Van Gogh Museum Journal 2003

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[Documentation]

Gustave Caillebotte
View from a balcony, Paris 1880

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Catalogue of acquisitions: paintings and drawings
August 2002 - July 2003

This catalogue contains the paintings and drawings acquired by the Van Gogh Museum from August 2002 to July 2003. Each work has an inventory number made up as follows: the first letter stands for the technique (s = painting, d = drawing); this is followed by a reference number and then by a capital letter (B = loan, N = State of the Netherlands, S = Van Gogh Museum [after 1 July 1994], V = Vincent van Gogh Foundation) and the year of acquisition.

Paintings

Caillebotte, Gustave
French, 1848-1894

View from a balcony, Paris 1880
Oil on canvas, 65.6 × 54.9 cm
Stamped lower left in blue: G. Caillebotte
s 508 S/2003

Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) was a prominent member of the impressionist movement. At the end of the 1870s and early 1880s he exhibited his work in five of the eight shows the impressionists organised between 1874 and 1886. As a wealthy patron Caillebotte also fulfilled an important role by collecting of the work of his friends. Most of his impressive collection is now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. He owned fives canvases by Cézanne; eight pastels by Degas; four paintings by Manet, including his monumental Balcony (Musée d'Orsay); and no fewer than 16 Monets and 18 canvases by Pissarro, while he had nine works each by both Renoir and Sisley.

Caillebotte worked in diverse genres, but is particularly famous for his pictures of contemporary urban life - the retrospective exhibition of his work held in 1994-95 (Paris, Chicago, Los Angeles) bore the title Gustave Caillebotte: urban impressionist. In their originality of motif and imaginative composition, Caillebotte's works rival those of Edgar Degas. Indeed, in its finished state Caillebotte's early work most resembles that of this French master - a good example being The floor-scrapers of 1875 (Musée d'Orsay). However, Caillebotte would gradually develop a more painterly brushstroke far more reminiscent of Monet. At the same time, his palette became lighter and View of boulevard Haussmann seen from the balcony is a result of this development. Whereas some of Caillebotte's large intricate compositions tend to be painted in a somewhat flat and static manner. The cityscape discussed here, however, has a spontaneous and fluent brushstroke that perfectly matches the unusual subject matter.

The scene is painted on a so-called toile de 15, portrait, a canvas of standard format measuring 65 × 54 centimetres that artists could purchase on a stretcher in specialist art shops. The question as to whether this was a study for a larger canvas or an independent painting was once declared to be unsolvable,¹ but technically speaking everything would suggest that Caillebotte conceived the piece as a work complete in itself. Although the brushwork is undeniably fluent and spontaneous, the treatment is far from loose. The shapes of the balcony balustrades were first laid down in a range of blacks and greys of varying thickness. Later this fencing is further worked up in black mixed with dashes of colour - white, bright green, dark red, blue and yellow - adding subtleties of light and shade. Then the canvas was left to dry for a while, after which light, pastel shades (cream, pink, pale blue) were introduced in the background.² The carefully thought-out method visible throughout the whole work and the two stages in which the painting was executed indicate that the artist was engaged in making a real picture, rather than a simple impression. Moreover, no more fully worked-out version is known.

The work is one of a series of Parisian cityscapes painted in 1880 showing the view from Caillebotte's apartment balcony, on the corner of boulevard Haussmann and rue Gluck. Other impressionist artists were also fond of depicting a view of the city seen from a high vantage point; Caillebotte, however, gave the motif a strong personal character. He considered the various possibilities in an almost playful manner; for instance, several of the pictures in this group give an important role to the decorative cast-iron balustrade, and in the painting discussed here it has in fact become the main motif. This type of decoration forms part of many compositions by Caillebotte, albeit chiefly as a secondary motif. Thus we find a similar balustrade

1 Kirk Varnedoe, Gustave Caillebotte, New Haven & London 1987, no. 45.

2 With thanks to René Boitelle.

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in the background of the above-mentioned Floor-scrapers.

Although as far as its subject matter is concerned View from a balcony is representative of the artist's oeuvre, it is at the same time an experiment pushed to the extreme. It clearly reflects the influence of Japanese prints, with their curious compositions and daring croppings of the picture's edge, which deeply influenced impressionist artists. Without any apology, the cast-iron balustrade has become the subject of the composition, creating a picture that takes us by surprise and seems to represent a conscious - and successful - attempt at a truly modern composition. With his direct approach, Caillebotte seeks above all to intrigue rather than simply please. In this way his painting makes a remarkably idiosyncratic impact.

