Emile Claus Night Canal Bridge Postcard

Emile Claus almost never painted the night, which makes this small stone bridge over a Flemish canal one of his rarest subjects. A low arched bridge in warm terracotta stone spans the dark water, its curve doubled in reflection below; to the right, a pale-yellow house with a peaked gable and blue-green window frames holds a last trace of warmth against the coming dark. Behind it, a church steeple stands as a black silhouette, and the sky runs deep blue-teal and grey, streaked with dying red-tinged cloud.

Claus used the same fine divisionist dots here as in his daylight scenes — worth sending to someone who prefers dusk to noon.