C.T.M. (KEES) VAN DONGEN 1877 Delfshaven (The Netherlands) - 1968 Monte Carlo (Monaco) Deauville
Oil / Canvas: 38 x 55,5 cm
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"Deauville fits me like a glove. I find my clients there and it feels like Holland, because of the grey light and the rain on the sea," said Kees van Dongen in 1959 in an interview with Paris Match magazine. He had already discovered the Norman seaside resort in 1913, when he was invited there by a collector couple who were friends of his. This fashionable Zandvoort of Paris was where the happy few of the French capital spent their summer holidays, at a time when the Côte d'Azur was still too remote and underdeveloped.
Van Dongen immediately fell in love with the small Norman town. Short haircuts and bare legs, unheard of at the time—in Deauville, anything was possible. Van Dongen felt immediately in his element and soon became a central figure there. From 1919 onwards, a room was reserved for him every summer at the Hôtel Le Normandy. It wasn't until the 1930s, during the period when he created this work, that he bought a house there to spend the summer months. After the effervescent Roaring Twenties had ended in a minor key due to the depression of 1929, Van Dongen had deliberately withdrawn from publicity for several years and did not exhibit. He preferred to sell nothing rather than dispose of his work below market value. In the 1930s he was completely back. Commissions for portraits flooded in and Van Dongen once again threw himself wholeheartedly into the buzzing summer social life of Deauville.
Upon his first arrival in Deauville, Van Dongen was introduced to the town's high society by the eccentric Venetian marchioness and muse to many artists, Luisa Casati—with whom he had a romantic relationship. There he met the Parisian beau monde, with celebrities such as Mistinguett, Coco Chanel, Jean Poiret and Joséphine Baker, which gave him the opportunity to further expand his prestigious clientele. From the first day he arrived at the resort, he painted life to the full there: beach scenes and elegant women, horse races, evenings at the casino, dinners and wild dance parties. He was not merely an observer but played a central role himself. In 1932, for instance, he organised the famous Gala Blanc, a ball attended by more than a thousand guests dressed in white. Van Dongen became an icon of the Norman coast. No other artist was so present there—and for such a long period. Our painting is characteristic of the freedom with which he worked when he was in Deauville. It is a virtuosic, airy and playful summer painting. The solid, ordered composition is striking: three elements are arranged side by side in the foreground—a lamp post, a sign and, most prominently, a large bright blue beach tent. On the green-grey sea in the background there is a rhythmic repetition of small sailing boats. This rather strict composition is broken by playful, almost caricature-like elements: a figure disappears completely behind a newspaper, whilst only two nonchalantly crossed legs are visible; a sunbathing woman is merely suggested by her legs stretched in a large M-shape. A beach chair forms a striking green colour accent. It is this interplay of elegance and light-hearted irony that characterises Van Dongen's work in Deauville. Despite his reputation as a socialite who primarily strove for commercial success, Van Dongen always maintained a sharp eye on society. Our small painting thus remains a personal, original and rare composition, which distinguishes itself from the many works he painted on commission.
Kees van Dongen, the Rotterdam working-class son who left for Paris penniless to begin a life as an artist and became world-famous, found in Deauville more than a summer residence: it was the place where he found everything that became essential for his art. Here he not only observed and depicted modern fashionable life, it was also the world in which he felt at home. Where he once began in poverty in the Parisian Bateau-Lavoir, here he grew into an icon of elegance and frivolity. Deauville and Van Dongen fitted like a glove and hand.
Width: 55,5 cm
Louis Bernard, Paris
Monsieur and Madame Paul Funck-Brentano, Paris
Private collection France, 1940 - 2025
Sale Sotheby's, Paris, 8 April 2025
Van Dongen, Deauville me va comme un gant, Les Franciscaines, Deauville,, June - September 2022, p. 147, no. 63 (ill. on p. 121)
A. Salmon, 'Van Dongen' in 'Médecines et peintures', 1953, no. 60, p. 9 (ill)
The artwork is included in the “Digital Catalogue Raisonné Project” by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute (wpi.art) in New York
Over C.T.M. (KEES) VAN DONGEN
Cornelis Theodorus Marie van Dongen was a Dutch-French painter. He was part of the movement referred to as Fauvism. Other painters who belonged to this movement included Matisse, De Vlaminck, Bracque and Dufy. Characteristic of these artists is the use of bright unmixed colors. Born a Dutchman, Van Dongen spent much of his life in France and also obtained French citizenship.
Kees van Dongen was born in Delfshaven to a family of four children. His father owned a malthouse. The company was located next to the house where Kees grew up. At the front and back of the house was water. Through the window one had a view of the boats moored in the water. Kees had great talent for drawing. However, there was no money for a proper art education. From the age of fourteen, Kees had to work.
Between 1896 and 1898, he took evening classes at the Academy of Visual Arts and Technical Sciences (now the Willem de Kooning Academy). This was located on the edge of Rotterdam's red light district where many sailors came. The sailors, prostitutes and dancers were the subject of many of Van Dongen's works. It was a lively neighborhood with coffee houses, brothels, candy stalls, in short an exciting environment for an aspiring artist.
In 1897, twenty years old, Van Dongen left for Paris. There he could barely support himself. He stayed in the studio of the painter Siebe ten Cate in Montmartre. After returning briefly to Rotterdam from 1898, where he devoted himself to illustrations for the Rotterdams Nieuwsblad, Van Dongen settled permanently in Paris from 1900. There he initially occupied himself with drawing and illustrating magazines. His fluent drawing style effortlessly transitioned into a style of painting that brought him into the milieu of the French Fauvists. This movement first showed its work at the 1905 Salon d'automne, where work by Kees van Dongen was also on display.
Fauvism was a new phenomenon for that time. It was a much more expressive way of painting than had been practiced until then. Especially the use of pure unmixed colors is characteristic of the fauvists. Van Dongen found himself in Paris among the French and developed his own identity. His work is not so much French-oriented, like that of his Parisian colleagues, as it is internationally oriented. He visits Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and the Netherlands. His work therefore differs from the more nationalistic cubist art of the French. Van Dongen's work is clearly influenced by the different cultures he has become acquainted with.
Once settled in Paris, Van Dongen moves into a large studio in Montparnasse, where he not only receives his art friends but also organizes dance parties. By now he has become a celebrated artist. The cultural life ended during the First World War. After this war ends, life in Paris picks up full speed and Van Dongen manages to draw attention to his work.
He creates large portraits of people from the world of film and theater with which he achieves great success. Van Dongen moves into an even larger studio. The parties and celebrations he gives there play an important role in the way he presents himself as an artist. He is at the height of his fame and is enjoying this life. He has commissions to choose from. In 1929 he becomes a naturalized Frenchman. In the 1920s, he painted mostly portraits in the fashionable circles of Paris. By now Van Dongen had become more French than Dutch.
During World War II, Van Dongen tried to continue painting as much as possible. He did not care too much about the circumstances. Even after the war, he remained active as a painter, while also continuing to create graphic work. He lithographed and illustrated many books. Van Dongen remained active as an artist until an advanced age and participated in nightlife.
Today his work, in addition to private collections, can be found at Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Haags Gemeentemuseum, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and Stedelijk van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven.
If there is one subject that is part of Van Dongen's work it is "women. He called women "the most beautiful landscape. His drawings of girls from Rotterdam's red light district caused a scandal. Works of naked women were removed from an exhibition at Boymans-van Beuningen in 1949 because of the uproar over them. He painted Picasso's girlfriend and made lithographic posters of Brigitte Bardot. He often portrayed women in bright colors and with big eyes. His nudes also became very famous.
