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拍品專文
Painted in 1880, Pour faire un bouquet is a seminal work of the artist's Impressionist period. The framing of the image and unorthodox use of perspective anticipate Gauguin's later masterpieces from 1901, Tournesols sur un fauteuil I (Zurich, Emil G. Bhrle Collection, W.602) and Tournesols sur un fauteuil II (fig. 4), where the artist displayed the same eccentric use of a chair as a surrogate table, captured from a daringly foreshortened angle. This device was also used by Van Gogh in two of his best known paintings of the Arles period: Vincent's Chair (1888, London, Tate Gallery, F.498) and, particularly, Gauguin's Chair (1888, Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh Foundation, F.499), where the single, empty chair bears the sparest still-life - a candle and two books.
In the summer of 1880, Gauguin moved to a new house with a vast atelier and a garden at 8 rue Carcel, near the church of Vaugirard (see fig. 3). He was enthusiastic about the new space, and wrote to Pissarro on 16 August: '(...) j'ai trouv Vaugirard une occasion patante d'atelier avec trois pices pour appartement'. The apartment of the rue Carcel is featured in the famous Intrieur du peintre Paris, rue Carcel of 1881 (Oslo, Nasjonalgalleriet, W.50), and elements of the decoration, such as the distinctive wallpaper with stylised ducks - the same design of the chair's back in the present picture - serve as background for the children's portraits of these years, notably the Sleeping Child (fig. 2). Thanks to a successful career as an agent at the Parisian Stock Exchange - which was, in the early 1880s, feverish with speculation - Gauguin could afford a big apartment in which to house his growing collection of works by the Impressionists, whom he also befriended. He spent the whole summer of 1879 in Pontoise with Pissarro, establishing an artistic alliance which influenced his beginnings as a painter and is exemplified in Pour faire un bouquet. If, in fact, the spacial eccentricities of this oil owe much to the radical treatment of space reminiscent of Degas in the late 1870s, its feathery brushwork and earthy tones attest the influence of Pissarro's Pontoise canvases.
Pour faire un bouquet was exhibited in the 6th Impressionist Exhibition in April 1881 (fig. 1), alongside Degas' most famous sculpture Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, statuette en cire (bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., RXX). Held at 35 boulevard des Capucines, the show was Gauguin's second appearance with the Indpendants, and the first public exhibition of his paintings. He was represented by eight oils, among which were Sur une chaise (Private collection, W.46) and Etude de nu (Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, W.36), enthusiastically praised by Huysmans for its daring realism which defied all categories and genres. The participation in the 6th Exhibition was pivotal for the young Gauguin, avid for recognition on the Parisian art scene. The positive response of Huysmans to the pictures he had exhibited urged him to devote his life exclusively to painting. Two years later, having lost his job at the Stock Exchange, he dedicated the rest of his life to painting.
The present oil was one of the treasures of the collection gathered by the Swiss businessman Hans Jggli-Corti. He was inspired by his friend Hans Bhler, whose famous collection of works by Gricault was sold at Christie's London on 15 November 1985. Another driving force behind his collection was his wife Gita, the niece of the collector Hans Mettler-Weber, whose collection was sold at Christie's London on 2 July 1979, as well as his sister-in-law Lisa Hahnloser, heiress of the Hahnloser-Bhler collection. Hans Jggli-Corti developed an avid passion for Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works and Pour faire un bouquet, fusing its Impressionist inheritance with an innovative structure, represents a perfect bridge between the two schools.
In the summer of 1880, Gauguin moved to a new house with a vast atelier and a garden at 8 rue Carcel, near the church of Vaugirard (see fig. 3). He was enthusiastic about the new space, and wrote to Pissarro on 16 August: '(...) j'ai trouv Vaugirard une occasion patante d'atelier avec trois pices pour appartement'. The apartment of the rue Carcel is featured in the famous Intrieur du peintre Paris, rue Carcel of 1881 (Oslo, Nasjonalgalleriet, W.50), and elements of the decoration, such as the distinctive wallpaper with stylised ducks - the same design of the chair's back in the present picture - serve as background for the children's portraits of these years, notably the Sleeping Child (fig. 2). Thanks to a successful career as an agent at the Parisian Stock Exchange - which was, in the early 1880s, feverish with speculation - Gauguin could afford a big apartment in which to house his growing collection of works by the Impressionists, whom he also befriended. He spent the whole summer of 1879 in Pontoise with Pissarro, establishing an artistic alliance which influenced his beginnings as a painter and is exemplified in Pour faire un bouquet. If, in fact, the spacial eccentricities of this oil owe much to the radical treatment of space reminiscent of Degas in the late 1870s, its feathery brushwork and earthy tones attest the influence of Pissarro's Pontoise canvases.
Pour faire un bouquet was exhibited in the 6th Impressionist Exhibition in April 1881 (fig. 1), alongside Degas' most famous sculpture Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, statuette en cire (bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., RXX). Held at 35 boulevard des Capucines, the show was Gauguin's second appearance with the Indpendants, and the first public exhibition of his paintings. He was represented by eight oils, among which were Sur une chaise (Private collection, W.46) and Etude de nu (Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, W.36), enthusiastically praised by Huysmans for its daring realism which defied all categories and genres. The participation in the 6th Exhibition was pivotal for the young Gauguin, avid for recognition on the Parisian art scene. The positive response of Huysmans to the pictures he had exhibited urged him to devote his life exclusively to painting. Two years later, having lost his job at the Stock Exchange, he dedicated the rest of his life to painting.
The present oil was one of the treasures of the collection gathered by the Swiss businessman Hans Jggli-Corti. He was inspired by his friend Hans Bhler, whose famous collection of works by Gricault was sold at Christie's London on 15 November 1985. Another driving force behind his collection was his wife Gita, the niece of the collector Hans Mettler-Weber, whose collection was sold at Christie's London on 2 July 1979, as well as his sister-in-law Lisa Hahnloser, heiress of the Hahnloser-Bhler collection. Hans Jggli-Corti developed an avid passion for Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works and Pour faire un bouquet, fusing its Impressionist inheritance with an innovative structure, represents a perfect bridge between the two schools.