MAURICE DE VLAMINCK

(Paris 1876–1958 Rueil-la-Gadelière)
Rue de Village. Circa 1912.
Oil on canvas.
Signed lower left: Vlaminck.
60 × 73 cm.

The authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the Wildenstein Institute, Paris, 17.9.2015 (a copy of the certificate is available).

Provenance:
Swiss private collection.

Chatou, a small town 10 km west of Paris, was Maurice de Vlamincks favourite place to paint throughout his life. One day in the summer of 1900, as he was travelling by train towards Paris, the train derailed and Vlaminck had to make his way home on foot. On the way he met the painter André Derain, who happened to be on the same train to Paris. From this chance encounter, a lifelong friendship developed. It is probably thanks to André Derain that Maurice de Vlaminck turned to painting. From 1907, as Vlaminck began to spend more time in Paris, the Fauvist painting he had practised with Derain was gradually supplanted by the influence of other styles. The greatest influence during this period was probably that of Cézanne, whose important retrospective at the Salon d'Automne greatly impressed and captivated Vlaminck. He was enthusiastic about Cézanne's intensive brushwork and his rendering of light, and adopted his palette with its accentuated green and blue tones. He moved away from Fauvism, whose limits he had explored, towards a new interpretation of space. Vlaminck's works took on a new dimension; he expertly combined the objectivity of the pictorial composition with a new gentle and sensitive application of paint.