Signed, this oil on panel by Charles-Henri Contencin (1898–1955) shows Tignes Les Boisses, France.

This view of Les Boisses, also known as Tignes 1800, was painted some thirty years before the construction of the hydroelectric Barrage du Chevril, and is as a result a rare and historic representation of a mountain community that has since disappeared. Originally, Tignes consisted of only two hamlets – Tignes and Tignes-les-Brévières – until the huge dam was completed in 1952, in the face of significant opposition from local families. The village was lost beneath the newly formed Lac du Chevril.

Collectors of Contencin's work and of Tarentaise Valley history – particularly the submerged village of Tignes – will find this a poignant and historically valuable record of a place that no longer exists above ground.