Kees van Dongen

Dominion Gallery, Montreal (acquired directly from the artist)
Sale: Christie's, London, December 10, 1997, lot 200
Lara Wijsmuller Fine Art, Amsterdam (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 4, 2006, lot 457)
Private Collection, Europe (acquired at the above sale)
Thence by descent

Edmonton, Canada, Edmonton Art Gallery, 1969-71 (on loan)
Tucson, University of Arizona Museum of Art & Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Cornelis Theodorus Marie van Dongen, 1877-1968, 1971, no. 18, illustrated in the catalogue

The work is in excellent condition. The canvas has not been lined. The surface is nicely textured and the impasto has been well preserved. There is a very small loss to the extreme bottom edge left of center. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent.
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.

Even late in his career, van Dongen was among the best-known social figures in the French art world. He was a frequent visitor to Deauville, where the fashionable and sophisticated gathered, and he developed a reputation for enjoying night life, cabarets and the leisure activities of the wealthy; he visited Italy, Spain, Morocco and the South of France, where he fully immersed himself in the favorite pastimes of the upper class, finding particular appeal in the movement and gaiety of these events. He once said, “I passionately love the life of my time, so animated, so feverish. Ah! Life is even more beautiful than painting” (Denys Sutton, Cornelis Theodorus Maris van Dongen 1877-1968 (exhibition catalogue), University of Arizona Art Museum, Tucson, 1971, p. 46).

Van Dongen's affinity for brilliant color and flair for rendering swift movement were ideally suited for depicting the vivacity of Deauville's aristocratic vacationers, as they congregated on the beach by bathing tents or at the nearby racetrack of Les Courses. Painted in the last year of his life, Les Courses gives rare insight into the artist’s mature oeuvre, at the point at which he worked less with Fauve colors, inspired instead by the gentler yet still vivid colors he encountered on the Mediterranean, and equally responding to the tastes of his new clientele. His later works, including the present oil, exhibit a more harmonious palette, underscoring his arrival at a more nuanced and universally palatable form of representation.