Kees van Dongen

Madame Dolly van Dongen

Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris (1960)

Private Collection, Switzerland

Galerie Cazeau-Béraudière, Paris

Acquired from the above

The canvas is lined. There are two small retouches under ultra-violet light in the black hat on the left side and a couple of other retouches in the background above the signature on the left side of the painting. Overall, this picture is in very good condition.
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Executed in the year following Van Dongen's first exhibition with the Fauves at the Salon d'Automne, Nu au chapeau noir is a fine example of the artist's striking and sensual female portraits from his early career.  This elegant, atmospheric depiction of a three-quarter-length nude dates from the most important period in Van Dongen's oeuvre, when he introduced some of his great models, such as 'Nini des Folies-Bergères,' 'Anita la Bohémienne,' 'Fernande' and 'La Belle Fatima.'  Unlike the other Fauve painters such as Matisse and Derain, who depicted the sunlit coast of southern France, Van Dongen found inspiration in city life.  It was Parisian night-life and the artificial lights of the circus and concert-halls, rather than nature and open spaces, that excited him.

Known as the principal portraitist among the Fauve artists, Van Dongen's portraits were often inspired by his visits to the cabarets and cafés, where dancers performed in exotic costumes, or semi-nude.  In the present work, the figure's long and lean proportions are typical of Van Dongen's portraits of the Fauve period, in which the sitters are often conveyed with vibrant modernity and intensity.  The artist was fascinated by costumes and ornaments, and often adorned his female figures, even those depicted in the nude, with embellishments such as hats and jewelry.  The beauty of this alluring nude is accentuated by the large hat coquettishly covering her face and the sapphire necklace adorning her bare chest.  These attributes at the same time hint that the sitter might be a member of high society, rather than a cabaret performer.  The figure's identity, however, remains obscure, as Van Dongen's primary interest lay in the feminine allure of her figure.  The subtlety of the woman's pale skin is accentuated by the painting's dark background rendered in wide brushstrokes of various shades of green.  This lack of specificity in the setting underlines the mysterious character of the composition.  The green highlights of the figure's skin demonstrate the artist's disregard for anatomy and naturalistic representation, in favor of depicting the physicality and sensual presence of his sitter.