Francis Picabia

Sale: Maître Rheims, Palais Galliera, Paris, 1st April 1968, lot 53
Jacques Plante, Paris (purchased at the above sale)
Christian Ogier, Paris (acquired from the above)
Acquired from the above by present owner in 1988

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Exposition de tableaux par F. Picabia, 1909, no. 4

The canvas is not lined. There are small intermittent spots of retouching along the upper edge, a 1 by 0.5cm. area of retouching towards the upper left edge of the tallest tree, a 0.5cm. sq. and a nailhead-sized spot of retouching in the trees towards the upper right corner. There are two nailhead-sized spots of retouching to the centre right within the trees and a further nailhead-sized spot towards the lower left edge above the boat. All retouching is visible under UV light. Apart from some light craquelure, mainly visible in the upper left quadrant, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate, although slightly deeper in the original.
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Les Pins, effet de soleil, St. Tropez is one of a number of canvases dating from 1909 to mark a turning point in Picabia's early career. It was featured in a landmark solo exhibition held at Galerie Georges Petit in March that year, which showcased the artist's new works - the first to explore the stylistic potential of Neo-Impressionism and Fauvism. The exhibition was immediately preceded by the auction of over one hundred of the artist's Impressionist canvases at Hôtel Drouot. His old style relinquished, Picabia's new works demonstrate a powerful expressivity, their intense palette and fervent, painterly manner testament to the agency of the artist's emotion.

Following their marriage in January 1909, Picabia and his new wife Gabrielle Buffet travelled to Saint Tropez in the South of France and it was here that many of the works in the 1909 exhibition were painted. Picabia was greatly impressed by the light of the South, that same light which had nurtured the Fauvism of Matisse. The rich texture and loose brushwork of the present painting has been mediated by a strong concern for form and composition. The blues, mauves and pinks of the sky and sea contrast against the deep ochre and green of the Provençal landscape to dramatic effect.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, Picabia's career was marked by constant experimentation. His works from this period are, by turns, boldly Fauvist and staunchly Neo-Impressionist (fig. 1). Along these lines, Picabia consistently defied categorisation throughout his career, which, according to William Camfield, 'became an erratic course of conflicts between 'significant form' and 'emotional truth', between spontaneous painterly instinct and deliberate craftsmanship, between sensuous indulgence with the visible world and private emotional-intellectual concerns ...' (William Camfield, Francis Picabia, his Art, Life and Times, Princeton, 1979, p. 16).

Fig. 1, Francis Picabia, Saint Tropez, Effet de soleil, 1909, oil on canvas. Sold for £612,800: Sotheby's, London, 8th February 2006