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Francis Maere Fine Arts
conrad willems
Conrad Willems (Belgium, 1983) Construction VII, 2022 977 Verde Levanto building blocks Black paper and white paint H 229 x W 148.5 x D 335 cm (sculpture) 3 x (110 x 75 cm) (drawings) The work consists of 977 Verde Levanto building blocks and three framed hand-drawn construction drawings. The blocks have been cut and sanded into 11 different basic shapes, based on wooden toy blocks. These are built into a construction, based on the construction drawings on black paper. The blocks are not affixed in any way, but placed on top of each other in a specific building order.
Galeria Jordi Pascual
óscar domínguez
Óscar Domínguez (Spain, San Cristóbal de La Laguna 1906-1957 Paris, France) Téléphone et revolver, 1944 Oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm Certificate of authenticity by Asociación en defensa de Óscar Domínguez Provenance: private collection Literature: Fernando Castro, Óscar Domínguez y el Surrealismo, Madrid, 1978, p. 153, nº 244 Exhibitions: Marsella, Musée Cantini, La part du jeu et du rêve, Óscar Domínguez et le Surréalisme 1906-1957, June-October 2005, p. 150, nº 74
Selected by BRAFA, designed by Gert Voorjans
corneille
Corneille (Guillaume Cornelis Van Beverloo, Liege 1922-2010 Auvers-sur-Oise) Untitled, Abstract blue, red and grey, 1960 Mixed media on canvas 28 x 35 cm Signed and dated upper right corner 'Corneille 1960' Certificate of authenticity issued by Fondation Guillaume Corneille in Brussels on 15 November 2024 Couck Art Gallery - Lucie Couck
COLNAGHI
wilhelm leibl
Wilhelm Leibl (Cologne 1844-1900 Würzburg) Study of a skull, circa 1868 Oil on canvas 34.4 x 31.4 cm Provenance: Johann Sperl (1840-1914), Munich; Karl Zitzmann (1871-1956); His sale, Hugo Helbing, Frankfurt am Main, November 16th, 1926, lot 12 [repr. table 5]; Galerie Heinemann, Munich, with the gallery's labels on the back, until at least May 10th, 1929; Georg Schäfer (1896-1975) Schweinfurt (with Inventory n° 0123 on the back); private collection, Southern Germany Literature: Emil Waldmann, Wilhelm Leibl. Eine Darstellung seiner Kunst, Gesamtverzeichnis seiner Gemälde, 2, Berlin, 1930, cat. n° 81 Exhibitions: Wilhelm Leibl. Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Radierungen (Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, and Galerie Matthiesen, Berlin, Cologne-Berlin: 1929), p. 43, cat. n° 29a; Vor hundert Jahren: Dänemark und Deutschland 1846-1900. Gegner und Nachbarn. (Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Kunstmuseum Århus, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Orangerie Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin, 1981). p. 372, cat. n° 144 D
DYS44 Lampronti Gallery
Bernardo Bellotto (Venice 1722-1780 Varsavia) Roma, veduta del Colosseo e dell’Arco di Costantino, 1743-1744 Oil on canvas 61 x 98.1 cm Provenance: private collection, New England; R. Birkedal, Seekonk, Massachusetts; T. Gilbert Brouillette (1906-1970), Falmouth, Massachusetts; Alicia Corchenuk de Buenfil, Città del Messico; Con Steven Juvenis e Firestone & Parson, Massachusetts, entro il 1976; Vendita anonima ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Sotheby's, 4 July 1990, lot 19 (as Canaletto); acquired from a private collection; Vendita anonima ('The Property of a European Collector'), London, Christie's, 7 July 2004, lot 98 (as Bellotto); private collection, by 2008; with Cesare Lampronti Gallery, London, by 2009 (as Bellotto); purchased privately from Hampel, Munich, by the current collector in 2019 Exhibitions: Gorizia, Palazzo della Torre, Le Meraviglie di Venezia, Dipinti del '700 in collezioni private, 14 marzo-27 luglio 2008, n° 92; Foligno, Palazzo Trinci, Giuseppe Piermarini, tra barocco e neoclassico, Roma, Napoli, Caserta, Foligno, 5 giugno-2 ottobre 2010, n° B2.22; Monaco, Alte Pinakothek, Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto Paints Europe, 17 ottobre 2014-15 gennaio 2015, n° 21 Literature: W.G. Constable, Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768, J.G. Links (a cura di), Oxford 1976, vol. I, n° 388*, riprodotto in pl. 206, e vol. II, pp. 393–94, n° 388* (come Canaletto); W.G. Constable, Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697–1768, J.G. Links (a cura di), Oxford 1989, vol. I, n° 388*, riprodotto in pl. 206, e vol. II, pp. 393–94, n° 388* (come Canaletto); J.G. Links, A Supplement to W.G. Constable's Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697–1768, Londra 