André Pettinerolli

Gondola in the lagoon of Venice

A bold and expressive harbor scene rendered in a vibrant Fauvist-inspired palette, featuring a gondola-like boat floating on luminous reflective waters beneath an explosive abstract sky. The composition merges figuration and abstraction through energetic brushwork, saturated color contrasts, and dynamic gestural forms. Intense blues, crimson reds, yellows, pinks, and deep blacks create a dramatic visual rhythm while emphasizing the emotional atmosphere over literal representation. Reflections across the water animate the lower half of the composition, balancing the powerful abstract forms above. Influenced by Fauvism, German Expressionism, and postwar gestural painting, the work recalls the expressive freedom of artists such as André Derain, Raoul Dufy, and early abstract expressionist colorists. The painting’s vivid chromatic intensity and strong decorative quality make it particularly striking in contemporary interiors. A compelling modernist harbor composition combining lyrical abstraction, expressionist color, and Mediterranean atmosphere. fauvist painting, expressionist harbor scene, gondola painting...

Dimensions with frame: 34,5 x 48 x 4,5 cm. Signed "E. Briante" in the lower left corner. This atmospheric harbor scene captures a quiet waterfront at dusk, where moored boats rest on softly rippling water beneath a dramatic sky. Warm bands of orange light along the distant shoreline contrast with cool gray clouds, suggesting the final glow of sunset fading across the horizon. Painted in oil with expressive, confident brushwork, the artist emphasizes the movement of water through broken reflections and layered impasto. The boats, rendered with bold dark forms and flashes of color, anchor the composition while guiding the eye into the distance toward the clustered buildings and masts beyond. The restrained palette of muted grays, ochres, and rust tones evokes the mood of a working harbor at day’s end, balancing industrial character with poetic tranquility. Subtle highlights on the water surface create a luminous effect, giving the scene depth and atmosphere. The painting reflects modern European coastal traditions, combining impressionistic spontaneity with strong compositional structure. Both decorative and evocative, it would suit collectors of marine painting as well as designers seeking sophisticated maritime artwork. harbor scene oil painting, marine painting boats, impressionist harbor artwork, coastal oil painting, moored boats painting, maritime landscape oil painting, seascape harbor painting, vintage marine artwork, European harbor painting...

I created this original oil painting inspired by the calm waters of Venice with a gondola gliding through shimmering waters and the architectural beauty of the city in the background...

Signed lower left 'Girard' (French, 20th Century) and painted, circa 1965, in the style of Bernard Buffet. (N.B. Additional signature detail photographed under 365nm ultraviolet lig...