Francois Hugo often painted the dramatic views from his Hilton home.
Situated on the crest of the escarpment overlooking Pietermaritzburg and the hills beyond, he had panoramic views often with spectacular cloud effects.
On many mornings, he looked out onto a “sea” of clouds, sometimes even with clouds below and clouds above. He called these panoramas cloudscapes.
These photos give an impression of the views and cloud effects that many of his watercolour paintings depict. He used watercolours because the effects were transient and needed to be captured quickly.
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