Artist’s Reverie, Dreams at Twilight

Tavernier, who had painted in the famed artist colonies near the French village of Barbizon, was drawn to the Monterey Peninsula on the Pacific coast—an area that came to be known as a "veritable Fontainebleau," after the forest near Barbizon. In this enigmatic self-portrait, he captured the eerie quality of the Monterey landscape. The sky streaked with orange and white recalls the US flag, perhaps in reference to the centennial year in which the work was painted. The artist appears turning from his plein-air oil study to contemplate a female muse who coalesces in the smoke from the campfire. A bottle of champagne stands at the ready. Anthropomorphic forms, including Native American figures, animate the surrounding landscape and sky and seem to represent people and events from the artist’s adventurous life. The skull serves as a reminder of his mortality.