Kees van Dongen

Victor Hélin, Châteauroux
Thence by descent to the present owner

The period when Van Dongen lived, worked, exhibited and received guests in the private mansion on the rue Juliette Lamber (1922- 1932) was one of the artist’s most auspicious periods. Interspersed with trips to Cannes and Deauville, before the trip to Egypt in 1928, the period witnessed the blossoming of the portraits of elegant woman who hurried to the parties on the rue Lamber, among the most popular in the capital. The white pearls, fabrics, furs and swan feathers sparkle. The silhouettes are slender. On the high walls, Van Dongen satisfied his passion for decorative compositions. A certain refinement, in contrast to the brash exoticism of this period, is at play in a painting of such grace and audacity as Prunus.