Decade 1880-1889
See also : France Cézanne Gauguin Van Gogh Landscape Midi Self portrait Self portrait II Flowers Tabletop
1881 The Flower-Woman in Manet's Seasons
2014 SOLD for $ 65M including premium
The art of Edouard Manet was based on the great masters of the past but his wish to express life and mores of his time generated a lasting misunderstanding. All along two decades, he was rejected in the Salons that were the arbiters of the French official good taste.
Everything begins to change in 1881. His old friend Antonin Proust, close to Gambetta, suggests Manet to produce a series of allegorical paintings on the theme of the four seasons. Manet soaks carefully and slowly within this project.
The first paintings, Spring (Le Printemps) and Autumn, are made within that year. In the following year, studies of amazones show how Manet wanted to express Summer, but he died in 1883 without having worked on Winter. In 1882, Le Printemps and Un Bar aux Folies-Bergères finally provide Manet with a triumph in the Salon.
Spring is a time for renewal, hope and flowers. Manet was inspired by the ideal of the flower-woman played by the very young actress Jeanne Demarsy nicely dressed in flowery clothes in an environment of rhododendrons. Jeanne is seen in profile in the style of the Renaissance but proudly expresses the autonomy of the new woman.
Le Printemps, oil on canvas 74 x 52 cm, is for sale on November 5 by Christie's in New York, lot 16 estimated $ 25M.
This artwork is the subject of a video shared by Christie's (see below). The image is shared by Wikimedia:
Everything begins to change in 1881. His old friend Antonin Proust, close to Gambetta, suggests Manet to produce a series of allegorical paintings on the theme of the four seasons. Manet soaks carefully and slowly within this project.
The first paintings, Spring (Le Printemps) and Autumn, are made within that year. In the following year, studies of amazones show how Manet wanted to express Summer, but he died in 1883 without having worked on Winter. In 1882, Le Printemps and Un Bar aux Folies-Bergères finally provide Manet with a triumph in the Salon.
Spring is a time for renewal, hope and flowers. Manet was inspired by the ideal of the flower-woman played by the very young actress Jeanne Demarsy nicely dressed in flowery clothes in an environment of rhododendrons. Jeanne is seen in profile in the style of the Renaissance but proudly expresses the autonomy of the new woman.
Le Printemps, oil on canvas 74 x 52 cm, is for sale on November 5 by Christie's in New York, lot 16 estimated $ 25M.
This artwork is the subject of a video shared by Christie's (see below). The image is shared by Wikimedia:
1884 La Grande Jatte by Seurat
1999 SOLD for $ 35M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Georges Seurat seeks to define a new painting technique that will support his anti-bourgeois ideal. The composition is based on the balance of proportions. The perceived colors are not those of his palette but a reconstruction of the spectrum by the opposition of the complementary.
He wants his demonstrations to be perfect. His achieved paintings are very rare. The very long preparation phases include drawings and oil sketches. In 1884 he exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants his first major work, Une Baignade à Asnières, oil on canvas 2 x 3 m.
Seurat immediately begins another project, on the same social theme of the aberrant life of the bourgeois. He chooses a green corner by the Seine in the leisure park on the island of La Grande Jatte, on the border between Neuilly and Levallois.
Three oil sketches on canvas are started in parallel in May 1884. One of them is a Paysage empty of any character, 65 x 79 cm, on which he sets up the theoretical elements of its composition. The second is a full version 70 x 104 cm, scaled as one third of the size of the final work. The other sketch is a study for the couple in the foreground.
Unlike the Bathing in Asnières, the colors are dull, with too much space provided to the shadows in the foreground. Signac will succeed in convincing Seurat that the brightest lights bring a much better effect to the divisionist technique, but for Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte, which will be finished in 1886, it is already too late.
The preparatory Paysage was sold for $ 35M including premium by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999.
