Maurice de Vlaminck

Sale: Salon des Indépendants, Paris, 1905

Galerie de l'Art Moderne, Paris

Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner, circa 1950

Paris, Grand Serres de la Ville de Paris (Cours-la-Reine), Société des artistes indépendants, 1905, no. 4148 (titled Les Bords de la Seine à Bougival (le quai))

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, L'Oeuvre de Vlaminck: du fauvisme à nos jours, 1956, no. 7

Paris, Petit Palais, De Gericault à Matisse: Chefs-d'oeuvre français des collections suisses, 1959, no. 136, illustrated, pl. 55 (dated 1902)

Geneva, Musée d'Athénée, De l'impressionisme à l'Ecole de Paris, 1960, no. 101

Paris, Musée national d'art moderne, Les Sources du xxe siècle. Les Arts en Europe de 1884 à 1914, 1960-61, no. 729, illustrated in the catalogue

Bern, Kunstmuseum, Vlaminck, 1961, no. 130 (dated 1902)

Lausanne, Palais de Beaulieu, Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections suisse, de Manet à Picasso, 1964, no. 173, illustrated in the catalogue (dated 1902)

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne & Munich, Haus der Kunst, Le Fauvisme français et les débuts de l'expressionisme allemand, 1966, no. 125, illustrated in the catalogue (dated 1902)

Hamburg, Kunstverein, Matisse und seine Freunde-Les Fauves, 1966, no. 98, illustrated in the catalogue pl. 76 (dated 1902)

Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections suisses de Manet à Picasso, 1967, no. 156. illustrated in the catalogue (dated 1902)

Tokyo, Seibu Galleries & Kanazawa, Musée Départmental de Ishikawa, Exposition les fauves, 1974, no. 64, illustrated in the catalogue (dated 1902)

Yamaguchi, Musée Préfectural d'Art de Yamaguchi; Nagoya, Musée Préfectural d'Art d'Aichi; Kanazawa, Musée Préfectural d'Art d'Ishikawa & Tokyo, Nihonbashi Takashimaya Art Galleries, Exposition Maurice de Vlaminck, 1982, no. 1, illustrated in color the catalogue

Louveciennes, Musée-Promenade de Marly-le-Roi-Louviciennes, De Renoir à Vuillard, illustrated in the catalogue

Lausanne, Foundation de l'Hermitage, De Cézanne à Picasso dans les collections romandes, 1985, no. 66, illustrated in the catalogue in color

 

Florent Fels, Vlaminck, Paris, 1928, p. 30, illustrated (dated 1906)

Pierre MacOrlan, Vlaminck: Peintures 1900-1945, Paris, 1947, illustrated in color pl. II (dated 1900)

Florent Fels, L'Art vivante de 1900 à nos jours, Geneva, 1950, vol. I, illustrated p. 165 (titled and dated Bords de Seine à Nanterre, 1905)

Maurice Genevoix, I-L'Homme. II-L'oeuvre, Paris, 1954, illustrated p. 36 (dated 1902)

Michel Sauvage, Vlaminck: Sa vie et son message, Geneva, 1956, p. 109, no. 3, illustrated, pl. 3 (dated 1902)

Florent Fels, "Vlaminck le manifique," Arts, October 1958, p. 15

Bernard Dorival, "La vie des musées: Nouvelles acquisitions, Musée national d'art moderne," in Revue des arts, Paris, 1959, p. 223 (dated 1902)

Jean-Paul Crespelle, Les Fauves, Neuchâtel, 1962, no. 17, illustrated in color

Charles Chassé, "L'histoire du fauvisme revue et corrigée," Cahiers d'Art, Paris, October 1962, illustrated p. 58

J.-E. Muller, Le Fauvisme, Paris, 1967, no. 44, illustrated

"Antologica critica, Bibliografia e Indici del volume terzo," in Arte Moderna, 1967, no. 27, illustrated p. 386

Georges Boudaille, Vlaminck, Paris, 1968, illustrated p. 4

John Elderfield, The 'Wild Beasts': Fauvism and its Affinities (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1976, illustrated p. 36

E.C. Oppler, Fauvism Reexamined, New York and London, 1976, no. 2, illustrated

Marcel Giry, "Le Curieux achat fait à Derain et à Vlaminck au Salon des Indépendants de 1905, ou deux tableaux retrouvés," in L'Oeil, Paris, September 1976, illustrated p. 29 (dated 1902)

Marcel Giry, Le Fauvisme, ses origines, son évolution, Neuchâtel, 1981, pp. 83, 101 & 126, no. 4, illustrated in color

Jean Leymarie, Le Fauvisme, Geneva, 1987, illustrated in color p. 28 (titled Bords de Seine à Nanterre: Le Quai Sganzin; dated 1902)

Naimh O'Laoghaire, The Influence of Van Gogh on Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck 1898-1908, Toronto, 1992, illustrated pl. 144

Maïthé Valles-Bled, Vlaminck, Catalogue critique des peintures et céramiques de la période fauve, Paris, 2008,  no. 18, illustrated in color p. 85

 

Excellent condition. Original canvas. The paint layer is stable and the surface is well-preserved. Under UV light, there are two small retouches at lower left corner and lower center edge. Otherwise, the work is in beautiful condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Les Bords de Seine à Bougival is one of Vlaminck's pivotal landscapes, painted in 1904 in the months immediately preceding his Fauvist period. Although Vlaminck and his Fauve colleagues Matisse and Derain would officially debut their "wild" style at Paris' 1905 Autumn Salon, it was the compositions that they painted in the preceding months that lead to their revolutionary manner.  Indeed, this picture was featured in the Salon des Indépendants only a half-year before that groundbreaking exhibition in autumn, where Vlaminck and his colleagues were given the defining epithet fauves by the critic Louis de Vauxcelles. 

While Vlaminck's fascination with brilliant colors is evident in this picture, so too is his attention to the dynamic arrangement of form.   Similar to the way Cézanne constructed his depictions of the Provençal countryside, Vlaminck pieces together his composition through an interweaving of forms, altogether defying traditional spatial perspective.  An expression of his youthful instincts, Vlaminck's passion for color was, however, not unprecedented. In 1901 he saw the first retrospective exhibition of Van Gogh's work, held at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris, an experience that was to determine his artistic direction.

In the present work, the debt owed to Van Gogh is evident in the choice of palette as well as of subject matter. Writing about the influence of Van Gogh on Vlaminck's art of this period, John Rewald commented: "In spite of all his admiration for all of van Gogh's canvases, he immediately recognized in him a formidable adversary. Here was a man who had the same aspirations as himself, who had translated in his work the same torments and exaltations, the same visions and impressions with which he was struggling. And he had translated them with pure colors and brushstrokes, so expressive that all his emotions seemed to lay bare his canvases. Compared with the pursuit of delicate light effects characteristic of the Impressionists, whose pictures Vlaminck had seen occasionally in Paris, van Gogh suddenly burst forth with an unprecedented intensity of color and design. Back in Chatou, Vlaminck began to assimilate van Gogh's lesson" (J. Rewald, Modern Masters, Manet to Matisse, New York, 1975, p. 116).

According to the catalogue raisonné, Vlaminck sold this work immediately following its exhibition in the Salon in 1905, using the proceeds to pay the medical bills for the birth of his daughter Yolande.  Since then, it has come to be regarded as one of the most important paintings of the artist's early years.