Kees VAN DONGEN (Delfshaven, 1877 - Monaco, 1... Lot n° 45

Portrait of Dolly as a doll About 1908 (?) oil on canvas signed lower right Signed on the back, On the stretcher inscriptions: Van Dongen 14 June 1940 and margoden 61 x 46 cm Provenance Former Zilkha Collection Swiss Collection Bibliography Digital Catalogue Raisonné of Van Dongen in preparation by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute (In the process of inclusion) Back of the stretcher with the following inscriptions: - Van Dongen 14 June 1940 - MARGODEN: Flemish word translating as puppet doll It is 14 June 1940, it is 6:00 am and the Wehrmacht, the German army, is entering Paris. Arriving from the north near the Porte de Clignancourt and Porte de la Villette. At 7:30 am, the ceasefire is signed, Paris is officially under German occupation. Thousands of Germans march through Paris, especially on the avenue Foch, to affirm their victory. This date of 14 June 1940 is traumatic for the inhabitants of Paris who did not flee during the Exodus. Did Van Dongen, who lived at 75 rue de Courcelles, want to keep a trace of this event? He would have chosen a painting that was particularly important to him to inscribe on the back of the frame this date that is so significant, this portrait of Dolly, his beloved daughter, painted around 1908 (?). Dolly, born in 1905, became one of his favourite models (fig. 1 & 2). She liked to pose and dress up. Van Dongen liked to portray her sometimes as a lady dressed in her mother's finery but without make-up (fig. 3 & 4), sometimes as a puppet. Her doll-like face with blue eyes, pink cheeks and red lips is shown here dressed in a dress with long puffed sleeves and a flowery apron, traditional in Dutch folklore. It is Dolly's features, circa 1908, that are recognisable in our portrait, painted with a mastery that is characteristic of this period.