Several prominent authors have recognised the importance of this work. In his standard work on Caillebotte, the late Kirk Varnedoe expressed himself in lyrical terms when speaking of the canvas: ‘The picture is not only one of the most original conceptions in Caillebotte's art; it is also a pivot point in the history of painting, standing within one tradition while announcing another. [...] The image embodies not only a striking graphic beauty - a design before whose exuberance the name of Matisse springs irresistibly to mind - but also an extraordinary creative leap of the visual imagination.’³ The authoritative scholar of impressionism, Richard Brettell, pronounced: ‘This boldly painted and brilliantly composed work is one of the most original cityscapes of Paris by any Impressionist painter.’⁴

Caillebotte was a wealthy man and did not have to earn his living from his art. This is presumably why he sold little of his work during his lifetime and rarely exhibited. It is thought that View from a balcony was displayed at the fifth impressionist exhibition in 1880, but there is no absolute certainty about this.⁵ The artist died at an early age and his paintings remained largely in the family. Unlike other impressionist artists, Caillebotte more or less sank into oblivion. Not until the second half of the twentieth century would his work gradually appear on the art market and his fame spread. The Caillebotte family sold View from a balcony to Wildenstein in 1968 and it remained with this owner until it was bought by the Van Gogh Museum in 2003.

Sjraar van Heugten

Provenance 1880-1968 family of the artist; 1968-2003 Wildenstein, New York; acquired by the Van Gogh Museum (2003)

Literature Exhib cat. Catalogue de la 5e expostion de peinture. Paris (10, rue des Pyramides) 1880, no. 12; exhib cat Gustave Caillebotte, Paris (Wildenstein) 1951, no. 34 (ill ), M Berhaut, Gustave Caillebotte, Paris 1951, no 99, G Bazin, ‘Gustave Caillebotte,’ in: Kindlers Malerie Lexikon, Zürich 1964, vol 1, p 590; exhib cat Caillebotte et ses amis impressionistes, Chartres (Musée Chartes) 1965, p 8, no 12; exhib cat Gustave Caillebotte, London (Wildenstein) 1966, p 25, no 22; exhib cat Gustave Caillebotte, New York (Wildenstein) 1968, no 32; M Berhaut, Caillebotte the impressionist, Lausanne 1968, p. 35, fig 16, R. Huyghe, L'impressionisme, Paris 1971, pp 244-45 (ill p 244), J.T K Varnedoe and T.P. Lee, exhib. cat. Gustave Caillebotte: a retrospective exhibition, Houston (The Houston Museum of Fine Arts) & New York (Brooklyn Museum) 1976-77, pp 38, 53, 57, 155 (ill ), 155-58, no. 55, M. Berhaut, ‘Gustave Caillebotte et le réalisme impressioniste,’ L'Oeil 268 (November 1977), p 48 (ill.), M. Berhaut, Caillebotte, sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris 1978, pp 46 (ill.), 47, 129 (ill ), no 138, p 249; exhib. cat. The crisis of impressionism, 1878-1882, Ann Arbor (The University of Michigan Museum) 1979-80, p. 72, no. 8, 73 (ill.), J.-F. Chevrier, ‘Modernisme et beauté industrielle,’ Photographies 5 (July 1984), p. 28 (ill.); J.K T Varnedoe, Gustave Caillebotte, New Haven & London 1987, pp. 152-54, no. 45 (ill.), E. Darragon, Caillebotte, Paris 1994, p 95, 96-97 (ill ), A. Distel et al., exhib. cat. Gustave Caillebotte 1848-1894, Paris (Galeries nationales du Grand Palais) 1994-95, pp 23, 182, 200 (ill ), 357, no. 66, A Distel et al., exhib. cat Gustave Caillebotte. urban impressionist, Paris (Galeries nationales du Grand Palais), Chicago (The Art Institute) & Los Angeles (County Museum of Art) 1994-95, pp 21, 144, 166 (ill.), 315, no 66, M. Berhaut and S. Pietri, Gustave Caillebotte: catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels, Paris 1994, p VI (ill ), IX, 35, 131, no 147; J. Coignard, ‘Caillebotte; le blues des grands boulevards,’ Beaux-Arts 126 (September 1994), p. 67 (ill.); R. Shone, ‘Exhibitions reviews: Chicago and Paris, Gustave Caillebotte,’ Burlington Magazine 87 (March 1995), p 89 (ill.), 209; S. Johnston, exhib cat Faces of impressionism: portraits from American collections, Baltimore (The Baltimore Museum of Art) 1999-2000, p. 46 (note 4), fig. 4a, A. Callen, The art of impressionism: painting technique and the making of modernity, New Haven & London 2000, p 24, 25 (ill.); R.R. Bretell et al., exhib. cat Impressionism: painting quickly in France, London (National Gallery) & Amsterdam (Van Gogh Museum), 2000-01, pp. 221-22, fig. 157; exhib. cat. Hitchcock et l'art: coïncidences fatales, Montréal (Musée des Beaux-Arts) 2000-01, pp 380, 383 (ill ), 478