1998, p. 38, n° 388* (come Canaletto); C. Beddington, in Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of Europe, E.P. Bowron (a cura di), cat. mostra, Venezia e Houston 2001, pp. 112 e 114 n° 7, sotto il n° 26; B.A. Kowalczyk, in Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of Europe, E.P. Bowron (a cura di), cat. mostra, Venezia e Houston 2001, pp. 136 e 138 n° 13, sotto il n° 35, riprodotto a p. 136; D. Succi, in Le Meraviglie di Venezia, Dipinti del ’700 in collezioni private, D. Succi e A. Delneri (a cura di), cat. mostra, Gorizia 2008, pp. 264–65, n° 92, riprodotto a colori (come Bellotto); M. Fagiolo, in Giuseppe Piermarini, tra barocco e neoclassico, Roma, Napoli, Caserta, Foligno, M. Fagiolo e M. Tabarrini (a cura di), cat. mostra, Foligno 2010, pp. 52 e 55, riprodotto a colori fig. 10; C. Lollobrigida, in Giuseppe Piermarini, tra barocco e neoclassico, Roma, Napoli, Caserta, Foligno, M. Fagiolo e M. Tabarrini (a cura di), cat. mostra, Foligno 2010, pp. 190, 300 e 301, n° B2.22, un dettaglio riprodotto a colori p. 190; T. Wagner, in Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto Paints Europe, A. Schumacher (a cura di), cat. mostra, Monaco 2014, pp. 192–93, n° 21, riprodotto a colori; B.A. Kowalczyk, in Bellotto and Canaletto. Wonder and Light, B.A. Kowalczyk (a cura di), cat. mostra, Milano 2016-2017, p. 150, sotto il n° 46; B.A. Kowalczyk, in Canaletto 1697–1768, B.A. Kowalczyk (a cura di), cat. mostra, Roma 2018, p. 150, sotto il n° 39
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Galerie Nicolas Bourriaud
Céline Lepage (Warsaw 1882-1928 Paris) Femme de Marrakech, circa 1920 Bronze with double shaded brown-green and medal patina H 80.5 x W 22 x D 22 cm Weight 12.7 kg Signed 'Céline Lepage' Sand casting probably made by the Rudier foundry. Publisher's stamp 'La Stèle', the artist's stamp with number 6 Literature: Paul Camille Lepage, 'Les conceptions artistiques de Céline Lepage', L’Art et les artistes, March 1933, model repr. p. 185
Galerie des Modernes
jean dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet (Le Havre 1901-1985 Paris) Chien errant, 1957 'Assemblage d'empreintes' series Ink and cut paper collage on paper mounted on cardboard 105 x 67 cm Signed and dated lower left 'J. Dubuffet 57' Provenance: Galerie René Drouin, Paris; collection Madame F. Montel, Paris; the Redfern Gallery, London; Waddington Galleries, London; Andrew Crispo Galleries Inc, New York; Sid Deutsch Gallery, New York; private collection, New York; private collection, Belgium Literature: Max Loreau, Catalogue des Travaux de Jean Dubuffet, Fascicule XII: Tableaux d'assemblages, Weber éditeur, Lausanne, 1969, described p. 99 and p. 130 and reproduced p. 99, n° 119; Andreas Franzke, Dubuffet Zeichnungen, Rogner & Bernhard, Munich, 1980, repr. in black and white on p. 175 Exhibition: Summer Exhibition 1972, The Redfern Gallery, London, Summer 1972
Samuel Vanhoegaerden Gallery
Hans Hartung (Leipzig 1904-1989 Antibes) Composition, 1957 Ink and watercolour on paper 27 x 21 cm Signed and dated lower right The present work is registered in the Fondation Hartung Bergman, Antibes and will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné under n° HH5919 Provenance: Galerie des Etats-Unis, Cannes; private collection, Brussels
COLNAGHI
willem adriaensz key
Willem Adriaensz Key (Breda 1515/16-1568 Antwerp) The Crucifixion, circa 1550 Oil on panel 102 x 74 cm Signed on the cross: W. KAY Provenance: private collection, Belgium, until 2023; acquired from the above Literature: Koenraad Jonckheere, Willem Key (1516-1568): Portrait of a Humanist Painter, Turnhout, 2011 This signed panel is a recently rediscovered work by Willem Key. Key is most known for his portrait paintings, which account for roughly two-thirds of his known output. However, he was also a gifted painter of historical and religious subjects - this picture is a testament to Key’s powerful religious achievements, several of which were destroyed during the Iconoclastic Fury, or Beeldenstorm, that swept the Low Countries and famously struck Antwerp in 1566. Willem Key was a prominent sixteenth-century painter from Antwerp, then one of the greatest commercial and artistic centres of Europe. Recognised for his exceptional talents, Key enjoyed high social and artistic status, earning the admiration of both local nobility and international figures, including Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and Antoine Perrenot, Cardinal Granvelle.
