Lydia, just to get this out of the way: a green decorative frame with a gold grain, 66 mm wide and 32 mm high - not an obvious choice for such a dark night-time scene, and considerably more prominent than the small motif itself. But the green base colour complements the sea and the night sky well, whilst the gold grain provides a warmer contrast to the cool moonlight. Framed is Paul Gauguin’s ‘Sailing Ship in Moonlight’: a tranquil night-time scene in which the sailing ship stands almost entirely as a silhouette against the bright trail of moonlight - little in the way of concrete action, but plenty of distance and stillness. Measuring 40 x 22 cm, the painting remains small and narrow, which makes the frame all the more striking in comparison.
It is precisely this difference in size that makes me linger over this piece: A quiet, understated motif suddenly takes on a presence through the wide Lydia frame that it would scarcely have had on its own. This is, in fact, very much in keeping with Gauguin himself, who was increasingly moving away from purely naturalistic representation and making greater use of colour and surface to convey mood and expression - here, it is not the ship that matters, but themood of the night. The print on the satin-finished Leonardo canvas carries the dark tones and the soft transitions between sky, water and light, without anything becoming muddled; stretched onto a stretcher frame, mirrored at the sides. And the longer you look, the further away the second boat recedes into the mist - vastness, night, distance; this picture needs nothing more.
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