Kees van Dongen

Estate of the artist
Dolly Van Dongen, Paris (the artist's daughter)
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 18th November 1986, lot 36
Sale: Christie's, New York, 13th May 1999, lot 236
Private Collection (purchased at the above sale; sale: Christie's, London, 22nd June 2005, lot 198)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Van Dongen, Œuvres de 1890 à 1948, 1949, no. 128
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne & Rotterdam, Museum Boysman-van Beuningen, Van Dongen, 1967, no. 131 (as dating from 1927)
Geneva, Musée de l'Athénée, Van Dongen, 1976, no. 23
Saint Antoine, L'Abbaye Foundation Rey-Pieferd, Hommage à Jongkind, van Gogh et van Dongen, 1978


To be included in the forthcoming Van Dongen Catalogue raisonné being prepared by Jacques Chalom des Cordes under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Institute.

The canvas is lined. There are a few small retouchings, including a 2 by 1cm. sq. area in the decorative arch of the gate, a few small spots towards the upper right corner in the sky, two thin broken lines to the right of the lighthouse and two tiny lines above and within the sitter's lips. There is a speck of retouching to the left of the figure's hair and a few specks along the extreme edges, probably due to frame rubbing. These retouchings are visible under UV light. Apart from some light craquelure mainly towards the right edge, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall accurate in the printed catalogue.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."

Van Dongen came into prominence as a fauve portraitist and continued to paint colourful depictions of glamorous women for the rest of his career. His vibrant portraits have often been likened to those of Matisse, who had shown the way in his two celebrated paintings of his wife, Femme au chapeau and La raie verte of 1905, both striking manifestos of the Fauves' radical painting style which scandalised Parisian critics at the Salon d'Automne of 1905. Whilst the conflict in Matisse's work is achieved by the apparent contradiction between the wild, unrestrained handling of pigment and the apparently bourgeois subject, Van Dongen in the present work celebrates the concurrent sensual appeal of vibrant colour and femininity. The use of his favoured emerald green to achieve three-dimensional form in the sitter's torso demonstrates his rejection of the tradition of modelling through the use of chiaroscuro in favour of chromatic contrast and an expressive use of colour.

The principle that the contrast of colours produces light is seen to full effect in the luminous skin of the model, especially the smoky blue and purple shading above the eyes, along the nose and chin and the strong red and pink tones of the mouth. Marius-Ary Leblond analysed Van Dongen's use of colour in the preface to the catalogue of the 1906 exhibition at Bernheim-Jeune: 'he breaks down the harmonies of the rosy skin, in which he discovers acid greens, blood orange reds, phosphorous yellows, vinous lilac, electric blues: instead of juxtaposing these shades in narrow strokes, he spreads them out in isolation, each over large areas [...] The artist, also breaking down the contours of the bodies in the atmosphere, doubles each essential line of the members with a band of a complementary colour, a sort of schematic make-up which he extends to the features of the face [...] to all the others of the bust and legs' (quoted in Kees van Dongen (exhibition catalogue), Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1989, p. 153).