The Late Landscapes

At the end of his life, Braque, who divided his time between Paris and Varengeville, began a series of landscapes, long panoramas showing nothing but the earth meeting the sky, or the sea and sky, as far as the eye can see, sometimes crisscrossed by black (birds) or white (clouds) signs. These are the last paintings ever produced by Braque, who in the end abandoned the studio and turned his attention to the great outdoors, as documented in photographs that show him strolling along the cliff tops at Varengeville. Here the construction of the pictorial reality, which Braque had made his credo, is laid bare, represented by two stripes of thick, crusty paint.