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Impressionist & Modern Art
3234* MAURICE DE VLAMINCK(Paris 1876 – 1958 Rueil-la-Gadelière)
Paysage de neige. Circa 1910.
Oil on canvas.
Signed lower right: Vlaminck.
73.4 x 92.7 cm.
The authenticity of the work has been
confirmed by the Wildenstein Institute,
Paris, 9 December 2014.
Provenance: Collection Georges Daele-
mans, Brussels (bought 1950-52,) bought
there by the present owner.
Exhibition: Paris 1959, L'École de Paris
dans les collections belges, Musée Na-
tional d'Art Moderne, July 1959, no. 167
(titled "Paysage").
Maurice de Vlaminck went outdoors in all
seasons to paint, even if the climatic con-
ditions made it difficult. In "Portraits avant
décès" he wrote: "Sometimes there was
a thunderstorm. The gust snatched my
easel, taking the canvas with it and destro-
ying it. I came home drenched to the bone,
my canvas loose, heavy and sticky with the
paint. Winter was a completely different
story. The freezing cold numbed my
fingers. The frozen oil in the tubes made
the use of the paint almost impossible."
(translated from: Vlaminck, Portraits avant
décès, Paris 1943, p. 98.)
From 1905 onwards, having ventured upon
the theme for the first time, he had a re-
curring interest in snowy landscapes. They
are, however, rather rarely encountered in
Vlaminck’s oeuvre probably because of the
difficult nature of their circumstances. The
Impressionists found a particularly alluring
challenge in capturing the light and colours
of a snowy landscape, as snow is not per-
ceived as simply white, but instead reflects
a wide variety of colours. Vlaminck thus
said that it is "winter which most shows the
full character of nature" (translated from:
Vlaminck, Paysage et personnages, Paris).
In the years around 1910, the strongest
source of inspiration was Cézanne, whose
major retrospective at the 1907 Salon
d'Automne impressed and captivated
Vlaminck. Fascinated by Cézanne’s intense
brushwork and capturing of light, Vlaminck
adopted his palette of accentuated sha-
des of green and blue. The artist moved
away from Fauvism, having explored its li-
mits, and developed towards a new, Cubist
arrangement of space.
The painting offered here is a very beauti-
ful and very rare example of a large wintry
landscape by Vlaminck in which he suc-
cessfully captures the cool beauty with all
its shimmering, wintry richness of colour.
CHF 180 000 / 240 000
(€ 160 710 / 214 290)