Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired directly from the artist in 1915)
Arte Moderne, Lausanne
Siegfried Rosengart, Lucerne
Max Moos, Geneva
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Colin, New York
Michelman Fine Art, New York
Acquired from the above

Zurich, Galerie George Moos, Bonnard, 1947, no. 6
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Pierre Bonnard Memorial Exhibition, 1948
New York, Perls Galleries, Mid-Century Perspective, 1950, no. 2
Northampton, Smith College Museum of Art, Works of Art Belonging to Alumnae, 1950, no. 40
New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York Private Collections, 1951, no. 18

Gustave Coquiot & Daniel Theote, "Pierre Bonnard Today" in Tricolor, 1944, illustrated p. 87
Pierre Courthion, Bonnard, peintre du merveilleux, Lausanne, 1945, illustrated p. 61
Art News, Summer 1948, illustrated p. 19
Gotthard Jedlicka, Pierre Bonnard, Ein Beusch, Zurich, 1949, illustrated pp. 128-29
Pierre Courthion, Montmartre, Geneva, 1956, illustrated in color p. 84
The Colin Collection, New York, 1960, no. 5, illustrated in color n.p.
Jean & Henry Dauberville, Bonnard, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, vol. I, Paris, 1992, no. 163, illustrated p. 193

Overall, this work is in very good condition. The canvas is unlined and the surface is clean. There are 2 tiny pindots of pigment loss in the right center: one in the composition of one of the buildings, and another in the lower left corner in the darkest pigment area. Under UV: a few pindots of inpainting are visible in the sky towards the top edge, at the extreme upper left corner, and one small area in the sky in the upper left quadrant. Some original pigments also fluoresce but no further retouching is apparent.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

An enchanted vision of the anonymous intimacy of city life, Bonnard utilizes his favored aerial vantage point in Le Moulin ou Moulin de la galette ou La Rue Tholozé et le moulin de la galette. Acting as an iconographical symbol, which was a critical conceptual tool for Bonnard and the Nabis group, the instantly recognizable Moulin de la Galette windmill sits at the center of the composition as a surviving remnant of the once active Parisian agrarian community in the face of Hausmanization. Demonstrating the impact of the planar Japanese imagery which had so profoundly influenced Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard’s choice to use the “elevated vantage point so often found in ukiyo-e woodcut prints suggested…a perspective that was particularly well suited to the expansive display of Paris’s wide and recently modernized boulevards, which Monet, Renoir and others glorified as the parade grounds for the bourgeoisie. By the time Bonnard came of age, the sight of shoppers swarming along the main department-store routes was no longer novel, and the young artist turned his eyes instead to the familiar sights closer at hand, which he strove to present as if they were extraordinary and new…to be sure, nineteenth-century Paris, with its expanding boundaries, its rapidly growing population, its rapidly increasing population, and its increasing prosperity, offered untold new sights” (Colta Ives, Pierre Bonnard: The Graphic Work (exhibition catalogue), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, p. 125-26). A young woman with a painted face, most likely a performer at one of the famed cabaret shows in the area, walks towards the viewer and seemingly begins to enter our space. An indication of the underworld which exists behind the charming streets of Montmartre Le Moulin ou Moulin de la galette ou La Rue Tholozé et le moulin de la galette she represents an honest interpretation of contemporaneous Parisian life.