8 VECCHIO PORTO DI BASTIA - EN

8. Vecchio porto di Bastia, 1936 oil on panel, cm 44 x 38.5

This vertical painting from 1936 captures a view of the Old Port of Bastia, with its tall, narrow houses overlooking the central basin. A bell tower rises in the background to the right, breaking the horizon line and its top merging with the luminous density of the sky. The sky itself almost seems to weigh on the verticals of the houses, insinuating itself between the roofs. The choice of soft colors suggests a twilight moment, at dawn or dusk, giving the work an atmosphere of quiet harmony.

Insights

In March 1937, Catarsini exhibited 22 works at the “Hall du studio X” Gallery in Bastia, Corsica. He had already been there in the summer of 1936, when the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War forced him to extend his stay. During this period, he painted portraits and local landscapes, some of which he later exhibited at the Fourth Summer Exhibition of Viareggio at the Kursaal.

Among the Corsican works, we can see views similar to Rosai’s painting, where the solidity of the volumes and the color is softened by a chalky and glossy application that compacts or blurs the shapes in the search for an atmospheric effect, or denser paintings.

The painter’s Viareggio archive preserves drawings, works including the Old Port of Bastia and the Church of Vasina, and his manuscripts with travel notes and descriptions of the Corsican landscape, revealing his ability to combine narrative effectiveness and artistic sensitivity.