He wants his demonstrations to be perfect. His achieved paintings are very rare. The very long preparation phases include drawings and oil sketches. In 1884 he exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants his first major work, Une Baignade à Asnières, oil on canvas 2 x 3 m.
Seurat immediately begins another project, on the same social theme of the aberrant life of the bourgeois. He chooses a green corner by the Seine in the leisure park on the island of La Grande Jatte, on the border between Neuilly and Levallois.
Three oil sketches on canvas are started in parallel in May 1884. One of them is a Paysage empty of any character, 65 x 79 cm, on which he sets up the theoretical elements of its composition. The second is a full version 70 x 104 cm, scaled as one third of the size of the final work. The other sketch is a study for the couple in the foreground.
Unlike the Bathing in Asnières, the colors are dull, with too much space provided to the shadows in the foreground. Signac will succeed in convincing Seurat that the brightest lights bring a much better effect to the divisionist technique, but for Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte, which will be finished in 1886, it is already too late.
The preparatory Paysage was sold for $ 35M including premium by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999.
1888 The Studio of the South
2015 SOLD for $ 66M including premium
Arrived at Arles in 1888 at the end of winter, Vincent van Goghengaged with nature in Provence, with the wonderful colors of spring from the hill of Montmajour and the hard summer sun over the works in the fields.
He moved to the maison jaune where he wanted to create a community of artists named by him L'Atelier du Midi. Paul Gauguin arrived as his first guest on 23 October.
A period of fine weather, from October 29 to November 2, allows a first outdoor session. The two artists set their easels in the Alyscamps dominated by the bright yellow of the autumn leaves.
They must come to some understanding. Two of van Gogh paintings include forms within sharp outlines that could appeal to Gauguin. Their very different conceptions of artistic creation begin however to oppose the two artists from that first trials. Gauguin is a cerebral man for whom the achievement must be consistent with the original design, van Gogh is an impulsive wishing that the spontaneous gesture contributes to the artwork.
On May 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells a view of the Alyscamps painted on November 1, 1888, oil on canvas 92 x 74 cm, lot 18. The press release of April 13 is expecting a price in excess of $ 40M.
The composition is geometric, with its perspective view of the allée of trees. The contrast between the warm colors of soil and trees and the cold blue sky make this van Gogh painting resolutely away from the flat colors of Gauguin. The expression is enhanced by the rich shades of the palette. This painting contains the elements that will generate misunderstanding and estrangement between the two great artists.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's. Its image is also shared by Wikimedia.
He moved to the maison jaune where he wanted to create a community of artists named by him L'Atelier du Midi. Paul Gauguin arrived as his first guest on 23 October.
A period of fine weather, from October 29 to November 2, allows a first outdoor session. The two artists set their easels in the Alyscamps dominated by the bright yellow of the autumn leaves.
They must come to some understanding. Two of van Gogh paintings include forms within sharp outlines that could appeal to Gauguin. Their very different conceptions of artistic creation begin however to oppose the two artists from that first trials. Gauguin is a cerebral man for whom the achievement must be consistent with the original design, van Gogh is an impulsive wishing that the spontaneous gesture contributes to the artwork.
On May 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells a view of the Alyscamps painted on November 1, 1888, oil on canvas 92 x 74 cm, lot 18. The press release of April 13 is expecting a price in excess of $ 40M.
The composition is geometric, with its perspective view of the allée of trees. The contrast between the warm colors of soil and trees and the cold blue sky make this van Gogh painting resolutely away from the flat colors of Gauguin. The expression is enhanced by the rich shades of the palette. This painting contains the elements that will generate misunderstanding and estrangement between the two great artists.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's. Its image is also shared by Wikimedia.
1888-1890 The Movements of the Tablecloth
2019 SOLD for $ 59M including premium
For Cézanne the work of art is a challenge. The theme is of minor importance since nature can be evoked but is never copied. From the mid-1880s he studies the still life of fruit on a table as a support for his theories of shapes, colors and even movement.
