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Lot Essay
Aux Pavillons à Cricqueboeuf is part of a group of thirteen decorative panels that Vuillard's dealers, Josse and Gaston Bernheim, commissioned in 1911 for their opulent summer home, Bois-Lurette, in Villers-sur-Mer (Salomon IX-159.1-13). The paintings were executed in three successive summers in 1911-1913, during visits that Vuillard made to the Norman and Breton coasts with his friends, Jos and Lucy Hessel. Only one of the panels depicts the Bernheims' own residence, showing their wives, Mathilde and Suzanne, on the front porch of Bois-Lurette. The remaining works in the series, including the present one, depict the various villas that the Hessels rented during this period: Les Pavillons at Cricqueboeuf in 1911, Le Coadigou at Loctudy in 1912, and La Divette at Cabourg in 1913. Gloria Groom has explained, "Vuillard's intention for the Bernheim commission seems to have been to create representations of a parallel social world that would have been recognizable and of interest to his patrons, rather than simply to mirror their own surroundings" (in op. cit., p. 244).
The present painting is one of the five panels that Vuillard completed in 1911, during his first season of work on the commission. Together, the works functioned as a door surround for the entrance to the Bernheims' sitting room (fig. 1). Aux Pavillons à Cricqueboeuf, which hung to the right of the doorway, depicts Lucy Hessel and her friends relaxing in the garden of their country house. Lucy herself is seated in the foreground, clad in a pale pink dress and a large straw hat. Beside her is a young girl, probably Denise Natanson, who rests her hand on Lucy's dog, Loc. In the background, additional figures play cards or recline on chaise lounges, enjoying the languorous diversions and easy camaraderie of a summer afternoon in the country. The pendant to this panel, which hung to the left of the doorway, was also painted in the garden of Les Pavillons and shows Denise Natanson playing with a small dog. In 1912, Vuillard executed a second door surround for the Bernheims, consisting of three paintings of Lucy and her friends on the sun-drenched veranda of the villa at Loctudy. Finally, in 1913, he made a group of five panels for the area around the stairs at Bois-Lurette, including the above-mentioned painting of Mathilde and Suzanne Bernheim, as well as two scenes of the Hessels and their entourage enjoying an informal, convivial meal.
As an ensemble, the Bernheim panels capture on a grand scale the pleasures of the villégiature: an extended sojourn in an idyllic rural environment, typical of wealthy Parisians at the turn of the century. Belinda Thomson has observed, "As these were to be light-hearted decorations for a holiday setting, Vuillard's choice of theme, his bright pastel palette and the loose handling were entirely appropriate. Indeed, Vuillard's decorative scheme as a whole was a vivid testimony to the douceur de vivre of the bourgeoisie in an era that was shortly to be brought to an abrupt close by the Great War" (in Vuillard, New York, 1988, p. 119). Likewise, the curators of the major recent retrospective of Vuillard's work have written, "In this suite of decorations, Vuillard achieves an ideal marriage of theme, location and technique - the bright, pastel palette and the loose, fluid handling of the paint surface accentuate the evocation of idyllic, sun-drenched days spent in the Normandy countryside. If these paintings are reminiscent of the early work of Monet in their exquisite luminosity and their celebration of leisure, they also call to mind the scintillating palette and open compositions found in Bonnard's work of this time" (G. Cogeval, ed., Edouard Vuillard, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2003, p. 451).
(fig. 1) The present painting in situ at Josse and Gaston Bernheim's villa, Bois-Lurette.
The present painting is one of the five panels that Vuillard completed in 1911, during his first season of work on the commission. Together, the works functioned as a door surround for the entrance to the Bernheims' sitting room (fig. 1). Aux Pavillons à Cricqueboeuf, which hung to the right of the doorway, depicts Lucy Hessel and her friends relaxing in the garden of their country house. Lucy herself is seated in the foreground, clad in a pale pink dress and a large straw hat. Beside her is a young girl, probably Denise Natanson, who rests her hand on Lucy's dog, Loc. In the background, additional figures play cards or recline on chaise lounges, enjoying the languorous diversions and easy camaraderie of a summer afternoon in the country. The pendant to this panel, which hung to the left of the doorway, was also painted in the garden of Les Pavillons and shows Denise Natanson playing with a small dog. In 1912, Vuillard executed a second door surround for the Bernheims, consisting of three paintings of Lucy and her friends on the sun-drenched veranda of the villa at Loctudy. Finally, in 1913, he made a group of five panels for the area around the stairs at Bois-Lurette, including the above-mentioned painting of Mathilde and Suzanne Bernheim, as well as two scenes of the Hessels and their entourage enjoying an informal, convivial meal.
As an ensemble, the Bernheim panels capture on a grand scale the pleasures of the villégiature: an extended sojourn in an idyllic rural environment, typical of wealthy Parisians at the turn of the century. Belinda Thomson has observed, "As these were to be light-hearted decorations for a holiday setting, Vuillard's choice of theme, his bright pastel palette and the loose handling were entirely appropriate. Indeed, Vuillard's decorative scheme as a whole was a vivid testimony to the douceur de vivre of the bourgeoisie in an era that was shortly to be brought to an abrupt close by the Great War" (in Vuillard, New York, 1988, p. 119). Likewise, the curators of the major recent retrospective of Vuillard's work have written, "In this suite of decorations, Vuillard achieves an ideal marriage of theme, location and technique - the bright, pastel palette and the loose, fluid handling of the paint surface accentuate the evocation of idyllic, sun-drenched days spent in the Normandy countryside. If these paintings are reminiscent of the early work of Monet in their exquisite luminosity and their celebration of leisure, they also call to mind the scintillating palette and open compositions found in Bonnard's work of this time" (G. Cogeval, ed., Edouard Vuillard, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2003, p. 451).
(fig. 1) The present painting in situ at Josse and Gaston Bernheim's villa, Bois-Lurette.