Le Pont de Labastide-du Vert

"Le Pont de Labastide-du Vert" (The Bridge at Labastide-du-Vert) depicts the bridge spanning the Lot river near the village of Labastide-du-Vert, where Henri Martin owned a house and worked extensively. The Lot river valley in the Quercy region of south-west France was central to his mature painting practice: the river's clear waters, chalk cliffs, and distinctive southern light provided the conditions for sustained divisionist investigation. Martin's house at Marquayrol near Labastide-du-Vert became his primary working base from the 1890s, and the local landscape — the Lot river, its bridges, its wooded banks, the village architecture — was repeatedly depicted over decades. The bridge as a subject combined architectural geometry with its watery setting, offering the contrast between the bridge's straight lines and the reflections and movement of the river beneath. The Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin, which preserves Martin's connection to the Quercy region, holds this canvas.

Oil on canvas with Martin's divisionist technique applied to the contrast between architectural stone and moving water. Bridge stonework is rendered through close-value colour touches that describe mass without losing the divisionist touch's vibrancy. Water beneath and around the bridge offers the mirror reflections and movement that divisionist technique could capture through directional colour strokes.