I recently discussed in this column one of the first still lifes of this phase, sold for £ 21M including premium by Christie's on February 27, 2019. The composition seems naively simple until we perceive the imbalance of the plate. The observer awaits the tilting that will roll the fruit onto the table.
The artist will then increase the complexity. Bouilloire et fruits, oil on canvas 49 x 60 cm painted between 1888 and 1890, offers the dynamic contrast between a heavy pot steadily placed on the table and the fruits in a precarious balance in the folds of the tablecloth.
Cézanne reworked each painting tirelessly, seeking a perfection that existed only in his own imagination. Sometimes he stops before it is finished. The handle and the body of the kettle are disjointed. A lemon or an apple that did not suit the artist left some traces without disappearing completely.
It does not matter: the variety of forms and the mingling of the colors that constitute the textures are already satisfactory. Cézanne accepts to sell this unfinished work to a collector.
Bouilloire et fruits was sold for £ 18M including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 1999. This painting is listed as lot 18A by Christie's in New York on May 13. The press release of March 27 announces an estimate in the region of $ 40M. Please watch the very short video shared by the auction house.
Painted in 1893 with a similar inspiration, Rideau, cruchon et compotier, oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 60M including premium by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999. The fruit bowl is not placed on the table.
I recently discussed in this column one of the first still lifes of this phase, sold for £ 21M including premium by Christie's on February 27, 2019. The composition seems naively simple until we perceive the imbalance of the plate. The observer awaits the tilting that will roll the fruit onto the table.
The artist will then increase the complexity. Bouilloire et fruits, oil on canvas 49 x 60 cm painted between 1888 and 1890, offers the dynamic contrast between a heavy pot steadily placed on the table and the fruits in a precarious balance in the folds of the tablecloth.
Cézanne reworked each painting tirelessly, seeking a perfection that existed only in his own imagination. Sometimes he stops before it is finished. The handle and the body of the kettle are disjointed. A lemon or an apple that did not suit the artist left some traces without disappearing completely.
It does not matter: the variety of forms and the mingling of the colors that constitute the textures are already satisfactory. Cézanne accepts to sell this unfinished work to a collector.
Bouilloire et fruits was sold for £ 18M including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 1999. This painting is listed as lot 18A by Christie's in New York on May 13. The press release of March 27 announces an estimate in the region of $ 40M. Please watch the very short video shared by the auction house.
Painted in 1893 with a similar inspiration, Rideau, cruchon et compotier, oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 60M including premium by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999. The fruit bowl is not placed on the table.
Also from The Collection of S.I Newhouse, Cézanne's 'Bouilloire et fruits' realizes $59,295,000 at auction https://t.co/0XESM9gIJx pic.twitter.com/JX9L5TU85u
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 13, 2019
1888 Le Pont de Trinquetaille by van Gogh
2021 SOLD for $ 37.4M by Christie's
1888 is the wonderful year in the life of van Gogh. He finds in Arles what he had been looking for, the extreme light of the four seasons in Provence, favorable to his new research on color inspired by Japonism. He walks around the area to better see hills and orchards.
At the beginning of June, Vincent goes by stagecoach to Les Saintes-Maries de la Mer for a five-day stay. On June 17, he paints an animated view of the banks of the Rhône with the iron bridge of Trinquetaille which links the Camargue to the city.
The unlimited embankment on the left side of the painting may remind some views by Monet in Argenteuil but is most probably inspired by the Japanese style. The sky and the reflections in the water are greenish-yellow, the color of absinthe according to the artist's avowal. The quiet attitude of the anonymous figures are in the follow of his Montmartre views from the previous year.
This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm oil was sold three times by Christie's : for $ 15.4M on November 8, 1999, for $ 11.2M on November 3, 2004, lot 41., and for $ 37.4M on May 13, 2021, lot 29 B. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
At the beginning of June, Vincent goes by stagecoach to Les Saintes-Maries de la Mer for a five-day stay. On June 17, he paints an animated view of the banks of the Rhône with the iron bridge of Trinquetaille which links the Camargue to the city.
