Impressionist and Modern Art

We wish to thank Mr. Olivier Bertrand, from the Belgian Art Research Institute, for kindly assisting with the cataloguing of the present lot, which will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the artist's work.

Provenance:

The Artist.

By descent in the family of the artist.

Collection of Élisabeth Van Rysselberghe, the artist's daughter.

With Guy Pogu, Galerie de l'Institut, Paris.

Guicheteau.

Paris, Maître Briest, sale of June 17, 1985, lot 113A.

Enghien-les-Bains, Lombrail, Champin & Gauthier, sale of November 24, 1985, lot 30.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Exhibited:

"Théo van Rysselberghe," Centre for Fine Arts Brussels, Brussels, February 10 - May 21, 2006; and Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, June 10 - September 24, 2006, n.n. (traveling exhibition).

Literature:

Ronald Feltkamp, Théo Van Rysselberghe: Catalogue Raisonné, Éditions Racine, Brussels; and Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris 2003, no. 1913-023, p. 178 and 406 (illustrated).

Olivier Bertrand, et al., Théo Van Rysselberghe, an exhibition catalogue, Bozar Books, Fonds Mercator and Belgian Art Research Institute, Brussels, 2006, p. 232 (illustrated, its preparatory study also illustrated p. 252).

Lot Essay:

Painted at the onset of World War One, the present work portrays the artist’s wife of fourteen years, Maria Van Rysselberghe. Née Maria Monnom, she occupied a central place in her husband’s artistic and intellectual life, introducing him to figures such as Émile and Marthe Verhaeren and to André Gide, of whom she would become a close confidante. The portrait conveys her assertive temperament, which captivated so many writers and artists of her time. It also represents a synthesis in Van Rysselberghe’s artistic development, uniting his disciplined concern for color and light rooted in Pointillism with a more introspective and emotionally responsive mode of portraiture. 

Although he had initially embraced Divisionism after encountering Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in 1886, and promoted the movement in Belgium through his involvement with the avant-garde group Les XX, Théo van Rysselberghe here abandons his signature precisionist approach. His brushwork becomes broader more fluid, and guided less by optical theory than by intuition, enriched by soft color harmonies that recall Whistler’s most tonal works. In Maria van Rysselberghe au Coin du Feu, the artist replaces the small, contrasting touches of pure color characteristic of his earlier work with nuanced modulations of hue and light that evoke both atmosphere and psychological depth. The diagonal placement of the sitter introduces a quiet sense of movement while preserving compositional poise. The painting’s visual equilibrium depends on the interplay of silvery highlights: Maria’s hair, her pale dress, the white mantelpiece subtly contrast against the enveloping warmth of reds and greens that define the interior.

Through this controlled orchestration of tone and structure, Van Rysselberghe transforms the analytic rigor of Neo-Impressionism into a deeply personal language of feeling, one that speaks to the affection and admiration he held for his wife.