Artwork Details
27-15/16 x 32-1/2 in. (canvas) 38-3/8 x 43 x 2-5/16 in. (framed, Optium)
Mark DescriptionSigned lower right: P. Gauguin
Accession NumberSamuel Josefowitz Collection of the School of Pont-Aven, through the generosity of Lilly Endowment Inc., the Josefowitz Family, Mr. and Mrs. James M. Cornelius, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard J. Betley, Lori and Dan Efroymson, and other Friends of the Museum
CopyrightEuropean Painting and Sculpture 1800-1945
Color PalettePossibly from the artist to Victor Ségalen.{1} To (Ambroise Vollard [1867-1939], Paris, France) by 1906.{2} Probably via (Étienne Bignou [1891-1950], New York) to Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Small by 1956;{3} sold at auction at Christie's, London, England, by Sylvia Carewe [1914-1981], Marvin Small's ex-wife in 1966;{4} purchased by Douglas Cooper [1911-1984], London.{5} Probably directly from Cooper to Samuel Josefowitz by 1967;{6} acquired as a partial gift, partial purchase by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1998 (1998.169). {1} There is confusion over whether this painting could be the "Village sous la neige" listed in the last shipment of works sent by Gauguin from Tahiti to Vollard or the second "étude faite en Bretagne" acquired by Ségalen at the 1903 posthumous sale of Gauguin's belongings. See Georges Wildenstein, Gauguin, volume 1, Paris 1964, catalogue raisonné no. 519 (illustration) and Jean de Rotonchamp, Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903, Paris 1925, p. 221. {2} It was included in the 1906 Salon d'Automne exhibition, catalogue no. 69, "La Bénédiction des Boeufs", as Collection Vollard. See Donald Gordon, Modern Art Exhibitions 1900-1916, volume II, 1974, p. 172. {3} Vollard's friend and colleague, Étienne Bignou, had opened a New York branch of the Bignou gallery in 1935. In 1936 this painting was sent to New York by Vollard for the Wildenstein & Co. retrospective, Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903, 20 March-18 April 1936, catalogue no.7. On this exhibition, see also A.M. Frankfurter, "Gauguin: Fifty Paintings in a First American One Man Loan Exhibition," Art News, 21 March 1936, p. 6 (illustration) This painting was lent by "Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Small" to the Loan Exhibition Gauguin, Wildenstein, New York, New York, 5 April-5 May1956, catalogue no. 42 (illustration) {4} See Catalogue of Important Impressionist and Modern Drawings, Paintings and Sculpture, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, 2 December 1966, lot 62 (illustration) {5} Published auction price list indicates it was purchased by Cooper. {6} It is listed as "M. et Mme. Samuel Josefowitz, Lausanne" in the exhibition catalogue Chefs-d'ouevre des collections suisses de Manet à Picasso, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1967, catalogue no. 98 (illustration)
- This enigmatic view of a winter night in Brittany demonstrates Gauguin’s ability to combine different sources of inspiration into one composition. The steeple and snow-covered cottages depict sites in Pont-Aven, yet the women wear the dark caps of another village, called Le Pouldu. The oxen are based on Egyptian tomb sculpture, while the figures in the shrine derive from photographs Gauguin owned of a frieze in Java.
- The canvas was found in Gauguin’s studio in the South Seas after his death. While he could have begun the work during his last Pont-Aven visit in 1894, it was more likely painted in Tahiti, where memories of Brittany still colored his imagination.
Exhibition Name
Venue
Dates
Through Vincent's Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources
Columbus Museum of Art
November 12, 2021 - February 6, 2022
The Night of Van Gogh. The Night of Tutankhamen. Evenings and Nocturnes from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century
Basilica Palladiana
December 24, 2014 - June 2, 2015
Paul Gauguin, Artista di Mito e Sogno
Complesso del Vittoriano
October 5, 2007 - February 3, 2008
Gauguin - Van Gogh: L'avventura del Colore Nuovo
Museo di Santa Giulia
October 22, 2005 - March 26, 2006
L'aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper
July 12, 2003 - September 30, 2003
L'aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin
Musée du Luxembourg
April 2, 2003 - June 22, 2003
Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven from the Collection of Samuel Josefowitz
Indianapolis Museum of Art
March 28, 1999 - August 1, 1999
(exhibition title unknown)
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
1994 - 1995
Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven
Art Gallery of New South Wales
May 13, 1994 - July 24, 1994
Le Cercle de Gauguin en Bretagne
Musée de Pont-Aven
1994 - 1994
Post-Impressionism: Cross Currents in European and American Painting, 1880-1906
National Gallery of Art
May 25, 1980 - September 1, 1980
Vom Licht zur Farbe
1977 - 1977
Gauguin
Wildenstein & Company, Inc.
April 4, 1956 - May 5, 1956
Gauguin
Fogg Art Museum
March 20, 1936 - April 18, 1936
Gauguin
Wildenstein & Company, Inc.
1936 - 1936
Gauguin Retrospective
Baltimore Museum of Art
1936 - 1936
Salon d'Automne
1906 - 1906
Gauguin and the Pont-Aven Group
Tate Britain
Dates Unknown
Post-Impressionism: Cross Currents in European and American Painting, 1880-1906
The Royal Academy of Arts London
Dates Unknown
French Painting of the Last Half of the 19th Century
North Carolina Museum of Art
1956 - Date Unknown
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