The unlimited embankment on the left side of the painting may remind some views by Monet in Argenteuil but is most probably inspired by the Japanese style. The sky and the reflections in the water are greenish-yellow, the color of absinthe according to the artist's avowal. The quiet attitude of the anonymous figures are in the follow of his Montmartre views from the previous year.
This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm oil was sold three times by Christie's : for $ 15.4M on November 8, 1999, for $ 11.2M on November 3, 2004, lot 41., and for $ 37.4M on May 13, 2021, lot 29 B. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1888 Study of the Iridescent Spectrum
2018 SOLD for $ 35M including premium
Around 1884 the post-Impressionists are passionate about Chevreul's theories on the decomposition of light. Paul Gauguin, ever in search of an original art, does not try the pointillism but he notes that the rainbow displays the colors in an immutable sequence.
In January 1888 the artist quietly begins his second stay in Pont-Aven. He takes the time to walk on the Wild Coast and observes that the colors of the swell in heavy weather meet his theory.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 6 La Vague, oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm painted by Gauguin in 1888. A strong wave hits a group of high rocks in the open sea. Two bathers flee the tide onto the vermilion beach.
This painting, unusual and perhaps even unique in Gauguin's art, was included in the 1891 auction set up by the artist to finance his departure for Oceania. Its title in the catalog, La Vague (arc-en-ciel), seems enigmatic but provides the key for the interpretation.
There is no sky or rain in this picture. Arc-en-ciel is here the bow-shaped iridescent spectrum on the sea, passing from pale violet to yellow when the prismatic depth of the water decreases while approaching the coast. With a surprising modernism the unreal color of the beach is the ultimate extension of that spectral decomposition.
Gauguin's Vague was purchased in that auction by a collector of Japanese prints probably attracted by the similarity of theme with The Wave by Hokusai. The comparison stops here because the view taken by Gauguin from the top of the cliff has no close-up.
Despite Gauguin's admiration for Degas, the completely off-center position of the two women is secondary in this composition. Their difference of scale in the face of the grandiose nature is however not without relation to the metaphysical questions of the artist.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
In January 1888 the artist quietly begins his second stay in Pont-Aven. He takes the time to walk on the Wild Coast and observes that the colors of the swell in heavy weather meet his theory.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 6 La Vague, oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm painted by Gauguin in 1888. A strong wave hits a group of high rocks in the open sea. Two bathers flee the tide onto the vermilion beach.
This painting, unusual and perhaps even unique in Gauguin's art, was included in the 1891 auction set up by the artist to finance his departure for Oceania. Its title in the catalog, La Vague (arc-en-ciel), seems enigmatic but provides the key for the interpretation.
There is no sky or rain in this picture. Arc-en-ciel is here the bow-shaped iridescent spectrum on the sea, passing from pale violet to yellow when the prismatic depth of the water decreases while approaching the coast. With a surprising modernism the unreal color of the beach is the ultimate extension of that spectral decomposition.
Gauguin's Vague was purchased in that auction by a collector of Japanese prints probably attracted by the similarity of theme with The Wave by Hokusai. The comparison stops here because the view taken by Gauguin from the top of the cliff has no close-up.
Despite Gauguin's admiration for Degas, the completely off-center position of the two women is secondary in this composition. Their difference of scale in the face of the grandiose nature is however not without relation to the metaphysical questions of the artist.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
1889 The Field beyond the Window
2017 SOLD for $ 81M including premium
On May 8, 1889 Vincent van Gogh enters the asylum for insanes of Dr. Peyron in Saint-Rémy de Provence. Rightly considered as dangerous for himself, he is not allowed to walk outside but a small workshop is attributed to him. In this narrow universe Vincent interprets the works of other artists and looks beyond the window through the thick bars.
