JULES MASURÉ | Au Coucher du Soleil
Oil on Canvas
75 x 105 cms / 29½ x 41¼ inches
Signed and dated '95 masure' (lower left).
Jules Masuré’s Au Coucher de Soleil reflects the subtle beauty of the French coastline at dusk. Painted with delicate tones of mauve, silver, and blue, the seascape conveys the shifting light of evening with clarity and restraint. A student of the École des Beaux-Arts and a Salon exhibitor, Masuré is known for his refined coastal views that balance atmospheric detail with Impressionist influences.
Bathed in the glow of a fading sun, Au Coucher du Soleil is a masterful portrayal of atmosphere and light. Jules Masuré captures a moment of profound stillness as the last light slips across the surface of the sea, transforming water, sky and cloud into a symphony of lilac, rose and silver. A solitary sailboat appears just left of centre, its dark silhouette catching a whisper of the remaining daylight as it drifts slowly into the horizon.
Masuré belonged to a generation of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century French painters who sought to reconcile academic naturalism with the fleeting effects of Impressionism. Painting the northern coastlines of Normandy and Brittany, he was drawn to the elemental rhythms of sea and sky, portraying these subjects with a quiet sensitivity and technical assurance that speak to both observation and emotion.
A rare example of Masuré’s mature coastal work, this painting speaks to the timeless pull of the sea and the painter’s abiding fascination with the ephemeral.
