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The location of this painting has been identified as La Grande Plage (the large beach) at St. Trojan, on the Ile d’Oloron, a large island in the Bay of Biscay. A popular tourist destination, it is now connected to the French mainland by a bridge nearly 3km long. When Delance visited in 1900, however, access was by boat. The town’s ‘small beach’ on the sheltered eastern side of the island appears to have been busier and more developed. Yet those, like Delance, who took a day trip to the exposed western side, would be rewarded with views across vast golden sands stretching out to the Atlantic Ocean.

The French title of this painting, La Côte déserte, translates as ‘The Deserted Coast’, suggesting the area still retained some of its remoteness. Although a cluster of figures is positioned near the foreground, their presence gives scale to the empty expanse of beach behind, emphasising the sense of isolation. The energetic brushwork evokes the experience of the artist working briskly in the windy conditions to capture the visual and atmospheric impression. This small sketch is quite distinct from the large formal works, for which he was better known. A private memento of a seaside excursion with friends, it reveals his own personal enjoyment of painting in the open air.

This work featured in an exhibition of paintings by Walter Sickert and Paul Delance in 1957 at the gallery of London dealers Roland, Browse & Delbanco . The catalogue tells us that most of Delance’s landscape studies belonged to the artist’s daughter Alice (1888-1973). It was one of two purchased by Daphne Llewellin of Usk, who later bequeathed them to the museum. The other was View from a Hill, Sannois, Seine-et-Oise .