Lot Essay
In the Spring of 1921 Van Dongen became embroiled in a 'grande scandale' in Paris with the exhibition of his celebrated portrait of Anatole France at the Nationale. Van Dongen was castigated for portraying the grand man of letters as an old man. He retreated to Venice in the company of the infamous socialite, the Marchesa Casati.
"He met this notorious femme fatale, who embodied all the extravagance and vice of the fin-de-siècle in 1921...The Casati introduced him into a very different society than he had known until then - in which elegance and complexity abounded and which was inhabited by beautiful, supercilious and neurotic women. It meant a change in his life and with typical cynicism he remarked 'there was less colour but the women smelt better!'" (D. Sutton, Van Dongen, Tuscon, 1971, p. 48).
"Venise a inspiré de nombreux peintres, mais elle a surement exercé sur Van Dongen un charme particulier: il en a ramené des images fascinantes où, dans des sites réputés, baignant dans une lumière intense, évoluent d'élégantes Parisiennes. Van Dongen fait apparaître Venise sous un jour nouveau" (J. M. Kyriazi, Van Dongen aprés le Fauvisme, Lausanne, 1987, p. 40).
A photograph taken in 1952 shows La Laguna di Venezia on an easel in Van Dongen's studio at 75, rue de Courcelles, Paris (see illustration below).
"He met this notorious femme fatale, who embodied all the extravagance and vice of the fin-de-siècle in 1921...The Casati introduced him into a very different society than he had known until then - in which elegance and complexity abounded and which was inhabited by beautiful, supercilious and neurotic women. It meant a change in his life and with typical cynicism he remarked 'there was less colour but the women smelt better!'" (D. Sutton, Van Dongen, Tuscon, 1971, p. 48).
"Venise a inspiré de nombreux peintres, mais elle a surement exercé sur Van Dongen un charme particulier: il en a ramené des images fascinantes où, dans des sites réputés, baignant dans une lumière intense, évoluent d'élégantes Parisiennes. Van Dongen fait apparaître Venise sous un jour nouveau" (J. M. Kyriazi, Van Dongen aprés le Fauvisme, Lausanne, 1987, p. 40).
A photograph taken in 1952 shows La Laguna di Venezia on an easel in Van Dongen's studio at 75, rue de Courcelles, Paris (see illustration below).