Kovacek Spiegelgasse
gustav klimt
Gustav Klimt (Baumgarten 1862-1918 Vienna) Standing nude, hands on the hips, 1911 Pencil on paper 57.1 x 37.5 cm Provenance: private collection, USA, courtesy Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York; private collection, Japan; 110. auction Klipstein und Kornfeld, Bern 1963, n° 536 (pl. 69); private collection Hikonobu Ise, Japan Literature: The Ise Collection, Ise Lifedesign House, Japan 1984, ill. n° 12; Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1904-1912, vol. II, Salzburg 1982, catalogue raisonné n° 2023, p. 252f
Galerie de la Présidence
Albert Marquet (Bordeaux 1875-1947 Paris) Septembre à Porquerolles, 1939 Oil on canvas 46.4 x 61.3 cm - framed 67 x 82 cm Signed lower right This work will be included in the Marquet Digital catalogue raisonné, in preparation by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute Provenance: Marcelle Marquet collection, Paris (1947); Salvador collection, Paris; Galerie Couleur du Temps, Paris; Galerie Motte, Geneva; private collection, United Kingdom; private collection, France Exhibition: Albert Marquet. Rétrospective, Galerie des Granges, Geneva, 1974, n° 27 Let’s approach the shores of the Iles d’Or with the painter Albert Marquet (Iles d’Or or The Golden Islands, the group of three islands located near Saint-Tropez, in South-East France, Mediterranean Sea). In the early summer of 1939, he and his wife moved into a delightful villa on the island of Porquerolles. On a windy day, he captures the lapping of the Mediterranean Sea with astonishing modernity. Combining realism and poetry, in this subtle harmony of light greens, he conveys the essential, with his accurate perception of tones and contrast. In front of this idyllic landscape filled with light, Marquet 'painter of the suspended time' invites to enjoy the journey...
Van Herck-Eykelberg
leon spilliaert
Léon Spilliaert (Ostend 1881-1946 Brussels) Le rêve. Femmes dansantes et oiseaux, 1916 Pencil and chinese ink on paper 25 x 25 cm Signed and dated lower right This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by Dr. Anne Adriaens-Pannier
Gallery de Potter d’Indoye
Pair of Empire period candelabras Attributed to Claude Galle (France, 1759-1815) Gilt and patinated bronze H 81 x W 31 x D 21 cm These candelabras from the Empire period, in the shape of winged figures of Victory carrying candlesticks in the hands and on the head, probably derive from the famous drawing in an album by Percier and Fontaine at the Metropolitan New York Museum of Art. The bronze stems take the form of women, who stand on tall plinths. These plinths are covered with a light brown patina and are decorated with gilt winged female figures, carrying baskets of fruit on their heads. Each woman strokes the heads of two dogs, who stand on their hind legs and lean against her. The sides and backs of the plinths are ornamented with gilt scrolled foliate motifs, topped by palmettes. The plinths are each set on four ormolu paw feet, placed on shaped, square gilt bronze bases. Above, patinated winged bronze women serve as the stems for the candelabra. They adopt monumental poses, reminiscent of ancient Egyptian or archaic sculpture. The winged women wear sheer dresses, which cling to their bodies. Each winged woman holds two gilt bronze lights in her outstretched hands and supports four more on her head. Those held in the women’s hands are conical shaped and are decorated around their tops with palmettes. The lights carried on their heads are raised up on slim stems and are crescent shaped in their arrangement. Three of the lights have cornucopia-shaped arms, which extend from open-mouthed dogs’ heads, and finish in urn-form palm leaf capitals. Stylised, curling leaves decorate the space above the dogs’ heads. On each, a cylindrical central light directly tops the stem, ending in a simple leafy capital. Claude Galle One of the foremost bronziers and fondeur-ciseleurs of the late Louis XVI and Empire periods, Claude Galle was born in Villepreux near Versailles. He served his apprenticeship in Paris under the fondeur Pierre Foy, and in 1784 married Foy’s daughter. In 1786 he became a maitre-fondeur. After the death of his father-in-law in 1788, Galle took over his workshop, soon turning it into one the finest. Galle moved to Quai de la Monnaie (later Quai de l’Unité), and then in 1805 to 60 Rue Vivienne. The Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, under the direction of sculptor Jean Hauré from 1786-88, entrusted him with many commissions. Galle collaborated with many excellent artisans, including Pierre-Philippe Thomire, and produced the majority of the furnishing bronzes for the Château de Fontainebleau during the Empire. He received many other