchill, 'Painting as a Pastime' quoted in David Coombs and Minnie S. Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill His Life and His Paintings, Warehouse Publishing, Lyme Regis, 2011, p.86)

The dazzling juxtapositions of colour in Sunset over the Sea: Orange and Purple present one of the most vividly daring palettes in all of Churchill's oeuvre. Boldly impastoed brushstrokes spring to life across the paint surface and demonstrate a confidence with both colour and paint that reveal the artist's raw talent as well as his ability to incorporate lessons and developments from art history.

The fluid brushwork and scintillating colour combinations undoubtedly draw inspiration from the work of the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists who Churchill first came across in Paris: 'Have not Monet and Manet, Cézanne and Matisse rendered to painting something of the same service which Keats and Shelley gave to poetry after the solemn and ceremonious literary perfections of the eighteenth century? They have brought back to the pictorial art a new draught of joie de vivre; and the beauty of their work is instinct with gaiety, and floats in sparkling air…' (Churchill, 'Painting as a Pastime', quoted in Coombs and Churchill,2011, p.71). 

According to Clementine, Winston had never really visited an art gallery before he took up painting but a new friend, Charles Montag, a Swiss artist and friend of Monet, Degas, Pissarro and Renoir who he had met in 1915, swept him around the Parisian galleries and later organised the first exhibition of Churchill's work in 1921 under the pseudonym Charles Morin at the Galerie Druet, a gallery specialising in Post-Impressionist paintings. Churchill was captivated by what he saw in Paris and the impact remained a consistent thread throughout his work. The present painting is particularly reminiscent of Monet and the title is redolent of paintings such as Rouen Cathedral, Symphony in Grey and Rose (1892, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff) and Rouen Cathedral in Full Sunlight, Harmony in Blue and Gold (1893, Musee d'Orsay, Paris).