- 457
Kees van Dongen
Description
- Kees van Dongen
- Les courses
- Signed van Dongen (lower left)
- Oil on canvas
- 15 by 21 3/4 in.
- 38 by 55 cm
Provenance
Dominion Gallery (Max Stern), Montreal (acquired from the artist)
Sale: Christie's, London, December 10, 1997, lot 200
Exhibited
Tucson, University of Arizona, Kees van Dongen First American Retrospective, 1971, no. 18, illustrated p. 56
Catalogue Note
“During the 1920s, van Dongen became one of the most talked of figures in the French art world and it is only necessary to run through the volume of press cuttings belonging to Dolly van Dongen (the artist’s daughter) to be aware of the fact that his name was news. He was a frequent visitor to Deauville, where the smart world gathered, and to the cabarets and restaurants of Paris. What appealed to him about the années folles were their movement and gaiety. He once said: “I passionately love the life of my tIme, so animated, so feverish. Ah! Life is even more beautiful than painting” (Denys Sutton, Cornelis Theodorus Maris van Dongen 1877-1968, (exhibition 🍸catalogue), University of Arizona Art Museum, 1971, 🃏p. 46).
Fig. 1 Kees van Dongen in Deauville, June 1938