Alfred Wallis as art critic

In March 1930, Alfred Wallis received a visit from Christopher Wood, who gave him a painting he had done of Quai Peneroff at Concarneau in Brittany.

Wallis later overpainted the lower section with his own distinctive vessels, harbour walls, lighthouse, and sea. On the quay he added two large seagulls.

Wallis’s use of limited palette is especially evident here, using white and grey paint over a layer of pale green. Recent technical analysis has shown that he also chose to paint over Wood’s more flamboyant pinks, oranges and reds in the buildings along the quay.

In altering Wood’s canvas, Wallis was making painterly decisions, and clearly had the self-confidence to do so even at this early stage of his artistic career. His primary concern was the use of a few colours that he felt were right, and the creation of a balanced composition.