Imperial commissions, including light fittings, figural clock cases, and vases for the palaces of Saint-Cloud, the Trianons, the Tuileries, Compiègne, and Rambouillet. He supplied several Italian palaces, such as Monte Cavallo, Rome and Stupinigi near Turin. In spite of his success, and due in part to his generous and lavish lifestyle, as well as to the failure of certain of his clients (such as the Prince Joseph Bonaparte) to pay what they owed, Galle often found himself in financial difficulty. Galle’s business was continued after his death by his son, Gérard-Jean Galle (1788-1846). Nowadays, his work can be found in the world’s most important museums and collections, those mentioned above, as well as the Musée National du Château de Malmaison, the Musée Marmottan in Paris, the Museo de Reloges at Jerez de la Frontera, the Residenz in Munich, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Galerie Boulakia
marc chagall
Marc Chagall (Vitebsk 1887-1985 Saint-Paul de Vence) Les fiancés au cirque, 1982 Oil, tempera and pastel on canvas 100 x 73 cm Signed ‘Marc Chagall’ in blue oil paint (lower right), signed and dated 'Marc/Chagall/1982’ in oil paint on the reverse This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Comité Marc Chagall, Paris Provenance: artist's estate; private collection, Europe
Alexis Lartigue
René Magritte (Lessines 1898-1967 Brussels) Les Grâces naturelles, circa 1953 Red chalk on paper 47 x 36.7 cm Signed lower right Signed and titled on the reverse lower right Certificate of authenticity by Comité Magritte Provenance: La Sirène gallery, Brussels; private collection; sale Sotheby's, Paris; private collection, Paris 'If we imagine young girls blossoming, we can also acknowledge a bird in bloom. The emergence of this bird is as delightful as the sunrise'. René Magritte The bird-plant in this beautiful chalk drawing, Les Grâces naturelles, is an emblematic and recurring theme of Magritte's art. This particularly graceful model of metamorphosis was cquired from the Belgian artist in 1953 by Raymond Becquevort, founder of the La Sirène gallery in Brussels. Frequented by Ponge, Artaud and Michaud, it was a major hub for the surrealist intelligentsia; a place where words discovered images. Magritte began developing the theme of the bird-plant in 1942, when Belgium was under Nazi occupation. He adapted this theme into infinite variations moving from chalk to gouache, then onto canvas. So often symbols of hope, here birds are poetic and neurasthenic metaphors. The assimilation of the naturally-mobile bird with the plant that is rooted deep in the earth, contributes to a troubled state of mind.
Univers du Bronze
auguste rodin
Auguste Rodin (Paris 1840-1917 Meudon) Petite ombre de la Porte de l'enfer ou 'Petite Ombre n°1' Model of 1885, cast in 1943 Bronze, richly shaded green brown patina H 31.1 x W 13.8 x D 10.9 cm Bronze signed 'Rodin', cast by 'Alexis Rudier Fondeur Paris' (mark), 'A.Rodin' inside relief seal; 13 examples by this founder for Rodin between 1906 and 1911, then 4 by him for the Museum between 1919 and 1945 (completed edition by Georges Rudier between 1958 and 1966 with 7 bronzes) - Comité Rodin advice letter 2022-6677B
rodolphe janssen
sanam khatibi
Sanam Khatibi (Belgian with Iranian heritage, 1979) A few more crimes, 2018 Oil, pastel and pencil on panel 24 x 31 cm Sanam Khatibi (b. 1979, Belgium, of Iranian heritage) is a Belgian artist whose multifaceted practice spans painting, tapestry, sculpture, and installation. Based between Brussels and Paris, Khatibi’s work explores the delicate and complex balance between beauty, violence, and vulnerability. Her practice engages with themes of human imperfection, the tension between domination and submission, and the chaotic forces that shape our lives. Through a distinctive use of color and form, she draws attention to the fragility of the human experience and the unspoken violence that often lies beneath surface appearances. In her work, Khatibi delves into the darker aspects of human nature, exploring our struggles with excess, control, and the breakdown of social and moral boundaries. These explorations are framed in landscapes that juxtapose natural beauty with underlying violence and destruction, invoking a timeless tension between civilization and primal instincts. Her figures -whether human, animal, or mythical-are often presented as fragile, vulnerable, and engaged in various states of conflict, emphasizing the stark realities of human survival and the consequences of unchecked desire. These small-scale vanitas paintings from the 'murders serie' are introspective works, conceived as protection charms, invite the viewer into an intimate reflection on life's transience and human vulnerability.
