Pierre Bonnard

Marcel Kapferer, Paris

M. Knoedler & Co., New York (acquired by 1928)

Sam Salz, Inc., New York (acquired from the above in September 1940)

Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York

Greta Garbo, New York (acquired from the above on November 25, 1942)

Estate of Greta Garbo (sold Sotheby's, New York, November 13, 1990, lot 27)

Private Collection (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 11, 1994, lot 49)

Acquired at the above sale

Amsterdam, Cent ans de peinture française, 1928

New York, M. Knoedler & Co., A Century of French Painting, 1928, no. 35

Newport, Rhode Island, M. Knoedler & Co., Flowers, 1935, no. 18

Palm Beach, The Society of the Four Arts, Modern Art Loan Exhibition, 1938, no. 2

J.B. Manson, "A Century of French Painting," Apollo, vol. 8, November 1928, illustrated p. 278

Jean & Henry Dauberville, Bonnard: Catalogue raisonné de l'oevure peint, 1906-1919, vol. 2, Paris, 1968, no. 784, illustrated p. 325

Les Coquelicots belongs to a group of Bonnard’s still lifes featuring the white vase with a cherry motif, often filled with a bouquet of flowers. The vibrancy of his palette and the richness and spontaneous arrangement of the flowers in this work represent a lively and colorful celebration of nature. Discussing this subject matter, Bonnard revealed to a friend in 1943: "I often see interesting things to paint around me, but for me to have the desire to paint them, they must have a special seduction – beauty – what one could call beauty. I paint them trying to keep control of my original idea, but I am weak, and if I let myself go, like with the bouquet of roses, in a moment, I have lost my first impression, and I no longer know where I am going" (quoted in Sasha M. Newman (ed.), Bonnard, The Late Paintings (exhibition catalogue), Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1984, p. 138).

The central feature of this composition – the white vase or pitcher – stands in contrast with the two dark objects to either side of it, as well as with the monochromatic background. Set slightly off centre, the marvellously wild bouquet dominates the upper part of the composition, stretching towards the borders of the canvas. The treatment of perspective in Les Coquelicots presents a significant departure from most of the other related paintings in that the vase is set above eye level on top of a mantelpiece. In most works from this group, Bonnard depicted the surface upon which the vase rests, such as the table-top, thus lending depth to the space within the picture plane. In the present work, however, the artist has compressed the space into a series of horizontal lines and flat planes. This abandonment of the traditional approach to depth and perspective, coupled with the radical cropping of the vase to the far right, as well as with Bonnard’s fascination with patterns set against a flat background, makes this a truly modern composition.

The first owner of this picture was Marcel Kapferer, the head of Royal Dutch Shell in France, whose legendary modern art collection included works by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Vuillard and Bonnard.  Kapferer and his brother Henri, the founder of Air France, were two of the most established businessmen in France in the 1920s and 1930s.  Kapferer sold this work at least a decade prior to the Occupation, when his family was forced to flee the country.  In 1928 the picture was in the possession of the Knoedler Gallery in New York, who eventually sold it to Sam Salz in the fall of 1940.  Two years later, the dealer Paul Rosenberg, newly based in New York, sold this picture to the legendary film star Greta Garbo, who kept it in her private collection until her death in 1990.  In photographs of Garbo's colorfully-decorated apartment, this picture was featured among others by Jawlensky, Delaunay, Renoir and Soutine.