Palace of the Popes Avignon
Framed (ref: 11015)
Oil on canvas
Provenance: Private Collection
Throughout his life Barry depicted the castles, fortresses and chateaux of countries he visited on the continent. The solidity of these massive constructions against the fluid background of trees, water and sky allowed him to experiment with colour, tone and perspective. While in later life he tended to flatten the pictorial surface, in his earlier works, particularly his etchings, Barry was preoccupied with the depiction of perspective, (and he wrote extensively on the subject).
The Palace of the Popes in Avignon was the subject of an extensive series of both etchings and paintings by Barry:
Barry's lifelong exploration of the French Pointillist technique - separating colours into dots which form vibrant tones across the picture surface - make him one of the key exponents of this style in 20th century British Art. In his paintings of the First and Second World Wars, with their trademark searchlights over London, he created a powerful cycle of works, whose poignancy was transformed into joy in his subsequent glorious firework paintings celebrating the end of hostilities.
We are grateful to David Capps and Katie Campbell for assistance.
