

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
By the early 1920s Van Dongen had achieved widespread critical acclaim, and was able to enjoy a correspondingly lavish way of life, travelling around France for race meets and visiting the south of the country for the climate and social opportunities. His newfound wealth enabled him to buy an elaborate villa in the city of Cannes, a location that afforded him greater accessibility to his clients and high society, and in the 1920s van Dongen rendered a series of highly accomplished scenes of the Cannes shoreline. William Steadman, Denys Sutton and Cornelius Theodorus Marie Van Dongen have noted that: ‘Throughout his life, Van Dongen maintained his youthful spontaneity that was to be a lifelong charm of his personality’ (William Steadman and Denys Sutton and Cornelius Theodorus Marie Van Dongen (exhibition catalogue), Tucson, University of Arizona Museum of Art, 1971, p. 10). The present work appears to express these characteristics within painterly form, capturing a glorious moment of carefree enjoyment within the glamorous surroundings of the French Riviera.