Charles Rennie Mackintosh Path

Discover the watercolors of a pioneering and multidisciplinary artist along a route on the quays of Port-Vendres, passing through the forts and continuing to Collioure.

Originally from Glasgow, and after an international career as an architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh settled with his wife Margaret in Port-Vendres during the winter of 1925 at the former Hôtel de Commerce, where the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Dejean, treated them with care and kindness.The dining room overlooked the busy port, which must have reminded them of memories from Glasgow. It is here that they would spend the most beautiful years of their life together. Upon his death, his ashes were scattered in the port by Margaret.Inspired by the light of the place and away from the painters of Collioure and Céret, he created several watercolors depicting Port-Vendres.Having left his career as an architect and designer behind, he dedicated the rest of his life to painting landscapes: isolated buildings, small villages, street corners; coastal or mountain landscapes became his favorite subjects.At this time, Mackintosh had developed a confirmed realistic watercolor technique, which he had refined during a trip to Walberswick, England, where attention to detail and the rendering of light were already his priorities.Mackintosh’s watercolors were greatly influenced by his work as an architect, sensitive to the articulation of volumes. The graphic quality predominates. Straight lines are balanced with a clever mix of curves. The shadows are very pronounced, creating varied surfaces in different shapes and sizes. As a colorist, Mackintosh juxtaposes planes of color. He always worked from life, but sometimes took liberties with his subjects. Some of his watercolors appear as an "assemblage" of two different viewpoints.This walk invites you to discover 13 works by this pioneering artist of 20th-century Modern Art, while strolling around the port of Port-Vendres.

Port-Vendres
The Fort Mailly
The Rock
The Road Through The Rocks
The Fort
The Lighthouse
La Rue du Soleil – The Street of the Sun
A Southern Port
Port Vendres Quai des Douanes – Port Vendres Customs Quay
Steamer Moored at Quayside
La Ville – The Town
The Little Bay
The Fort Mauresque
Summer Palace of Queens of Aragon (Collioure)
Collioure 1924 (Collioure)
A Southern Town (Collioure)