FRANTIŠEK KUPKA | LE HAUT DE LA PLACE RAVIGNAN

Sale: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 21st June 1990, lot 642

Collection Albin Schram, Switzerland (purchased at the above sale)

Thence by descent to the present owners

Synonymous with excellence, excess and artistic revolution, the Bateau-Lavoir (situated on rue Ravignan) was a crumbling squat house which at various stages housed Pablo Picasso, Guillaume Apollinaire, Georges Braque and Amadeo Modigliani, to name just a few. It was where Picasso painted both Les demoiselles d'Avignon, and Garcon à la pipe. The present work by František Kupka depicts the Bateau-Lavoir from La Place Ravignan with one of Montmartre's famous moulins beyond. Depicting the scene clouded in a rich Parisian haze, Kupka captures the dynamism and mystique of this iconic location. As the cobbled street winds its way down to Paris beyond, Kupka focuses his attention on the modest house, an accidental bystander to some of the most significant developments in the history of Modern art.