Kees van Dongen

D.D. Statathos, Cannes
Jean-Louis Charmoloue, Provence
Private Collection, France
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Panel is sound. There are three horizontal lines which appear to be inherent to the panel, slightly visible three inches below the top edge, eight inches below the top edge, and five inches above the bottom edge. Under UV light: there's a nail head dot of inpainting at the base of the red flower on the left, just above the wooden box. There are also two two-inch long hairline strokes of inpainting to address cracks at the extreme upper left corner. There is a small stroke of inpainting on the extreme left edge of the painted frame at the center. There's also a nail head spot of inpainting at the center of the right edge of the white vase. Few scattered pin dot retouches along the right edge. Several areas of pooling varnish also fluoresce, particularly above the lower right corner. Otherwise fine, the work is in good condition.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Van Dongen returned to the subject of still lifes throughout his oeuvre and approached them with the same vigor as his portraits of women and Fauvist works which garnered him widespread recognition. Van Dongen came to Paris in 1900 and shortly thereafter achieved much commercial success. His work by the 1920s was well received by upper class Parisians and his finances and social status quickly improved. Vase de chrysanthèmes devant une vue de Montmartre is a quintessential example of how Van Dongen evolved from his early works to develop a more commercially appealing palette, and contains playful elements which suggest the artist fondly reminiscing about his Fauvist years.

In the present work, he has transformed a rendering of flowers into a picture infused with iconography and personal history. The saturated hues Van Dongen employs are highly reminiscent of his affiliation with the Fauves (see fig. 1). According to Denys Sutton, "[Van Dongen] was a painter who found a natural means of expression in the use of thickly applied colour - bold stark reds, greens and blues, colours which, he once pointed out, held for him an almost symbolical meaning" (William E. Steadman & Denys Sutton, Cornelius Theodorus Marie Van Dongen (exhibition catalogue), Tucson, Arizona, 1971, pp. 20-28). The artist has also incorporated a painting within a painting, namely an iconic view of Sacré Coeur in Montmartre, clearly done in an early proto-Fauvist manner. Van Dongen famously lived in Montmartre during those early years, and in this case has signed his name within the cityscape, a clear nod to his artistic roots (see fig. 2).

Fig. 1: Kees van Dongen, Grand bouquet de fleurs, 1908-10, oil on canvas, sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 5, 2003, lot 32, for $1,128,000

Fig. 2: Kees van Dongen, Le Sacré-Coeur, Le matin, 1904, oil on canvas, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco