Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe - Between Figuration and Abstraction

Set near Le Tréport on the Normandy coast, this is one of a number of rainbows - the most spectacular effect of light and water - in Cohen's marine pictures, which invite speculation. Rainbows have been referred to as 'God's artwork', the sign in Genesis of his covenant with mankind not to bring a second flood. Cohen was not religious; but recognised that rainbows, like sunsets, can arouse elation, especially in those with heightened aesthetic sensitivities. They can make us feel the world is favourable to us; a haven; somewhere gemütlich… They're also important to an artist as a demonstration of how colour works, as the water droplets refract white light into its constituent wavelengths. This is not just a painting of a rainbow, but a painting about light and colour; about the optics that makes vision - and painting - possible.