Kees VAN DONGEN (Delfshaven, 1877 - Monaco, 1... Lot n° 6

MONTMARTRE 1898 Oil on canvas Signed lower right: Van Dongen Dated on the back, with the inscription: Montmartre / 1898 / / van Dongen / 10 impasse Girardon Paris XVIIIe 55 x 80 cm Provenance Private collection A.K., Paris Exhibition Galerie Vollard, Paris, 15-25 November 1904, Kees Van Dongen, no. 60 (mentioned in the catalogue of the City of Paris) Kunstkring, Rotterdam, 21 May - 17 June 1906, Kees Van Dongen, no. 42 (mentioned in the catalogue of the City of Paris) Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 22 March - 17 June 1990, Van Dongen, le peintre Bibliography Van Dongen, le peintre, catalogue d'exposition, Paris, 1990, reproduced p. 88, dated "c. 1900" Our painting shows a street in Montmartre at night. It bears the date 1898 on the back. Kees Van Dongen had arrived in Paris the previous year and had settled in the 11th arrondissement with his compatriot Siebe Ten Cate. He frequented Montmartre, and the Père Soulier flea market, and took part in a group exhibition at Le Barc de Boutteville, rue Le Peletier. It was 1898. Félix Fénéon spotted him. This meeting was to seal the fate of our artist and our painting, since Fénéon was to be responsible for Van Dongen's first personal exhibition, organised in 1904 at Ambroise Vollard. Among the 125 works listed in the catalogue, our view of Montmartre is number 60.