Upon returning to Canada in 1934 from a stay in Europe, Fortin moved to Sainte-Rose and began experimenting with the use of pure colors on a black surface, achieving a luminous and brilliant color.

“The black-field method is a technique that brings out the values ??one hundred percent. It is the relationship of shadow and light in a landscape. When you put your dark green on it, it gets darker, it's more beautiful. This technique is especially valid for cloudy weather more than for sunny days. Marc-Aurele Fortin

Anyone who observes the artist painting on a black background is dumbfounded by the speed with which he applies his touches. It's a veritable whirlwind of bright colors that falls on the canvas, initially communicating an impression of an abstract work so impossible to grasp the subject he wants to deliver.

Then, little by little, in these sessions carried out at high speed, we discern forms signaling the embryo of a landscape. Everything is done by instinct.

- extract from the Marc-AurèleFortin Foundation website: https://www.fondationmafortin.org/fr/huile.html