The idea is to restore the history and full meaning of the notion of “local colour” – “couleur locale” – with as a point of departure Théophile Gautier’s Voyage en Espagne and his volume of poetry España. Gautier’s originality lies in his re-establishing of the meaning the notion had in painting during the Classical age: the idea is to compose directly through colour the descriptions which make of him a rival of the painter, in a replay of the victory of the rubenistes over the poussinistes in their controversy. This in order to give these descriptions authentic “picturesque”, according to a new paragon detached from the old idea of Ut pictura poesis: Gautier, in managing to link all colours – tonal, reflexive and local proper, and even the light which abolishes them all – can transform his page into the true space (or the here and now) of the Elsewhere that haunts him.