KEES VAN DONGEN | Vue de Cannes, Le Suquet

Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris
Sale: Ader-Picard-Tajan, Paris, 19th March 1983, lot 77
Alain Lesieutre, Paris (sale: Ader-Tajan, Paris, 2nd July 1991, lot 347)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Imbued with the vibrancy of Mediterranean sunshine, Vue de Cannes, Le Suquet depicts the picturesque old quarter of Cannes, celebrated for its winding cobbled streets and charming architecture. Van Dongen illustrates the scene from a particularly striking birds-eye perspective, allowing the sweeping expanse of the wider bay in the background to be glimpsed in the distance. A bustling array of boats and small pleasure craft fill the sea in the foreground, whilst the eye is drawn to the crowded promenade along the water’s edge. Van Dongen references his earlier Fauve works with his use of strong, bright colours which suggest a sensation of heat and shimmering light, conveying an overall effect of immense joie-di-vivre. 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.



This work is accompanied by an Attestation of Inclusion from the Wildenstein Institute, and it will be included in the forthcoming Van Dongen Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.