Room 8, Hotel Flora, Cannes

Robert Motherwell

1950

See More of the Collection

Geese Flying, Frank Weston Benson, etching
Light and Shade, Taxco, from Miniature Series, John Taylor Arms, etching
A painting of the Battle of Cherbourg, a naval engagement of the American Civil War that occurred off the coast of Cherbourg, France on June 19, 1864. In the foreground, at lower left, the CSS Alabama, a screw sloop-of-war, founders, listing to the starboard side, with its stern submerged. Confederate sailors clamor to abandon the sinking ship, which is enveloped by smoke, a reach the safety of the lifeboats. In the distance, to the right, the USS Kearsage, a Mohican-class sloop-of-war, floats parallel to the horizon line, with its starboard (proper right) side facing the viewer. White smoke issues forth from a smokestack at the center of the ship and trails left. In the foreground, blue-green water occupies the bottom quarter of the canvas, while in the background, the blue-grey sky—with black, white and grey smoke at right and scattered white clouds at left—covers the remaining three-quarters of the canvas.
This watercolor on paper represents a stylized view of the skyline of Birmingham. The viewer looks toward downtown through a residential neighborhood of blocky houses at odd angles (five total with red, green, and gray roofs).