On June 18, Vincent paints La Nuit étoilée in which the stars are transformed into whirlwinds of fire. Anxious about the loss of control of his mental health, Vincent believes being appeased by the energy of his hallucination. Doctors fear another major crisis. They are right : it happens in mid-July.
Supervised by the doctors, Vincent does not paint during his crises. He takes his brushes again in the last days of August. The window of his room looks to the east. The sun rising above the wheat field is blinding and hypnotic, and also reveals the bright colors that constitute the soil. The colors are intermingled like swirls, scars and tongues of fire with an extreme violence.
This oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm is titled Laboureur dans un champ. The man, the horse and the plow in mid-distance against the light offer a new opus of the favorite theme of Vincent's career, a result of his lifelong empathy with the soil workers.
Healing through hard work that released his impulses was only an illusion but it produced unprecedented masterpieces. The next crisis comes in December.
Laboureur dans un champ will be sold as lot 28 A by Christie's in New York on November 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image below is shared by Wikimedia.
On June 18, Vincent paints La Nuit étoilée in which the stars are transformed into whirlwinds of fire. Anxious about the loss of control of his mental health, Vincent believes being appeased by the energy of his hallucination. Doctors fear another major crisis. They are right : it happens in mid-July.
Supervised by the doctors, Vincent does not paint during his crises. He takes his brushes again in the last days of August. The window of his room looks to the east. The sun rising above the wheat field is blinding and hypnotic, and also reveals the bright colors that constitute the soil. The colors are intermingled like swirls, scars and tongues of fire with an extreme violence.
This oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm is titled Laboureur dans un champ. The man, the horse and the plow in mid-distance against the light offer a new opus of the favorite theme of Vincent's career, a result of his lifelong empathy with the soil workers.
Healing through hard work that released his impulses was only an illusion but it produced unprecedented masterpieces. The next crisis comes in December.
Laboureur dans un champ will be sold as lot 28 A by Christie's in New York on November 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image below is shared by Wikimedia.
1889 Self Portrait without Beard by Van Gogh
1998 SOLD for $ 71.5M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
Van Gogh is interned in Saint-Rémy since May 8, 1889. Two months later a lull in his health condition allows an escorted visit to Arles. Unhappy with missed appointments, he has a dementia attack on July 16.
The crisis is severe. Vincent does not go out any more and cannot resume his brushes before the end of August. Through the window, he sees a free man, the only free man who passes in his angle of vision, a peasant with his horse and his plow. Laboureur dans un champ, oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm, was sold for $ 81M including premium by Christie's on November 13, 2017.
Once again he feels a frantic urge to paint, as an antidote to his illness. Concerned also by the visible signs of madness on his face, he makes three self-portraits in bust, from the left side to hide the right ear.
On two of them, he is bearded. The background is decorated with swirls in his new signature style. On the portrait which is preserved in the Museum of Oslo, perhaps the earliest in this small series, the biased gaze is incontestably psychotic. About the painting that is currently in the Musée d'Orsay, he writes to Theo with a remarkable lucidity that his face is calm but that some distress remains in his gaze.
The other self-portrait is different. He painted it to make a birthday present to his mother, who turns 70 on September 10, 1889. To appear still young and healthy, the face is without beard, which does not mean that it corresponded to reality : a beardless man was not in the fashion of the time. He also wanted to make his caregivers and Theo believe that he felt cured.
This Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe, oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm, was sold for $ 71.5M including premium by Christie's on November 19, 1998 over a lower estimate of $ 20M. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The crisis is severe. Vincent does not go out any more and cannot resume his brushes before the end of August. Through the window, he sees a free man, the only free man who passes in his angle of vision, a peasant with his horse and his plow. Laboureur dans un champ, oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm, was sold for $ 81M including premium by Christie's on November 13, 2017.
Once again he feels a frantic urge to paint, as an antidote to his illness. Concerned also by the visible signs of madness on his face, he makes three self-portraits in bust, from the left side to hide the right ear.
