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Lot Essay
During the early 1880s Gauguin had done well as a stockbroker; with his gains he collected Impressionist paintings, and he seriously contemplated leaving the business world for a life as a painter. He had shown his own paintings and sculptures in each the annual Impressionist group exhibitions since 1879. By the time of the contentious seventh group exhibition of 1882, however, Gauguin's fortunes had changed for the worse. In January of that year L'Union Général bank declared insolvency, which caused the Paris stock market to collapse. Gauguin's stocks were nearly worthless. He nevertheless decided then to make a total commitment to becoming an artist, believing that he could successfully apply his business acumen to the art market.
The needs of his growing family soon proved to be an insurmountable burden. His wife Mette was accustomed to the comfortable house at 8, rue Carcel (see lot 211) and the help of servants, and by the end of 1883 they had four children, with a fifth on the way. In January 1884 Gauguin moved his family to Rouen, in the hope that living would be less expensive, following the example of Pissarro, who lived in Pontoise, away from the partisanship and distractions of the Paris art world. Their new quarters were cramped and uncomfortable, and Gauguin's assumption that he could easily find buyers for his landscapes among the more prosperous citizens of this commercial town proved to be unrealistic. In July Mette left Rouen to spend a couple of months in her native Denmark, and while she was away Gauguin was forced to sell his life insurance policy at half its value. In October Mette moved the children to Copenhagen, and Gauguin joined them the following month, where he took a job as a traveling salesman.
Gauguin's stylistic allegiances during the early 1880s were divided between the work of Degas and Pissarro, but as he began to work more out-of-doors, the influence of the latter became more important. Gauguin had also met Paul Cézanne in Paris in 1880-1881, and worked beside him at Pissarro's home in Pontoise, where Armand Guillaumin was a frequent visitor as well. Each of these men was working with a small, brushstroke that used unmixed colors placed side by side.
The present painting shows the bluffs overlooking La Bouille, a small village on the Seine not far from Rouen. The painting is dedicated to the wife of Carl August Manthey, whose first name was perhaps Sara. The Mantheys were part of a small community of Scandinavians living in Rouen; Mr. Manthey appears to have been a timber merchant and may have worked for the Norwegian-Swedish vice-consul in Rouen. The Mantheys were art lovers, of the kind that Gauguin had hoped to cultivate as a local clientele for his paintings. The painting is perhaps a souvenir of an excursion on the river taken by the artist's family and the Mantheys. Gauguin also painted a portrait of Carl Manthey's sister, Sophie Margrethe Manthey (Wildenstein, no. 152). Carl Manthey died before 1900, and his widow likely returned to Norway thereafter, taking with her the present painting, which subsequently entered the Moen collection in Oslo.
The needs of his growing family soon proved to be an insurmountable burden. His wife Mette was accustomed to the comfortable house at 8, rue Carcel (see lot 211) and the help of servants, and by the end of 1883 they had four children, with a fifth on the way. In January 1884 Gauguin moved his family to Rouen, in the hope that living would be less expensive, following the example of Pissarro, who lived in Pontoise, away from the partisanship and distractions of the Paris art world. Their new quarters were cramped and uncomfortable, and Gauguin's assumption that he could easily find buyers for his landscapes among the more prosperous citizens of this commercial town proved to be unrealistic. In July Mette left Rouen to spend a couple of months in her native Denmark, and while she was away Gauguin was forced to sell his life insurance policy at half its value. In October Mette moved the children to Copenhagen, and Gauguin joined them the following month, where he took a job as a traveling salesman.
Gauguin's stylistic allegiances during the early 1880s were divided between the work of Degas and Pissarro, but as he began to work more out-of-doors, the influence of the latter became more important. Gauguin had also met Paul Cézanne in Paris in 1880-1881, and worked beside him at Pissarro's home in Pontoise, where Armand Guillaumin was a frequent visitor as well. Each of these men was working with a small, brushstroke that used unmixed colors placed side by side.
The present painting shows the bluffs overlooking La Bouille, a small village on the Seine not far from Rouen. The painting is dedicated to the wife of Carl August Manthey, whose first name was perhaps Sara. The Mantheys were part of a small community of Scandinavians living in Rouen; Mr. Manthey appears to have been a timber merchant and may have worked for the Norwegian-Swedish vice-consul in Rouen. The Mantheys were art lovers, of the kind that Gauguin had hoped to cultivate as a local clientele for his paintings. The painting is perhaps a souvenir of an excursion on the river taken by the artist's family and the Mantheys. Gauguin also painted a portrait of Carl Manthey's sister, Sophie Margrethe Manthey (Wildenstein, no. 152). Carl Manthey died before 1900, and his widow likely returned to Norway thereafter, taking with her the present painting, which subsequently entered the Moen collection in Oslo.