Robert DELAUNAY (1885-1941)

Lot 7
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Estimation :
150000 - 200000 EUR
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Result : 200 000EUR
Robert DELAUNAY (1885-1941)
Robert DELAUNAY (1885-1941) Portuguese woman in the garden, Portugal, 1915. Gouache and watercolor on paper mounted on parquet panel, signed lower right. Label on the back and customs stamp. 55,5 x 70 cm. Small jumps on the edges, tiny tears, slight scratches. Preparatory work for the painting in the Thyssen Museum in Madrid. We thank Mr. Richard Riss for confirming the authenticity of this work. Bibliography : Ref. Guy Habasque number 167, and number F. 138 in the archives. The primacy he gives to colour and its vibrations, as well as to the subjective vision of reality, make Robert Delaunay a pioneer of abstraction. Portugaise au jardin, Portugal, a gouache and watercolour preparatory to the painting La Grande Portugaise, now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, is a work with almost manifesto value. A prophetic work, in the early days of abstraction This large gouache - indicating that it is the final preparatory phase for a large-format painting - offers an exceptional symphony of colours. Reds, greens, yellows and blues, far from competing in saturation, are combined with precision in a composition where abstract forms and figurative elements - a woman in traditional dress, a palm tree - are mixed. As part of the very early years of abstraction, Portugaise au jardin demonstrates Delaunay's concern to express a "language of light", as described by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire; light and the vibratory qualities of colours becoming the very subject of his painting. Our work is thus situated at a pivotal moment in the history of art, to which Delaunay did more than contribute; he activated it. A rare testimony to the artist's stay in Portugal Between June 1915 and March 1916, Robert and Sonia Delaunay stayed in the village of Vila do Conde. These nine months in contact with the warm colours of northern Portugal were a crucial stage in the painter's work, which paved the way for a theory of art according to which each plastic element conveys a specific meaning. The result was one of the painter's masterpieces, La Grande Portugaise, now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, of which our gouache is the preparatory study. A pioneering and singular work, with brilliant colours and subtle composition, La Grande Portugaise is one of Robert Delaunay's most beautiful gouaches and watercolours.
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