On two of them, he is bearded. The background is decorated with swirls in his new signature style. On the portrait which is preserved in the Museum of Oslo, perhaps the earliest in this small series, the biased gaze is incontestably psychotic. About the painting that is currently in the Musée d'Orsay, he writes to Theo with a remarkable lucidity that his face is calm but that some distress remains in his gaze.
The other self-portrait is different. He painted it to make a birthday present to his mother, who turns 70 on September 10, 1889. To appear still young and healthy, the face is without beard, which does not mean that it corresponded to reality : a beardless man was not in the fashion of the time. He also wanted to make his caregivers and Theo believe that he felt cured.
This Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe, oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm, was sold for $ 71.5M including premium by Christie's on November 19, 1998 over a lower estimate of $ 20M. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1889 Irises by Van Gogh
1987 SOLD for $ 54M including premium by Sotheby's, sale canceled in 1990
narrated in 2020
Hallucinatory crises were becoming repetitive. Vincent understood that he had lost his autonomy. On the suggestion of a friend and with Theo's agreement, he voluntarily entered on May 8, 1889 at the asylum of Saint-Rémy.
The first feeling is very good. His pictorial creation is a lightning rod which will protect him against his illness. He sets to work with a new enthusiasm. The garden of the former monastery is beautiful in the middle of spring, and perhaps later he will be able to walk in the Alpilles which he sees on the horizon.
The iris flowerbed attracts his attention. He paints at the very beginning of his stay with an obvious pleasure an oil on canvas 74 x 93 cm, apparently without preparatory drawing. The irises occupy the foreground, in a varied and stylized arrangement which is certainly inspired by the processing of close-ups and angles in Japanese prints. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Vincent appreciated since Gauguin's stay at the Maison Jaune a few months earlier that the vividness of colors has become his best strength, and that flowers perfectly match it. The flowers of his irises are bright blue with the exception of one single white flower. This painting is a study of contrasts with the green leaves of the same plants, painted a little lighter than real, the orange flowers of the marigolds in the background and the ocher ground.
Theo is all the more amazed that happy impulses are very rare for Vincent in this tragic period. In September he exhibits this masterpiece alongside the Starry Night at the annual Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants.
Les Iris was sold for $ 54M including premium by Sotheby's on November 11, 1987, seven months after the record setting sale by Christie's of the Sunflowers by the same artist for the equivalent of $ 40M. It returned to the auction house for default of the winning bidder, an Australian businessman, and was acquired in 1990 by the J. Paul Getty Museum.
The first feeling is very good. His pictorial creation is a lightning rod which will protect him against his illness. He sets to work with a new enthusiasm. The garden of the former monastery is beautiful in the middle of spring, and perhaps later he will be able to walk in the Alpilles which he sees on the horizon.
The iris flowerbed attracts his attention. He paints at the very beginning of his stay with an obvious pleasure an oil on canvas 74 x 93 cm, apparently without preparatory drawing. The irises occupy the foreground, in a varied and stylized arrangement which is certainly inspired by the processing of close-ups and angles in Japanese prints. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Vincent appreciated since Gauguin's stay at the Maison Jaune a few months earlier that the vividness of colors has become his best strength, and that flowers perfectly match it. The flowers of his irises are bright blue with the exception of one single white flower. This painting is a study of contrasts with the green leaves of the same plants, painted a little lighter than real, the orange flowers of the marigolds in the background and the ocher ground.
Theo is all the more amazed that happy impulses are very rare for Vincent in this tragic period. In September he exhibits this masterpiece alongside the Starry Night at the annual Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants.
Les Iris was sold for $ 54M including premium by Sotheby's on November 11, 1987, seven months after the record setting sale by Christie's of the Sunflowers by the same artist for the equivalent of $ 40M. It returned to the auction house for default of the winning bidder, an Australian businessman, and was acquired in 1990 by the J. Paul Getty Museum.
