By the early twentieth century, Collioure had become the chosen resort town of the Fauves and Neo-Impressionists. Artists such as Henri Martin, Henri Matisse, André Derain and Paul Signac were drawn to the quiet charm of the port town, with many of these painters gathering around the curved harbor to depict merchant life as it unfolded in front of them. By 1923, Martin had settled in the charming Collioure, building a house with a studio overlooking the port. Collioure gave Martin a renewed sense of creativity and passion, and it was here that he was able to create some of his most richly saturated paintings.

Cinq pécheurs et leur barque échouée sur la grève à Collioure is an excellent example of the artist’s oeuvre, demonstrating Martin’s quick application of vibrant paint with the small, distinct brushstrokes of his pointillist technique. Jacques Martin-Ferrières once said that his father was, “…a lover of reality, he does not want it to impose upon him its feelings but to help him to transfigure his dream of beauty with a more accurate, a more lively eloquence. He borrowed the Impressionists' technique to reveal a quiet subjective art. Impressionism gave Henri Martin his expression, but it does not impose upon him its inspiration” (Jacques Martin-Ferrières, Henri Martin, Paris, 1967, pp. 33-34).