ROCHETTE - Lot 53

ROCHETTE JEAN-MARC ROCHETTE Le Sommet coiffé, original illustration in 2023. Signed. Watercolor on paper 61 × 47.3 cm (24.02 × 18.62 in.) My partner and I love to watch the clouds. She often calls me, so I go out and take a few photos, because in the mountains, shows are often fleeting. I like to show the power of clouds. Here, the mountain is completely crushed, diminished, shrunken, and the Dôme de Neige, at four thousand metres, is not exactly a block of sand! But the overhanging cloud mass is such that it upsets landmarks and scales. The image works above all thanks to the central, almost blue shadow - no doubt that of another cloud - which gives it its point of balance and depth. Without it, there would be no picture! J.-M.R.