Paul Cézanne

Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Gaston Bernheim de Villers, Paris (until 1932)
Galerie Maeght, Paris
Collection Louis Clayeux, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Aquarelles de Cézanne, 1956
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Cézanne, aquarelliste et peintre, 1960, no. 17

John Rewald, Paul Cézanne, The Watercolours, A Catalogue raisonné, London, 1983, no. 466, illustrated n.p.

Executed on cream laid paper, not laid down. The sheet is hinged to the mount on the verso of the upper corners. The edges are deckled with minor nicks and handling marks which are barely visible when framed. There are a few tears running along the lower edge and across the lower corners which have been sensitively repaired. There is a small tear running horizontally from the centre of the left edge and another running from the centre of the right edge, with a small complex tear just above. The sheet is lightly time-darkened with some staining to the verso and a few scattered spots of foxing. Some artists pinholes in the upper right corner. This work is in overall good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Paul Cézanne spent the summer months of 1896 with his family in Talloires, a small town at the foot of the Alps situated on Lake Annecy. The artist found the natural environment there particularly charming, and executed a series of beautiful watercolours, of which the present work is the most completely executed. John Rewald observes of this series that their unfinished quality can be attributed to the artist not wanting to continue work on them indoors, instead opting to preserve his entirely spontaneous response to the view en plein air.   

Rewald also observes how, uncharacteristically for the artist, Cézanne does not appear to have executed any pencil sketches of the Lake: ‘The vistas he found there were so breathtaking that he seems to have forgone making drawings, apparently always feeling the need to translate his sensations into touches of colour’ (John Rewald, Paul Cézanne, The Watercolours, A Catalogue raisonné, London, 1983, p. 200). It is precisely these touches of colour which render the present work so elegant and lyrical, with pale hues of blue and green invigorating the delicate outlines of mountains and trees.

La Barque, le lac d'Annecy was variously owned by two of the most celebrated contemporary dealers, Ambroise Vollard and Gaston Bernheim de Villers (Bernheim-Jeune). Galerie Bernheim Jeune was central to the development of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and under the leadership of brothers Gaston and Josse the gallery re-defined Contemporary art. Among others, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune introduced to society and created the markets for Bonnard, Vuillard, Cross, Seurat and indeed Paul Cézanne; in 1914, Bernheim-Jeune produced the first ever book published on Cézanne.