Théo van Rysselberghe

Galerie Druet, Paris
H. Kröller-Müller, Amsterdam
L. Scheibler-Müller
Sale: Koller Auktionen, Zurich, 15 March 1985, lot 901
Private Collection (sold: Sotheby's, London, 3rd December 1985, lot 19)
Charles Pankow, U.S.A. (acquired at the above sale; sale: Sotheby's, New York, 5th November 2004, lot 170)
Richard Green, London (purchased at the above sale)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Brussels, La libre esthétique, 1908, no. 204
Rotterdam, Rotterdamse Kunstkring, Théo Van Rysselberghe, 1909, no. 24
Laren, Netherlands, Larense Kunsthandel, Théo Van Rysselberghe, 1913
Dresden, Kunsthandel Emile Richter, Théo Van Rysselberghe, 1913, no. 26
Brussels, Palais des Beaux Arts & The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, Théo Van Rysselberghe, 2006, illustrated in the catalogue

(possibly) Letter from the artist to Octave Maus, circa March 1908, mentioned 
Henricus P. Bremmer, "Théo van Rysselberghe", in Moderne Kunstwerken, 1910, no. 7
M. J. Chartrain-Hebbelinck, "Le groupe des XX et La Libre Esthétique", in Revue Belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art, XXXIV, 1965, p. 131
Ronald Feltkamp, Théo van Rysselberghe, 1862-1926, Brussels, 2003, no. 1905-001, illustrated p. 349

The canvas is not lined. There are scattered specks of retouching in the sky, mainly to the upper right corner, a nailhead-sized area of retouching to the lower right edge and intermittent specks of retouching along the left edge with very few tiny specks in the sea. All retouching is visible under UV light. Otherwise, this work is in very good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Born in Ghent in 1862, van Rysselberghe became a founding member of Les XX in 1884. Les XX was a group of twenty of the artists who had been rejected by the Salon in Brussels. They united to establish a new exhibiting body, which quickly assumed a position at the forefront of the European avant-garde. Van Rysselberghe executed his earliest Neo-Impressionist paintings in 1888, two years after his first contact with Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, but it was not until 1889 that he fully embraced the new style.

Painted in 1905, La Pointe du Rossignol (Cap Layet) is an outstanding example of the artist's technical command and showcases his mature style. 'About 1900, Van Rysselberghe's art relaxed. The colourist had gradually left behind the orthodoxy of neo-impressionism. He was still 'separating', but in a less methodical manner. His brush-stroke was becoming larger. He was manipulating the brush and matching pure colour tones to each other with a new freedom. He was moving away from the technique of light-painting while preserving its spirit; he seemed no longer to consult anything but his instinct and his senses in the choice of tone and strength of colour, and in the disposition of strokes' (Paul Fierens, Théo Van Rysselberghe, Brussels, 1937, p. 27).

As in many of his best paintings, the present composition is brought together through a unity of precisely applied strokes and a carefully controlled palette and composition. The surface of the sea seems to recede infinitely as the dabs of colour lighten, and yet the waves simultaneously appear to surge towards the coast. The familiar pastel tones of sunset placed directly beside the trees of the foreground deliver special depth and an impressive sense of atmospheric light. All of the various movements and directions these elements describe are, in turn, unified by the regularity of the innumerable, perfect touches of colour. Following the lessons of Cézanne, the artist establishes a complex arrangement of spatial planes and illusion of depth while simultaneously asserting the two-dimensional surface qualities of the painting through the flat, constructive units of brushstrokes.