Émile Bernard

Gabriel-Albert Aurier, Paris (acquired before 1892)

Private Collection, France (by descent from the above)

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Mannheim, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim & Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Émile Bernard, 1868-1941, A Pioneer of Modern Art, 1990, no. 40

Jean-Jacques Luthi & Armand Israël, Emile Bernard—sa vie, son oeuvre, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 2014, no. 82, illustrated in color p. 149

Painted circa 1887, Femme assise sur un canapé rose is a striking composition from the artist's early oeuvre. Bernard's most notable compositions date from his early career when he was friends with the leading members of the late nineteenth-century art world including Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch. The present work was painted when he was living in the Pont-Aven, just a year after he first met Gauguin.

The present work is distinguished by important early provenance. The first owner of Femme assise sur un canapé rose was Gabriel-Albert Aurier (1865-1892), the French poet, art critic and artist. An artist in his own right, Aurier was also a close friend and supporter of artists including Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard and Émile Bernard. Due to his close friendship with these artists, Aurier amassed a considerable collection of paintings most notable those by van Gogh which were acquired upon his death by Helene Kröller-Müller and later donated as the founding collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. While most of Aurier’s collection of works by van Gogh now reside in the Kröller-Müller Museum in The Netherlands, many works by other artists, including Femme assise sur un canapé rose remained with his estate for nearly 125 years.