Redfern Gallery, London, where acquired by Leonard Elmhirst, April 1946
Gifted by Dorothy Elmhirst to The Dartington Hall Trust, 25th March 1965

London, Alex Reid & Lefevre, An Exhibition of Watercolours by Christopher Wood, February 1934, cat. no.35;
London, The New Burlington Galleries, Christopher Wood, 3rd March - 2nd April 1938, cat. no.401;
London, Redfern Gallery, Christopher Wood, 8th - 31st May 1947, cat. no.111 (possibly);
Dartington Hall, High Cross House, 2007.

Eric Newton (ed.), Christopher Wood, 1901-1930, Redfern Gallery, London, 1938, cat. no.626, p.81 (as Yacht at Monte Carlo).

The sheet is sound and has been laid down onto card. A faint crease runs vertically through the centre of the sheet. There is a small surface abrasion and corresponding hole, approx. 2mm across, to the paper in the upper left corner. There is small, faint stain above right of the masts of the furthest ship; otherwise the work appears in good overall condition. Held under glass in a wooden frame with a cream coloured mount. Please telephone the department on 0207 293 6424 if you have any questions about the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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'All my friends the artists are here. Picasso is here and I see a lot of him which gives me more pleasure than anything. He is a delightful person and I think he likes me. He is a great genius and the Leonardo of today.'
(Christopher Wood, writing from Monte Carlo to his mother, 16^th April 1925, quoted in Richard Ingleby, Christopher Wood, Allison & Busby, London, 1995, p.103).

Wood had travelled to Monte Carlo with his close friend and patron, the wealthy and flamboyant Chilean diplomat Antonio [Tony] de Gandarillas in the spring of 1925. The beginning of April had been spent in Marseilles to celebrate Wood's birthday, and from there Gandarillas decided to try his luck at the tables in Monte Carlo. By all accounts he was unsuccessful, Wood writing in another letter to his mother in April 1925: 'Tony has gone and lost such an awful lot of money, poor boy, that I really don't know what he is going to do...' (quoted in Richard Ingleby, ibid., p.102). Gandarillas' gambling aside, Wood enjoyed his visit and in particular the privilege to spend time wiꦅth Picasso.

The Russian Ballet had also taken over the town, which was a magnet for fashionable society, artists, musicians and writers alike. Important introductions came his way and Wood soaked up the vibrant atmosphere, describing it to his mother: 'All the modern musicians are here too, so with Diaghilev the creator of the Russian Ballet and his artists whom we know, we are like one big happy family of Artists who see each other all the time' (quoted in Richard Ingleby, ibid., p.103). Indeed it was at this time that the possibility of Wood working for Diaghilev began to takꦏe hold♐ after their introduction, and which later resulted in a commission to stage design his 1926 production of 'Romeo and Juliet' – something no other English artist had been honoured with.

In this heady environment, Wood admitted to his mother, 'I have done very little work, but had a fairly interesting time. I shall do lots of drawing though in Rome' (letter dated April 1925, quoted in Richard Ingleby, ibid., p.103). The present sketch is therefore one of a small body of work execu🐽ted during his time in Monte Carlo in April 1925, and there is a sense of time pressing in the swift markings and snapshot scene – a brief moment captured. It is also one of the last pictures in which he used red chalk; having been inspired by Picasso he gave it up in favour of hard pencil, which he employed in a series of drawings in Rome the following month.