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Throughout his life, Cedric Morris travelled extensively across Europe documenting the places he visited in the medium of paint. In 1920, Morris and his partner Arthur Lett-Haines (1894-1978, with whom he would establish the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in 1937), left Cornwall for Paris. Specifically, it was to the artistic and intellectual hub of the city, Montparnasse, to which the two young artists fled, motivated by a desire to absorb all the artistic milieu of the area had to offer. For the next three years, Morris and Lett-Haines used Paris as their permanent home while they explored the rest of France. In 1923, they left Paris for the town of Céret in the South-West of France bordering the foothills of the Pyrénées mountain range. Céret was a town rich in its connections with European Modernism, having been visited by artists such as Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Georges Braque (1882-1963) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) a decade earlier.

While in Céret, Morris continued to paint prolifically most likely working en plein air directly in front of his subject. This had been one of the central contributing principles of Impressionist painting and Morris exploits this in this work to great effect, working quickly outdoors to provide a heightened sense of painterly texture. In contrast to Impressionism, however, Morris paints with a keen attention to detail observing his subject with specific attention being paid to the contrast between the manmade structures and natural, organic flora and fauna surrounding them. Morris’ early landscapes can be characterised by a unique and individualised style reminiscent of impressionism in painterly technique but expressive of a commitment to the observation of form as opposed to the effects of changing light. Here it is evident that Morris is fascinated by the juxtaposition between rigid geometric structures (as exemplified by the two bridges that dominate the painting) and naturally occurring forms. Plantlife formed an integral aspect of Morris’ life both as a painter and as a keen and successful plantsman. Throughout his oeuvre it is possible to see a consistent interest in localised plants and species or flower. This attachment to nature permeates through Morris’ painting and is reinforced by the trees, plants, rocks and river that are depicted in this work.

Morris painted three views of the twin bridges. One of which, Les Ponts de Ceret (1923) is in the Tate Collection (T07784). The ‘Pont du Diable’, or ‘Devil’s Bridge’ can be seen in the background of this work and dates from the early-fourteenth century. At the time of its construction in 1321, the Pont du Diable was the world’s largest arch. Morris emphasises the repeated motif of the two arches in this painting to form a dominating sense of rhythm and structured order. Through this he is able to reinforce the overall feeling of compositional harmony expressed by the scene, reinforced by Morris’ choice of a centralised vantage point.

Working with a liberal impasto Morris invigorates the scene through texture. This technique can be seen in many works and has come to be a dominant aspect of his approach to painting. In many respects it was Morris’ fascination with natural textures found in wild plants and flowers that informed his particular aesthetic approach. His love of plants and painting endured throughout his life and his early work formed the foundation upon which he established his individualised technique when depicting landscape.