1889 Threats on Arles
2015 SOLD for $ 54M including premium
Vincent van Gogh arrived in Arles in February 1888. He decided to stay there, charmed by the beauty of the surrounding countryside. His paintings of blooming orchards are joyous.
His mental health had always been fragile. The tension in his relationship with Gauguin rushed his delirious crises requiring his internment in psychiatric hospitals. His anguished questioning about the unknown cause of his illness worsens his condition. He cannot work during his crises.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé, oil on canvas 60 x 74 cm, lot 14 estimated $ 50M. This artwork was made in mid-April 1889 within a very short period of lull that allowed him again to paint outdoors. This insignificant countryside surrounding Arles cannot be located with more accuracy.
That new spring looked very different to him from that of the previous year. The flowery meadow that occupies the foreground is not welcoming although a little character is coming to pick flowers. It is well lit but not sunny. The trees are twisted off by the wind.
The clouds are processed in a thick impasto involving all shades of gray, with a great violence that anticipates the whirlpools in the starry sky of the following months. This tormented painting is already attesting the fatal drift of his genius into dementia.
His mental health had always been fragile. The tension in his relationship with Gauguin rushed his delirious crises requiring his internment in psychiatric hospitals. His anguished questioning about the unknown cause of his illness worsens his condition. He cannot work during his crises.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé, oil on canvas 60 x 74 cm, lot 14 estimated $ 50M. This artwork was made in mid-April 1889 within a very short period of lull that allowed him again to paint outdoors. This insignificant countryside surrounding Arles cannot be located with more accuracy.
That new spring looked very different to him from that of the previous year. The flowery meadow that occupies the foreground is not welcoming although a little character is coming to pick flowers. It is well lit but not sunny. The trees are twisted off by the wind.
The clouds are processed in a thick impasto involving all shades of gray, with a great violence that anticipates the whirlpools in the starry sky of the following months. This tormented painting is already attesting the fatal drift of his genius into dementia.
Discover the unique connoisseurship of Evelyn and Louis Franck #VanGogh http://t.co/phe5dtq0Lp pic.twitter.com/FAiGFBbBim
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 14, 20151889 The Happiness of Outdoor Painting
2018 SOLD for $ 40M including premium
In July 1889 Vincent van Gogh suffered a relapse of his crises while he was interned in the asylum at Saint-Rémy. Once again he managed to convince the doctors that working was good for his health. He was right but unfortunately temporarily only.
Laboureur dans un champ is a masterpiece of that new phase, composed from memory and from what he could see from the window. This oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm completed in September 2, 1889, was sold for $ 81M including premium by Christie's on November 13, 2017.
Vue de l'asile et de la chapelle Saint-Paul de Mausole à Saint-Rémy, oil on canvas 45 x 60 cm, was painted in mid-October. It was sold by Christie's from the deceased estate of Elizabeth Taylor on February 7, 2012 for £ 10.1M including premium over a lower estimate of £ 5M, lot 12.
I discussed it in this column at that time, commenting it as follows : This is an overview of the buildings of the asylum, in a gentle stylized realism. The swirling textures of the sky and trees open the way to the masterpieces of Auvers, and in the whole lower part of the image the tangle of colors of the field is already foreshadowing the colorists of the next century..
The importance of this view in Vincent's art has been re-evaluated. It appears now as being the only landscape in that fall that Vincent had painted outdoors throughout, under the close surveillance of an attendant.
In his signature line previously used in Laboureur, Vincent offers in this view a much quieter rendering. Feeling that he was on the way to recover, he was happy with his great control of his brushstroke and delighted with the automnal colors.
It is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 24 A. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Laboureur dans un champ is a masterpiece of that new phase, composed from memory and from what he could see from the window. This oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm completed in September 2, 1889, was sold for $ 81M including premium by Christie's on November 13, 2017.
