Azo Yellow on Arcachon Bay, from Pereire Park

Diptych, acrylic on canvas
2 × 80 × 160 cm (overall dimensions: 160 × 160 cm)
Contemporary landscape painting

Conceived as a single artwork, this diptych is composed of two 80 × 160 cm canvases that can be displayed either together or separately. Together, they form a large panoramic composition inspired by a viewpoint overlooking Arcachon Bay from Pereire Park.

The horizon line is intentionally positioned high within the composition, enhancing the sensation of looking down toward the sea. From the shadowed foreground pines, painted in carmine, violet, and fluorescent red, the eye moves across the scene and pauses on a group of strawberry trees behind the dune fences, the final threshold between the park and the beach.

Beyond them, the beach unfolds in luminous pink tones before giving way to an intense azo-yellow sea punctuated by peach and pink sandbanks. A few sailboats at rest and a traditional pinasse boat introduce a subtle human presence within this vibrant landscape.

Working from photographs and memories reinterpreted in the studio, Hélène Vac transforms this familiar view of Arcachon Bay into a pictorial experience in which colour becomes the primary driving force of the composition. Azo yellow functions here as an autonomous source of light, altering the viewer’s perception of the landscape and creating a dialogue between observation and imagination.

Balancing between figuration and abstraction, the work explores the relationships between colour, space, and light. The contrast between the coloured shadows of the foreground and the almost unreal brilliance of the sea generates an ambiguous depth, where spatial planes appear to both recede and advance toward the viewer.