Fabienne BlancAurouze at Sunset, Hautes-Alpes, 1999 · €750
(from the “Aquarelles” series)
Paper, watercolor · 39 × 48 cm · France

The Hautes-Alpes is my family’s ancestral department, specifically the hamlet of Les Paroirs, 2km from the small town of Veynes. My mother researched our genealogy and traced us back to 1610; the Blanc family was already in the hamlet, living in one of its two oldest houses.

I have spent every summer holiday there from early childhood to this day.

It is a region I have crisscrossed by car, bicycle, and on foot, hiking the many paths leading to magnificent mountain lakes.

That is how, in 1999, I created several watercolors of my beloved mountains and the small villages and houses nestled in the valleys. I painted them on the spot, with my outdoor easel attached to my bicycle rack.

I hope to share my enthusiasm for this magnificent region with you through my works.

Here is the Aurouze massif as seen from our hamlet; its summit rises to 2,700 meters. These mountains, made of grey limestone, turn a magnificent pink at sunset. I painted them from the other side of the Buëch river, which flows over pebbles and is almost dry in summer.