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Lot Essay
Painted in Paris in 1904, Le moulin de la Galette, dates from Kees van Dongen's most formative and inventive period. Significant for launching van Dongen's career in earnest was the February 1904 Salon des Indépendants in which he exhibited six canvases which attracted favourable comment from the art critics of the period, notably Arsène Alexandre in Le Figaro, Leblond in l'Aurore, de Pip in Nouvelle Revue, and Charles Saulnier in Revue Universelle. These were cautious, though favourable revues but they opened the doors to Van Dongen's presence at the second Salon d'Automne in December 1904 and more significantly Van Dongen's exhibition at Galerie Vollard the month before.
The Vollard exhibition which ran from 15 to 25 November 1904 included 105 paintings, 52 from his Dutch period and 53 from the Paris period. The exhibition was a huge success and attracted comment from Alexandre who praised 'certaines éhappées sur Paris, avec de beaux ciels vastes et lumineux, sont tout à fait remarquables' (ibid., p. 81). In Gil Blas (21 November), Louis Vauxcelles wrote 'Van Dongen abandonne les canaux hollandais pour les coteaux montmartrois chers à Gustave Charpentier at à Alexandre Steinlen. Paris vu des hauteurs du Sacré-Coeur est un des sujets qu'il traite avec le plus de verve..' (ibid., p. 81). As Chaumeil wrote of the significance of the 1904 Vollard exhibition: it was 'une date capitale de la carrière de Van Dongen. Elle fixe Van Dongen à Paris définitivement et elle en fait déjà un peintre de la capitale' (ibid., p.84).
Although the term 'fauve' was not coined by Vauxcelles until the following year, Van Dongen was there at the very birth of the movement in 1904. Fénéon, noted in the Revue Universelle of 1904: 'Les qualités natives qui permettent à Van Dongen d'éclairer certaines pénombres de gris translucides d'un choix heureux, ...aux préoccupation de recherche du caractère dans le tohu-bohu des contrastes violents, des couleurs éclatantes, évocatrices des fanfares bruyantes, des parades pittoresques qu'offrent les spectacles forains' (quoted in ibid., p. 82).
Van Dongen's vibrant palate was perfectly suited to the themes he now explored with such verve. He painted lively scenes from the circus, the dance and music hall and regularly went to the Moulin de la Galette. In the present work Van Dongen captures the frenetic nature of the Moulin de la Galette and the spirit of the age.
The Vollard exhibition which ran from 15 to 25 November 1904 included 105 paintings, 52 from his Dutch period and 53 from the Paris period. The exhibition was a huge success and attracted comment from Alexandre who praised 'certaines éhappées sur Paris, avec de beaux ciels vastes et lumineux, sont tout à fait remarquables' (ibid., p. 81). In Gil Blas (21 November), Louis Vauxcelles wrote 'Van Dongen abandonne les canaux hollandais pour les coteaux montmartrois chers à Gustave Charpentier at à Alexandre Steinlen. Paris vu des hauteurs du Sacré-Coeur est un des sujets qu'il traite avec le plus de verve..' (ibid., p. 81). As Chaumeil wrote of the significance of the 1904 Vollard exhibition: it was 'une date capitale de la carrière de Van Dongen. Elle fixe Van Dongen à Paris définitivement et elle en fait déjà un peintre de la capitale' (ibid., p.84).
Although the term 'fauve' was not coined by Vauxcelles until the following year, Van Dongen was there at the very birth of the movement in 1904. Fénéon, noted in the Revue Universelle of 1904: 'Les qualités natives qui permettent à Van Dongen d'éclairer certaines pénombres de gris translucides d'un choix heureux, ...aux préoccupation de recherche du caractère dans le tohu-bohu des contrastes violents, des couleurs éclatantes, évocatrices des fanfares bruyantes, des parades pittoresques qu'offrent les spectacles forains' (quoted in ibid., p. 82).
Van Dongen's vibrant palate was perfectly suited to the themes he now explored with such verve. He painted lively scenes from the circus, the dance and music hall and regularly went to the Moulin de la Galette. In the present work Van Dongen captures the frenetic nature of the Moulin de la Galette and the spirit of the age.