Vue de l'asile et de la chapelle Saint-Paul de Mausole à Saint-Rémy, oil on canvas 45 x 60 cm, was painted in mid-October. It was sold by Christie's from the deceased estate of Elizabeth Taylor on February 7, 2012 for £ 10.1M including premium over a lower estimate of £ 5M, lot 12.
I discussed it in this column at that time, commenting it as follows : This is an overview of the buildings of the asylum, in a gentle stylized realism. The swirling textures of the sky and trees open the way to the masterpieces of Auvers, and in the whole lower part of the image the tangle of colors of the field is already foreshadowing the colorists of the next century..
The importance of this view in Vincent's art has been re-evaluated. It appears now as being the only landscape in that fall that Vincent had painted outdoors throughout, under the close surveillance of an attendant.
In his signature line previously used in Laboureur, Vincent offers in this view a much quieter rendering. Feeling that he was on the way to recover, he was happy with his great control of his brushstroke and delighted with the automnal colors.
It is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 24 A. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1889 The Superb Fall
2019 SOLD for $ 40M including premium
The arrival of Vincent van Gogh in Provence marks the beginning of a creative frenzy that is interrupted only by his fits of dementia. He still and ever seeks to vary his themes and styles to become the best artist in the world.
La Nuit étoilée, oil on canvas painted in June 1889 at the asylum of St-Rémy, is unprecedented in the history of art. Vincent first wanted to paint the colors of the night. In order for them to be clearly visible, he oversized the Moon and the stars which have become swirls of colors.
La Nuit étoilée is also a landscape with the village of St-Rémy and the Alpilles. It is dominated in the foreground by an isolated floating tree, disproportionate and asymmetrical. With its longevity and its evergreen leaves, the cypress is the symbol of eternal life and the tree of the graveyards.
In October 1889 nature offers a satisfaction to Vincent : that autumn is superb. The artist paints the colors of the garden. With a texture of violent lines, the brushstroke has integrated the style of the Starry Night. In the foreground two or three thin trunks twist. The only vertical reference in this unbalanced universe is the tall cypress, in the distance, with the same asymmetry as the tree of the Starry Night.
A view in St. Paul's Hospital Garden, oil on canvas 67 x 52 cm, was sold for £ 9M including premium by Christie's on June 23, 2010.
Painted in vibrant colors, Trees in the Garden of the Asylum, oil on canvas 42 x 34 cm, will be sold as lot 15A by Christie's in New York on May 13. The March 27 press release announces an estimate in the region of $ 25M.
La Nuit étoilée, oil on canvas painted in June 1889 at the asylum of St-Rémy, is unprecedented in the history of art. Vincent first wanted to paint the colors of the night. In order for them to be clearly visible, he oversized the Moon and the stars which have become swirls of colors.
La Nuit étoilée is also a landscape with the village of St-Rémy and the Alpilles. It is dominated in the foreground by an isolated floating tree, disproportionate and asymmetrical. With its longevity and its evergreen leaves, the cypress is the symbol of eternal life and the tree of the graveyards.
In October 1889 nature offers a satisfaction to Vincent : that autumn is superb. The artist paints the colors of the garden. With a texture of violent lines, the brushstroke has integrated the style of the Starry Night. In the foreground two or three thin trunks twist. The only vertical reference in this unbalanced universe is the tall cypress, in the distance, with the same asymmetry as the tree of the Starry Night.
A view in St. Paul's Hospital Garden, oil on canvas 67 x 52 cm, was sold for £ 9M including premium by Christie's on June 23, 2010.
Painted in vibrant colors, Trees in the Garden of the Asylum, oil on canvas 42 x 34 cm, will be sold as lot 15A by Christie's in New York on May 13. The March 27 press release announces an estimate in the region of $ 25M.
#AuctionUpdate Vincent van Gogh's 'Arbres dans le jardin de l'asile' from the collection of S.I. Newhouse realizes $40,000,000 https://t.co/kTl39lKfJq pic.twitter.com/IP2q8HHFV9
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 13, 2019