Willow Gallery
Raoul Dufy (Le Havre 1877-1953 Forcalquier) Le Bal, 1920 Oil on canvas 55 x 65 cm - framed: 70 x 80 cm Signed lower right 'Raoul Dufy' Provenance: Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (in March 1924); Max Pellequer, Paris (acquired from the latter in January 1925); Marcel Kapferer, Paris (before 1928); Doctor Alexandre Rudinesco, Paris (before 1951); its sale, Parke-Bernett Galleries Inc., New York, October 10, 1968, lot 22 (titled 'Le Bal du quatorze Juillet à Antibes', dated '1910'); B. Gerald Cantor, New York (before 1970); private collection; private collection, France Literature: C. Zervos, Raoul Dufy, Paris, 1928, n° 29 (ill.; titled 'Antibes'; dated '1921'); M. Gauthier, Raoul Dufy, Paris, 1949 (ill., pl. VIII; dated '1912'); P. Courthion, Raoul Dufy, Geneva, 1951, p. XII, n° 62 (ill., pl. 62; titled 'Le Bal à Antibes'; dated '1910'); M. Brion, Raoul Dufy, Paintings and Watercolors, London, 1958, pl. 13 (ill.: titled 'Ball at Antibes, 14 July'; dated '1910'); Maurice Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, Catalogue Raisonné de l’Oeuvre Peint, Tome IV, Editions Motte, Geneva, 1977, p. 147 n° 1581 Exhibitions: Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Plaisir de France, June 1951, n° 62 (titled 'July 14'); Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Plaisirs de la campagne, June 1954, n° 61 (titled 'July 14'); Albi, Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Raoul Dufy Exhibition, Paintings, watercolors, drawings, tapestries, July-September 1955, p. 24, n° 11 (ill., pl. VIII; titled 'The Ball in Antibes, July 14'; dated '1910'); Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune-Dauberville, Masterpieces of Raoul Dufy, For the benefit of mutual aid of intellectual workers, April-July 1959, n° 9 (ill., pl. 5; titled 'Antibes'; dated '1910'); Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Les Fauves, 1962, n° 55 (titled 'July 14'); Mexico, Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno, Cien años de pintura en Francia, De 1850 a nuestros dias, October-November 1962, p. 118, n° 47 (titled '14 de Julio'); Des Moines, Art Center; Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art; Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Art Museum; Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Fort Worth, Fort Worth Art Center Museum, Selections from the B. Gerald Cantor Collection, December 1970-August 1971, n° 4 (ill. in colour, titled 'Fourteenth of July Dance at Antibes'; dated '1910') Born in 1877 in Le Havre, Dufy entered the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1900. During this period, he was heavily influenced by Impressionism. He exhibited his work for the first time at the 1901 Salon des Artistes, and then at the Salon des Indépendants in 1903. He also met Berthe Weill in 1902, and began to show his work in her gallery. Dufy received a boost to his confidence when the artist Maurice Denis was one of the first buyers of his work. For the next few years, Dufy painted in the vicinity of Le Havre, made famous by Eugène Boudin and Claude Monet. In 1905 Dufy saw Matisse’s painting ‘Luxe, Calme et Volupté’ in the Salon des Indépendants and his work became influenced by the Fauves until about 1909 when exposure to the work of Paul Cézanne led him to adopt a more subtle technique. In 1911, he and the couturier Paul Poiret founded the ‘Petite Usine’, a company that printed fashion and decorative textiles. Initially interested in engraving, he then began to work in lithographs and watercolours before moving into ceramics alongside the Catalan artist Llorens Artigas. He also illustrated books. After also showing interest in cubism, Dufy finally began to develop his own distinctive approach in 1920. Skeletal structures, foreshortened perspective, and thin, quickly-applied washes of colour became his trademark, in a manner he referred to as stenographic. As subject matter, he chose yachting scenes, views of the French Riviera, parties, and musical events. He had also become fascinated with horseracing, which developed into one of his main subjects. Dufy initially focused on the fashionable racegoers, but soon also became fascinated by the racing itself. The colour and atmosphere of horseracing gave Dufy the opportunity to use and explore his ‘colour-light’ technique, which put the focus on using colour rather than black and white to imply light and shade. Throughout his career, the colour blue was a constant presence in his work. As he once remarked, ‘Blue is the only colour which maintains