Notre dame de Paris

The silhouette of a Gothic cathedral, its spire and rose window still legible, is engulfed in orange, red and yellow flame filling the composition's center. Dark smoke and a deep blue night sky press in from both sides, while the fire's glow spills into a river below, breaking into streaked reflections and passing boats.

Thick impasto in blazing orange, yellow and crimson is dragged and scraped across the surface, built up against near-black passages of smoke and cobalt-blue sky. Paint is applied with a loaded brush or knife in violent, overlapping strokes, leaving the architecture only partially legible within the conflagration. The intense color and turbulent texture create a dramatic, urgent sense of catastrophe.