3 Varnedoe, op. cit. (note 1).

4 R R Bretell et al., exhib cat. Impressionism: painting quickly in France, London (National Gallery) & Amsterdam (Van Gogh Museum), 2000-01, p 221

5 Varnedoe, op. cit. (note 1).

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Works on paper

Béraud, Jean
French, 1849-1936

The fortifications in the evening 1884
Transparent and opaque watercolour, 34 × 48 cm
Signed lower left: Jean Béraud
d 1126 S/2002

Having studied law, Jean Béraud initially planned a future at the bar. However, in 1872 he enrolled as a pupil of the portraitist Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) and spent two years studying under him. Beginning in 1876 Béraud exhibited regularly at the Salon. Later his work became widely known through his magazine illustrations. His paintings were also often seen outside France. Indeed, he gained a silver medal at the world's fair held in Amsterdam in 1883.

From 1884 on, Béraud participated in the annual exhibitions of the Société d'aquarellistes français, held in Paris. In his debut year he showed for the first time the watercolour that has recently been acquired by the Van Gogh Museum, entitled Les fortifications le soir.

Béraud is known primarily for his colourful scenes depicting the contemporary life of the Parisian beau monde against the backdrop of, for example, boulevards and ballrooms. Vincent van Gogh was decidedly unappreciative of Béraud's qualities. In September 1888 he wrote to Theo that Alphonse Daudet's L'immortel, ‘with all those subtle and precise observations,’ reminded him of ‘the sombre paintings by Jean Béraud, so cold and cheerless’ [677/531].

In The fortifications in the evening we see a stream of people from various social classes making their weary way to the railway station after a long day's drudgery. Part of the city wall of Paris can be seen on the right; Vincent van Gogh, too, took life on and nearby the fortifications as the subject for a number of watercolours and drawings.

Generally speaking, the small number of surviving watercolours by Béraud have a fresher and livelier appearance than do his oil paintings. This new acquisition by the Van Gogh Museum adds a fine work to the museum's collection, a representative piece by an artist who in his day was one of the best-loved chroniclers of Parisian life.

Jan Gorm Madsen

Provenance M Tedesco collection, 1936, Paris (Hôtel Drouot), 21 March 1938, lot 3, Versailles (Hôtel Rameau), 6 March 1960, lot 41, Hon Roderic Henderson, Newport (Rhode Island), Ivo Bouwman, art dealer, The Hague, private collection, the Netherlands; Amsterdam (Sotheby's), 22 October 2002, lot 89, acquired by the Van Gogh Museum (2002)

Literature P. Offenstadt, Jean Béraud La Belle époque, une époque revée, Cologne 1999, cat no 159

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Toorop, Johannes Theodorus
Dutch, 1858-1928

Cor cordium, 1891
Black chalk and pencil on wove paper on cardboard, 58.3 × 55.1 cm
Signed and annotated at lower right: naar de ‘Cor Cordium’ van // Alb. Verwey // J Th Toorop
d 1118 S/2003

The iconography of Jan Toorop's drawing Cor cordium (‘Heart of all hearts’) is typical of this artist's symbolist work, and with all its ambiguous complexities is difficult to unravel. Toorop regularly turned to literature for the inspiration for his designs. This magnificent drawing owes its genesis to a passage from the poem of the same name by Albert Verwey (1865-1937), which was published in the De Nieuwe Gids, a magazine by and for writers and artists, in 1886:

‘Alas for me! Sitting within my house
I heard a whispering inside my head
The voices of my thoughts, from distant places slowly drawing near.
Sounding like the wind rustling between
Walls of tenements. But the noise was strange,
Like a northern tongue spoken in southern parts
Unfamiliar curious-sounding words
Like the deaf speaking in a foreign street.
And I beheld, and see it still today!
From the deep shadows of my soul there rose
A throng of figures such as I sometimes saw
Crossing the bridges when I left my house
And walked along the canal still wrapped in mist
On a November morning; the air hung leaden above the city streets
And I was filled with a like heaviness.’

In the foreground a sombre procession of around 40 people moves across a bridge (‘a throng of figures [...] crossing the bridges’). Among the crowd, an elegant woman mounted on a horse occupies a prominent position. The figures are rendered sketchily and thus form a marked contrast to the precise detail of the setting. This resembles a kind of stage décor, in which we see a street with gleaming cobblestones, houses with step-gables, a tree and a tall pillar. Twelve grave-looking women are visible in rags and shreds of mist floating between the houses (‘[...] the canal still wrapped in mist [...

