Robert Cardinal

Highland Light

2023

Robert Cardinal, originally from Montreal, has been living on Cape Cod for most of the past fifty years. In the late 1950s, he left Canada and moved to Greenwich Village. From there, he followed fellow artists on their spring pilgrimage to Provincetown. He attended La Grande Chaumiere Art School in Paris. Cardinal has always been fascinated with art history and those who painted before him in the Realist and Impressionist schools. Some of his favorites being Goya, and the more contemporary, Maxfield Parrish and Edward Hopper, whose influence is predominantly evident in his paintings. Cardinal looks for harmony between nature and what is man-made. He searches for simple scenes: isolated beaches, lighthouses, lonely Cape homes. He stresses color, light and mood in an effort to achieve a moment in time. Usually he paints at sunrise or sunset- when the light offers him the drama and mood he is looking for. These times offer striking combinations of color- although closely related in value, they are bold and vibrant, and even somewhat shocking in hues. He often returns to the same subject over and over, as they never appear quite the same twice. Cardinal now resides in North Truro, in the midst of his beloved landscape. He spends a great deal of time, painting and teaching workshops, in his studio in the village of North Truro, where visitors are welcome to visit, watch him paint and talk about the vast world of art. Built in 1858, his studio was one of the original Truro elementary schools. Once known as the Schoolhouse Gallery, this charming, historic structure in now the Robert Cardinal Studio & Gallery. For over twenty years, Robert has owned and exhibited his work at the Kiley Court Gallery in Provincetown. He and his son, artist Julian Cardinal, also show their paintings in the gallery space at the studio in North Truro.