Figures on a Terrace

Adolphe Monticelli was a Marseille painter whose thick, encrusted paint surfaces and rich, jewel-like colors made him one of the most original French painters of the nineteenth century. His figures on a terrace typify his mature style of atmospheric, almost abstract compositions where form dissolves into shimmering color and light. Van Gogh greatly admired Monticelli and was directly influenced by his impasto technique.

The oil on wood panel demonstrates Monticelli's distinctive heavy impasto technique with paint built up in thick, encrusted layers creating a richly textured surface. The luminous colors embedded in the dense paint surface anticipate later developments in expressive paint handling.