“The oyster beds are not picturesque, but the random geometry of the slender uprights that mark them out, and the reflected sky, provide large foregrounds in which subtle experiments with colour can be made, while the overall picture is controlled by the actual placement of Marennes church tower, or the roofs of La Tremblade on the other side of the estuary. Skies, distant blue water, a white sail — the stock ingredients of many seaside paintings — are incidentals; it is the mysterious flats that arouse de Grey to extend his palette in passages that both portray the particular landscape and are a response to decades of discussions on the nature of painting.”
Paddy Kitchen
Country Life, May 29, 1986