Original artwork

Although this work depicts a sunset, I see it as daybreak. It brings me back to those winter mornings when I arrived in Montreal before the city stirred. The silence was broken only by the sound of my footsteps on the sidewalk, while the first light of the sky reflected softly on the buildings. A moment of calm, solitude, and invigorating freshness that reveals a peaceful and intimate side of Montreal.

With calme matinée, Isabelle Langlais captures the city in a suspended moment, as the first glow of the sky bathes the buildings in a soft, almost unreal light. The vertical composition emphasizes the monumental presence of the towers, while pink, blue, and mauve tones transform the urban landscape into a vision that is both vibrant and serene.

The textures, relief, and layered surfaces characteristic of her practice enrich the painting and give the scene a sensitive depth. The work evokes an intimate Montreal, observed before the bustle begins, when the city still seems inhabited by silence. Through this perspective, Isabelle Langlais reveals the poetry of an ordinary moment turned into a precious memory.