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Lot Essay
Maithe Valles-Bled and Godelieve de Vlaminck will include this painting in the forthcoming Vlaminck catalogue raisonné being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Institute.
By 1908, Maurice de Vlaminck's experimentation with bold Fauvist color had been tempered, and his palette had become more controlled. Paul Cézanne's exhibition at the Salon d'Automne in 1907 had profoundly affected on the direction of his art thereafter as evident in his choice of the deep reds, ochres and blues in La port. As Maruice Genevoix observes: "the marine subjects of this time, with their flowing water, boats and sailboats, express [Vlaminck's] enthusiasm with his subject. The color brightens up without loosing its place in reality. The harmonies become less explosive than in the past, more skillful. After the brass of Fauvism, he inserted into the orchestra the woods and the strings in order to obtain more complete effects" (M. Genevoix, Vlaminck, Paris, 1954, p. 51).
Vlaminck was an inveterate yachtsman and frequently depicted boating scenes in his paintings. While the majority of these are of river views, the choice of a port in the present painting was probably influenced by the trip he took with André Derain in the winter of 1913 along the coast of southern France. Traveling from Les Martigues to Marseille, Vlaminck is said to have noted with irony that they had come to the Midi only to find that it resembled their former residence Chatou (M. Sauvage, Vlaminck, sa vie et son message, Geneva, 1965, p. 40).
By 1908, Maurice de Vlaminck's experimentation with bold Fauvist color had been tempered, and his palette had become more controlled. Paul Cézanne's exhibition at the Salon d'Automne in 1907 had profoundly affected on the direction of his art thereafter as evident in his choice of the deep reds, ochres and blues in La port. As Maruice Genevoix observes: "the marine subjects of this time, with their flowing water, boats and sailboats, express [Vlaminck's] enthusiasm with his subject. The color brightens up without loosing its place in reality. The harmonies become less explosive than in the past, more skillful. After the brass of Fauvism, he inserted into the orchestra the woods and the strings in order to obtain more complete effects" (M. Genevoix, Vlaminck, Paris, 1954, p. 51).
Vlaminck was an inveterate yachtsman and frequently depicted boating scenes in his paintings. While the majority of these are of river views, the choice of a port in the present painting was probably influenced by the trip he took with André Derain in the winter of 1913 along the coast of southern France. Traveling from Les Martigues to Marseille, Vlaminck is said to have noted with irony that they had come to the Midi only to find that it resembled their former residence Chatou (M. Sauvage, Vlaminck, sa vie et son message, Geneva, 1965, p. 40).