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Lot Essay
Painted in 1908, La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan is a bold and sensuous painting that dates from the highpoint of Van Dongen's Fauvism. 1908 was a vintage year for Van Dongen, and La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan ranks amongst the greatest nudes not only of this period, but of his entire career. The quality of this painting has resulted in its inclusion in two important early exhibitions of Van Dongen's paintings, those at the Salon des Indépendants and at Bernheim-Jeune's, both in 1911, as well as in later Van Dongen retrospectives around the world. It also features in colour in several of the most important monographs on the artist.
The nudes that Van Dongen painted in the second half of the first decade of the Twentieth Century combine the increasingly refined and distinctive Fauvism of the artist with his increasing aptitude to render sensuality and eroticism directly on the canvas. Of the paintings of this period in particular, his nudes are without doubt the greatest. Indeed, the discreet parade of models whom he depicted during these years clearly engaged the artist so much that by 1908, he was increasingly seldom depicting the scenes of the Parisian nightlife with which he had largely made his name, and which had been his artistic staple since his days as an illustrator. The Folies Bergères and the other clubs and dance halls gave way to increasingly intimate depictions of the women in his life, although a good number of his models were dancers from the various establishments he had depicted.
There is an enchanting languor in La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan that makes this painting all the more engaging, and all the more honest. The subject, asleep on the divan, is flushed, ramming home the sensuality of the picture. This sensuality also implies more about the relationship between the painter and his subject: Mika is sprawled like a lover, barely covered by the tussled sheets around her. As in some of Van Dongen's other nudes from this period, his theme is sex, rather than mere eroticism. Indeed, it is ironic to consider that almost half a decade had passed since the 1865 Salon when Manet had exhibited his Olympia to such a scandalous reception. For La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan appears as the more modern, more overt representation of sexuality, a reincarnation of Manet's painting. Likewise, half a decade after Van Dongen painted La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan, Van Dongen would gain celebrity through the outraged reaction to his large nude of his wife, Tableau (also called Le châle espagnol, La femme aux pigeons and Le mendiant d'amour) painted in 1913 and now in the Centre Georges Pompidou. This picture, shown at the Salon d'Automne the same year that it was painted, was considered so salacious and licentious that the police removed it. Interestingly, La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan had had no such problem when it was exhibited in the Salon des Indépendants two years earlier.
One of the most scandalous elements in Van Dongen's nudes was the blatant, and here focal, depiction of the woman's sex. In words that are particularly apt to La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan , the artist defended, and indeed celebrated, his overt depiction of this:
'For all those who look with their ears, here is a completely naked woman. You are prudish, but I tell you that our sexes are organs that are as amusing as brains, and if the sex was found in the face, in place of the nose (which could have happened), where would prudishness be then? Shamelessness is really a virtue, like the lack of respect for many respectable things...' (Van Dongen, 1911, quoted in Kees van Dongen, exh.cat., ed. D. Marchesseau, Martigny, 2002, p. 83).
However, La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan, shows an artist who was fully aware of the radical potential both of his subject matter and of his artistic style. For while Fauvism as a general trend was petering out by the time La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan was painted, Van Dongen was almost unique in finding a new tack. Indeed, as the movement came to its natural end, Van Dongen began to create increasingly strong, idiosyncratic paintings in his own unique Fauve manner. In La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan, the combination of the heavily textured, painterly surface and the adventurous use of colour show a wild Fauve, painting desire directly onto his canvas. With Mika asleep before him, Van Dongen evokes certainly the burning embers of Fauvism, the passion associated with the movement, and some of the wildness too. The bold outlines of Mika's body thrust the colours into the fore, especially the green that the artist has so judiciously used amongst the fleshtones. The combination of this green, the yellow of the background, the flushed red of Mika's face and the white of the sheets (and therefore the lower half of the painting) show the virtuoso composition and judgement of a supreme colourist.
The nudes that Van Dongen painted in the second half of the first decade of the Twentieth Century combine the increasingly refined and distinctive Fauvism of the artist with his increasing aptitude to render sensuality and eroticism directly on the canvas. Of the paintings of this period in particular, his nudes are without doubt the greatest. Indeed, the discreet parade of models whom he depicted during these years clearly engaged the artist so much that by 1908, he was increasingly seldom depicting the scenes of the Parisian nightlife with which he had largely made his name, and which had been his artistic staple since his days as an illustrator. The Folies Bergères and the other clubs and dance halls gave way to increasingly intimate depictions of the women in his life, although a good number of his models were dancers from the various establishments he had depicted.
There is an enchanting languor in La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan that makes this painting all the more engaging, and all the more honest. The subject, asleep on the divan, is flushed, ramming home the sensuality of the picture. This sensuality also implies more about the relationship between the painter and his subject: Mika is sprawled like a lover, barely covered by the tussled sheets around her. As in some of Van Dongen's other nudes from this period, his theme is sex, rather than mere eroticism. Indeed, it is ironic to consider that almost half a decade had passed since the 1865 Salon when Manet had exhibited his Olympia to such a scandalous reception. For La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan appears as the more modern, more overt representation of sexuality, a reincarnation of Manet's painting. Likewise, half a decade after Van Dongen painted La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan, Van Dongen would gain celebrity through the outraged reaction to his large nude of his wife, Tableau (also called Le châle espagnol, La femme aux pigeons and Le mendiant d'amour) painted in 1913 and now in the Centre Georges Pompidou. This picture, shown at the Salon d'Automne the same year that it was painted, was considered so salacious and licentious that the police removed it. Interestingly, La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan had had no such problem when it was exhibited in the Salon des Indépendants two years earlier.
One of the most scandalous elements in Van Dongen's nudes was the blatant, and here focal, depiction of the woman's sex. In words that are particularly apt to La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan , the artist defended, and indeed celebrated, his overt depiction of this:
'For all those who look with their ears, here is a completely naked woman. You are prudish, but I tell you that our sexes are organs that are as amusing as brains, and if the sex was found in the face, in place of the nose (which could have happened), where would prudishness be then? Shamelessness is really a virtue, like the lack of respect for many respectable things...' (Van Dongen, 1911, quoted in Kees van Dongen, exh.cat., ed. D. Marchesseau, Martigny, 2002, p. 83).
However, La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan, shows an artist who was fully aware of the radical potential both of his subject matter and of his artistic style. For while Fauvism as a general trend was petering out by the time La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan was painted, Van Dongen was almost unique in finding a new tack. Indeed, as the movement came to its natural end, Van Dongen began to create increasingly strong, idiosyncratic paintings in his own unique Fauve manner. In La dormeuse, Mika nue sur un divan, the combination of the heavily textured, painterly surface and the adventurous use of colour show a wild Fauve, painting desire directly onto his canvas. With Mika asleep before him, Van Dongen evokes certainly the burning embers of Fauvism, the passion associated with the movement, and some of the wildness too. The bold outlines of Mika's body thrust the colours into the fore, especially the green that the artist has so judiciously used amongst the fleshtones. The combination of this green, the yellow of the background, the flushed red of Mika's face and the white of the sheets (and therefore the lower half of the painting) show the virtuoso composition and judgement of a supreme colourist.