Triumphal Arch View 

Edouard Cortes’s “Triumphal Arch View”, part of a private collection, uses oil paint to capture a Parisian cityscape. Oil paint has a fluid viscosity, which allows for layering and blending of color to give the depicted scene an atmospheric effect. The inherent qualities of oil paint allow the artist to create texture and depth, particularly visible in the wet street, which seems to reflect the city lights. Cortes employed impressionistic techniques of short brushstrokes, capturing a sense of fleeting time and movement, rather than precise details. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many artists, including Cortes, depicted scenes of everyday life in urban environments to meet consumer demand, which created a thriving art market. This involved applying technical proficiency to create appealing images of Paris for an audience eager to celebrate the glamour and modernity of city life, while also acknowledging the labor and the economic context in which they were made. Looking at the materials, making, and context encourages us to consider the broader social forces shaping artistic production.