Kees van Dongen

Private Collection (sale: Sotheby's, London, 1st July 1998, lot 129)
Private Collection, Europe
Sale: Christie's, New York, 10th May 2007, lot 306
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

The canvas is not lined and there do not appear to be any signs of retouching visible under UV light. Apart from a slightly raised horizontal line running through the centre of the composition, corresponding to a thicker thread inherent to the manufacturing of the canvas, this work is in overall very good original 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. 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."

'In van Dongen's work we find everything that lives, sparkles and is luxurious' remarked a journalist in 1928 (All Eyes on van Dongen (exhibition catalogue), Museum Boijmans Van Beiningen, Rotterdam, 2010-11, p. 155). In La plage à Deauville, we are shown a snapshot of the exciting and exceedingly fashionable summer social scene at Deauville. In the first half of the twentieth century, Deauville was full of the great and the good: it was a place to see and be seen, and van Dongen was at the heart of this lively world. The artist first visited the resort in the summer of 1913, when he stayed with his collector friends, the Desjardins (see lot 181, Portrait de Madame Desjardins). So taken was he by the buzz and glamour of the place that he returned almost every year of his life. He became one of the most recognisable regulars, his distinctive silhouette, white beard and pipe easily spotted and photographed at either the racecourse or at the centre of the action, Le Bar du Soleil.

The present work is the most alluring and aspirational of images, a veritable cocktail party of fizz, colour and fresh sea air. Though the Fauves are often credited with inventing colour, van Dongen also actively went in search of it. Deauville offered the artist unlimited luminous blue sky, jewel-coloured beach tents and a twinkling sea and, with the present work, the viewer is invited to sit alongside van Dongen's easel, joining the fabulous people-watching. For van Dongen is not merely a voyeur, he is the king of Deauville and the present work is testament to the artist's status as an insider.

Van Dongen was not the only Fauve artist to find inspiration in fashionable French seaside resorts, and though the present work certainly owes something to the dynamic atmosphere of Raoul Dufy's famous beach scenes of Trouville and Sainte-Adresse, the vibrancy of its palette in unrivalled. Van Dongen invites us into an effervescent world of fresh blue skies, bright yellow sand, and deep tanned skin. This is a world inhabited by those at the forefront of Parisian fashion, where women in swimming costumes and hats are framed by pastel beach tents and parasols. Anita Hopmans has rightly emphasised the artistic significance of van Dongen's fascination for, and enagagement with, this affluent milieu. She reminds us how his scenes of the Lido, Deauville and Cannes are examples of the way in which 'van Dongen created this luxury around him, his work sprung from it and was inextricably bound up with it' (ibid.).