its own character in all its tones…it will always stay blue…whereas yellow is blackened in its shades and fades away when lightened: red when darkened becomes brown, and diluted with white is no longer red, but another colour – pink’. During this period, Dufy was prolific, working in a variety of materials producing ceramics, tapestry hangings, and large-scale architectural decorations. Dufy’s success continued to grow, and in 1937 he (with the help of his brother Jean) was asked to create what was then the largest painting in the world for the Electricity Pavilion at the Universal Exhibition. ‘La Fée Electricité’ covers over 600 square meters, and was donated the Musée d’Art Moderne by Électricité de France and installed in 1964. Despite the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, Dufy exhibited in the annual Salon des Tuileries during the late 1940s and early 1950s and was awarded the grand prize for painting at the 26th Venice Biennale in 1952, the year before his death. Today, Dufy’s work is held in the collections of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and many others. An explosion of colour with a dense yet carefully organized patchwork of lines and shapes convey the almost electric atmosphere of this festive dance scene painted by Raoul Dufy. Sometimes referred to as the 14th July, or the 14th July in Antibes, other times just as a dance or ball, Le Bal, is one of the most ambitious renderings of those two subjects combined into one that Dufy explored several times throughout his career. For example, Dufy painted a Bal Populaire in his Fauvist years in 1906, much less constructed and dominated by the green tones of the scene’s setting in park. In 1912, his interpretation of the 14th July festivities seems the closest in terms of composition to Le Bal, with its interlocked diagonals in the upper part – referring to the ball’s tent and flag garlands – and its animated dancing floor in the lower part rendered through spontaneous and vibrant brushstrokes suggesting the figures and their movements. In 1920, Raoul Dufy appears to have painted two very different dancing scenes, both titled Le Bal: the present work and another painting now in a private collection. Dufy opted for a setting in a park for the latter – closer to that of the 1906 painting – as opposed to setting the ball in a colourful almost circus-like tent, as seen in this example, recalling the painting of the 14th July (corresponding to ‘Bastille Day’, the national French public holiday marking the beginning of the French Revolution on 14 July 1789) dating from 1912. These similarities and differences with other works from Dufy’s oeuvre explain the ambiguity of the present work’s dating, given it was exhibited at Galerie Charpentier’s themed exhibition on Fauvism in 1962 and there dated ‘1908’. In other bibliographical references, it is often dated 1910, yet Fanny Guillon-Laffaille adamantly dated Le Bal of 1920 in the corresponding entry of her catalogue raisonné. The daring colour code and combinations, and the broad brushstrokes barely defining the figures are reminiscent of his Fauvist years. The wide bands of colours covering more than half of the composition show Dufy’s awareness of the slightly later avant-gardist movements steering towards abstraction, such as Orphism. Whether or not Le Bal depicts one of the traditional festivities of Bastille Day, and whether or not it is effectively set in Antibes, its vibrant composition is so full of life that it translates a sort of timelessness. Dufy presents us with a snapshot of modern life – it is colourful, dynamic and never stops – and there is no doubt that the 14th July was a perfect pretext to stage and glorify this exhilarating modern life. Judi Freeman wrote that Dufy ‘shared the Impressionist enthusiasm for the annual transformation of cities and towns for Bastille Day on July 14th and other flag-waving celebrations. Whereas Manet and Monet occasionally painted Parisian boulevards adorned with flags for patriotic holidays, Dufy and Marquet regularly depicted the festivities. For the Impressionist the flag-draped streets provided an opportunity to show a colorful festival of modern life, occasionally tinged with political overtones. For Dufy and Marquet the holiday provided motifs that could be situated within the Impressionist tradition but more loosely rendered, with the sketchier brushworks and scattered, almost random color ('The Distant Cousins in Normandy: Braque, Dufy and Friesz', in The Fauve Landscape, New York, 1990, p. 221-222).
