Acquis par la famille du propriétaire actuel vers 1935

The canvas is lined. There are some scattered spots and small intermittent areas of retouching along the edges of the work and a 5cm area of retouching at the centre, just under the bridge, all visible under UV light. Apart from two nailhead-sized spots of paintloss in the centre of the left edge, this work is in good condition. La toile est réentoilée. L'examen à la lampe ultra-violet révèle quelques petits points et des zones de retouches mineures répartis principalement le long des bords de la toile ainsi qu'une zone de retouche de 5 cm en dessous du pont. Mis à part deux petits éclats de peinture au centre du bord gauche cette œuvre est en bon état.
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signed 'Marquet' and dated  '1911' (lower left), oil on canvas. Painted in 1911

Fig. 1, Albert Marquet, Paysage au Chaland (Pont de Conflans), 1911, huile sur toile, Musée d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris

En 1911, Marquet s'installe et séjourne à Conflans, un village des Yvelines, à l'Ouest de Paris. Situé au confluent de deux fleuves, l'Oise et la Seine, Conflans donne l'occasion à l'artiste de peindre de nombreuses vues de ponts et de prolonger sa réflexion esthétique autour du motif structurant et récurrent de l'ouvrage d'art.

Dans la lignée du cycle des ponts parisiens, cette œuvre que traverse la puissante perspective du pont et son reflet, vibrant et délicat, est exemplaire du travail de l'artiste sur l'ordonnancement des lignes et des teintes.

Peinte à la même date, depuis la même rive du fleuve, dans le même cadre et format, elle est à plusieurs égards, très proche de la version du Pont de Conflans conservée au Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Commentant ce tableau, Maïthé Vallès Bled précise que "Marquet fut un des grands paysagistes à savoir exprimer les atmosphères d'Ile-de-France. La douceur des tons, la délicatesse des reflets sur le fleuve, le traitement du ciel qui s'efface pour mieux laisser vibrer le paysage, traduisent une poésie à laquelle il fut particulièrement sensible et vers laquelle, malgré les voyages incessants à travers le monde, il reviendra sans cesse jusqu'à la fin de sa vie" (in Marquet (catalogu𓃲e d'exposition),  Mu♓sée de Lodève, Lodève, 1998, p.104).

In 1911, Marquet went to stay in Conflans, a village in the Yvelines region, to the west 🃏of Paris. Situated ♎at the confluence of two rivers, the Oise and the Seine, Conflans offered Marquet the opportunity to paint numerous views of bridges and to continue his aesthetic explorations of this structural motif which is so recurrent in the history of art.

 

Considered within the context of the substantial series of paintin🅺gs of parisian bridges executed by Marquet, the present work🐼, with its impressive use of perspective in the bridge and its vibrant and delicate reflection, is a wonderful example of the artist's investigation into the arrangement of lines and tones.

 

Painted in the same year, from the same bank of the river, to the same dimensions and format, this work is in many respects very similar to the version of the Pont de Conflans conserved at the Musée d'A꧃rt Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

 

With this in mind, it would not be impertinent to apply to the present work a commentary made about the parisian version which observes that " Marquet was one of the first great landscape artists to master the expression of the atmosphere which is so particular to the Ile-de-France region. The softness of the hues, the sensitivity of the reflections on the water, and the articulation of the sky which is slightly faded in order that the landscape stands out all the more vividly, are the expression of a poetry to which he was particularly receptive and to which, despite continuous journeys around the world, he would continue to return until the end of his life." (in Marquet, Lodève, Musée de Lodève, 1998, p. 104)