GEER VAN VELDE | Composition

Private Collection, Paris
Private Collection, Amsterdam (sale: Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 7th December 2005, lot 68)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

The Dutch painter Geer van Velde was part of the post-war Parisian art scene. Up until 1938, his canvases were primarily influenced by Fauvism, filled with bright, vivid colours but around 1946, the artist turned to Cubism veering towards abstraction. Van Velde, however, did not fully relinquish representation but seized those elements of abstraction that suited his art. By executing pure geometric shapes, juxtaposing colourful forms and abolishing perspective, he ultimately created free and spirited compositions, as illustrated by the present work. Composition reflects van Velde’s flair for depicting reality while simultaneously breaking it down, reminiscent of his elder compatriot, Piet Mondrian, who walked a similar tightrope between figuration and abstraction, before totally embracing the latter. In Composition, the colour palette of subtle and neutral tones imbues a sense of extraordinary calm and tenderness. Van Velde’s art of the 1950s was influenced by his many trips to the Netherlands where he drew inspiration from the rigorous structures and agricultural delineations carved in the fields of his homeland’s landscapes.

This work, which is recorded by Monsieur Pierre François Moget in the Archives Geer van Velde under number 118067, will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue raisonné prepared by himself.