André Derain

Galerie Bourdon, Paris
Acquired from the above by the mother of the present owner

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Derain, 1954-55, no. 1
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, André Derain, 1995, no. 2, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Denys Sutton, André Derain, London, 1959, illustrated pl. 2
Georges Hilaire, Derain, Geneva, 1959, illustrated p. 180
Michel Kellermann, André Derain, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, 1895 - 1914, Paris, 1992, vol. I, no. 3, illustrated p. 6

While André Derain's central role in the development of Fauvism in the years 1905-06 is famous, his work prior to his release from National Service in 1904 has escaped the attention of historians of the period. Paysage aux environs de Chatou is Derain's earliest known dated painting, but it demonstrates his latent desire to break with artistic convention with its striking palette of blues and greens. Furthermore, as Denys Sutton has written, 'it suggests that Derain was already aware of Gauguin and Cézanne' (D. Sutton, op. cit., p. 145).