Paul Czanne (1839-1906)

Fleurs dans un vase

Details

Paul Czanne (1839-1906)
Czanne, P.
Fleurs dans un vase
oil on canvas
16.1/8 x 13 in. (41.1 x 33 cm.)
Painted circa 1872-1873

Provenance

Ambroise Vollard, Paris.
Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, New York (acquired from the above, circa 1901).
Horace Havemeyer, New York (by descent from the above, 1929-1934).
The Denver Art Museum (gift from the above, 1934).
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York.
Dr. and Mrs. David M. Levy, New York (acquired from the above, June 1949).
Adele R. Levy Fund, Inc., New York (gift from the above).
Gift from the above to the present institution (1962).

Literature

H.O. Havemeyer Collection, Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art, Portland, Maine, 1931, p. 330.
L. Venturi, Czanne, son art--son oeuvre, Paris, 1936, vol. I, p. 107, no. 184; vol. II, pl. 49 (illustrated; dated 1875-1877).
A. Frankfurter, "Czanne: Intimate Exhibition," Art News, no. 36, 26 March 1938, pp. 15-17 (illustrated, p. 15).
L. Venturi, "The Denver Art Museum," Pacific Art Review, summer 1942, pp. 17-18, (illustrated, fig. 3).
A. and E. Mongan, European Paintings in the Timken Art Gallery, San Diego, 1969, pp. 104-105, no. 40 (illustrated).
S. Orienti, The Complete Paintings of Czanne, New York, 1972, p. 96, no. 225 (illustrated).
Timken Art Gallery: European and American Works of Art in the Putnam Foundation Collection, San Diego, 1983, pp. 26-27, 116, no. 6 (illustrated).
F. Weitzenhoffer, The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America, New York, 1986, p. 142 (illustrated, fig. 105).
J. Rewald, The Paintings of Paul Czanne: A Catalogue Raisonn, New York, 1996, vol. I, p. 156, no. 210; vol. II, p. 71 (illustrated). Timken Museum of Art, Timken Art Gallery: European Works of Art, American Paintings and Russian Icons in the Putnam Foundation Collection, San Diego, 1996, pp. 126-130, no. 22 (illustrated in color, p. 127).

Exhibited

New York, Durand-Ruel Gallery, Czanne, March-April 1938, no. 5.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paintings from Private Collections, Summer Loan Exhibition, 1958, no. 26.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paintings from Private Collections, Summer Loan Exhibition, 1959, no. 15.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Adele R. Levy Collection--Memorial Exhibition, 1961, p. 18 (illustrated).
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection, March-June 1993, pp. 230 and 302, no. 69, pl. 224 (illustrated in color, p. 230).

Lot Essay

Czanne painted still-lifes throughout his career as they offered him a more focused investigation of color, shape, structure, and space than other subject matter. Emphasizing the structure of the natural world over the more fugitive effects of light, Czanne created form and space from a pattern of carefully placed, closely related tones.

Fleurs dans un vase displays a strong sense of artistry, in the complex pictorial arrangement of the flowers and the richness of Czanne's palette. The formal frontality of this painting is characteristic of the artist's early still-lifes. John Rewald notes, "The handling and color are so close to Manet that one can imagine this work could have been done when Czanne was more under the influence of the elder painter" (J. Rewald, op. cit., p. 156).

Color and form in this picture are developed with short animated brushstrokes, indicating a more nervous, more eager and more excitable temperament than that of Manet. This suggests that the work was painted circa 1873 while Czanne lived in the Auvers home of Dr. Gachet.

Fleurs dans un vase once formed part of the Havemeyer Collection which was assembled at the turn of the twentieth century with the assistance of Mary Cassatt. The Havemeyers visited the Parisian dealer Ambroise Vollard in April 1901 from whom they purchased their first works by Czannes, including the present painting.

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