La Maison Bernot

In February 1924, when he signed and dated this canvas, Utrillo was nowhere near Montmartre. He was living in the Ain, in eastern France, and built this stretch of rue du Mont-Cenis from a postcard and his own memory. The Bernot house is the building with its name in big red letters, and the white bell tower of the Sacré-Cœur rises on the right. People walk away from us down the street. Among them is a lone painter, seen from behind with his palette, standing at an easel. The women around him have long skirts, heavy boots and swollen, exaggerated silhouettes. Thick black strokes hold the buildings in place against the brighter clothes, and the museum links these figures to the ones in his La Mairie au drapeau, painted in the same period and also at the Orangerie.