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1876-1958
LE PONT DE CHATOU

measurements
52.5 by 71cm.

alternate measurements
20 5/8 by 28in.

Painted in 1906-07.

signed Vlaminck (lower left)

oil on board

To be included in the forthcoming Vlaminck Catalogue raisonné being prepared by Maithe Vallès-Bled and Godeliève de Vlaminck under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Institute.

PROVENANCE

Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Hirschl & Adler, New York
Galerie Beyeler, Basel
Silvan Kocher, Solothurn (acquired by 1961)
Wildenstein & Co., New York
Frank Sinatra, New York (sale: Sotheby's, London, 27th June 1977, lot 9)
Private Collection, Palm Springs (sale: Christie's, New York, 14th November 1990, lot 17)
Purchased at the above sale by the previous owner

EXHIBITED

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, L'~uvre de Vlaminck du Fauvisme à nos jours, 1956, no. 10 (titled Le Pont and as dating from 1905)
Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Les Fauves, 1959, no. 42, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Bern, Kunstmuseum, Vlaminck, 1961, no. 141
Lausanne, Palais de Beaulieu, Chefs-d'~uvre des collections suisses de Manet à Picasso, 1964, no. 174, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Chefs d'~uvre des collections suisses, 1967, no. 159, illustrated in the catalogue (as dating from 1905)
Lodève, Musée de Lodève, Derain et Vlaminck, 1900-1915, 2001, no. 42, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

LITERATURE

Georges Duthuit, 'Le Fauvisme', in Cahiers d'Art, Paris, May 1929, no. 5, illustrated p. 183
Christian Zervos, Histoire de l'art contemporain, Paris, 1938, illustrated p. 132 (as dating from 1905)
Marcel Sauvage, Vlaminck. Sa vie et son message, Geneva, 1956, no. 12, illustrated (titled Le Pont and as dating from 1905)
Arts, Paris, September 1964, p. 30

NOTE

In 1892, Vlaminck moved to Chatou, a small town on the river Seine, just north-west of Paris. In Chatou, the railway bridge spanning the River Seine near Versailles, became the subject of numerous paintings. In 1900 Vlaminck met André Derain, who was born in Chatou, and the two artists formed a friendship and collaboration which was to culminate in the Fauve revolution. Pierre-Auguste Renoir before them had also painted Chatou bridge in 1881, and the area to this day is known as L'Ile des Impressionnistes, reflecting this rich tradition of artists working in the area around the village and its bridge.

In March 1901 Vlaminck saw an exhibition of Van Gogh's work at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris, which was to play an important role in the development of his own style. As Vlaminck himself proclaimed: 'In him I found some of my own aspirations. Probably from similar Nordic affinities? And, as well as revolutionary fervour, an almost religious feeling for the interpretation of nature. I came out of this retrospective exhibition shaken to the core' (quoted in J. Freeman (ed.), The Fauve Landscape: Matisse, Derain, Braque and Their Circle, 1904-1908 (exhibition catalogue), County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1990, p. 21). The bold, quick brushstrokes and the juxtaposition of complementary tones in Le Pont de Chatou reflect this 'revolutionary fervour'. The main focus of the painting is the shimmering effect of light on water, rendered in overlapping strokes of white and blue, juxtaposed with reflections of the buildings and boats in dabs of bright red and yellow pigment.