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]’); among them are one resembling a Madonna and a Japanese woman, presumably derived from a Japanese woodcut.

Toorop and Verwey became acquainted around 1890. In the years that followed the artist would repeatedly make reference to Verwey and his literary oeuvre in his work. Verwey, by contrast, only mentioned Toorop once, and then only in 1918, at the request of one of his editors.

In addition to Verwey, Toorop was also inspired by the writings of Emile Verharen, Jules Laforgue, Frederik van Eeden, Walt Whitman and Charles Baudelaire. The literary works he turned to did not necessarily have anything to do with his ideas about art; they were more of a stimulus to his rich imagination.

For the most part, Cor cordium is drawn in black chalk; Toorop used pencil only to highlight certain details on some of the heads of the figures in the procession. He apparently did not bother too much about the quality of the paper he used: there was already a horizontal crease in the sheet when he began the work. When Toorop had almost completed the drawing he decided the paper was not large enough and he folded it around a piece of cardboard. He continued the drawing on the left-hand side, occupying about two centimetres of the new surface. The drawing still has its original moulded frame.

In terms of formal, technique and style, this drawing is a beautiful and characteristic example of Toorop's work of around 1890. This was the period in which Toorop abandoned his neo-impressionist style for symbolism, without, however, going to extremes. Other masterpieces of these years include his Garden of sorrows in the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam, and Les rôdeurs in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo.

With the acquisition of Cor cordium, the Van Gogh Museum now owns a drawing by Toorop, in addition to a painting, seven prints and seven letters. The letters in question were written to Johanna van Gogh-Bonger and shed light on Toorop's role in spreading Van Gogh's fame at the turn of the last century. Toorop had seen some of Vincent's paintings in Brussels at exhibitions of Les XX, and in 1892, using paintings and drawings from Johanna's collection, he compiled the first sizeable exhibition of Van Gogh's work to be held in the Netherlands; it was shown in The Hague at the artists' society the Haagsche Kunstkring.

In 1894-95 Cor cordium formed part of a portfolio produced by this same society. The portfolio, containing prints and drawing for sale, would travel the length and breadth of the Netherlands. Cor cordium, with an asking price of 450 guilders, was the most expensive work and remained unsold until 1899, when it was acquired by no less a figure than the poet Albert Verwey. Before 1899 the drawing appeared for sale at various exhibitions. One such show was that held in Utrecht in 1898-99 at the Vereeniging ‘Voor de Kunst,’ which had on display works by Toorop together with drawings by Van Gogh from Johanna van Gogh-Bonger's collection. The critics were enthusiastic about the combination of these two artists. One spoke in a review of ‘[...] two isolated individuals [...], as one in thought and feeling; so utterly different in their manner of expressing those thoughts and feelings, but both equally powerful, equally lofty and [...] equally beautiful.’ The drawing Cor cordium has been on loan to the museum for several years and now with its acquisition it joins the work of Van Gogh for good.

Marije Vellekoop

Provenance Albert Verwey, Noordwijk aan Zee, 1899-1936, Mrs Dr M Nijland-Verwey, Santpoort, 1936, heirs of Mrs Dr M. Nijland-Verwey, private collection, Utrecht (on loan to the Van Gogh Museum, 1996-2003), acquired by the Van Gogh Museum (2003)

Literature A Plasschaert, Jan Toorop, Amsterdam 1925, p 34, 1890, no 8, Bettina Polak, Het fin-de siècle in de Nederlandse schilderkunst de symbolistische beweging 1890-1900, The Hague 1955, pp 97-98, no 16, fig 8, Mea Nijland-Verwey, Kunstenaarslevens: de briefwisseling van Albert Verwey met Alphons Diepenbrock, Herman Gorter, R N Roland Holst, Henriétte van der Schalk en J Th Toorop, Assen 1959, fig opp p 65, R Siebelhoff, The early development of Jan Toorop 1879-1892 (diss, University of Toronto, 1973), pp 134, 281-82, R de Leeuw, exhib cat Haagse Kunstkring: werk verzameld, The Hague (Gemeentemuseum) 1977, p 15, fig 20, C Blotkamp and M Rijnders, exhib cat Kunstenaren der idee symbolistische tendenzen in Nederland, ca. 1880-1930, The Hague (Gemeentemuseum) 1978, pp. 80-81, fig 48, Rein van der Wiel, Ewijkshoeve, tuin van tachtig, Amsterdam 1988, Marja Bosma et al, exhib cat. Vier generaties een eeuw lang de kunstenaarsfamile Toorop/Fernhout, Utrecht (Centraal Museum) 2001, pp. 41-43, cat 14.