Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières)

1887

Vincent van Gogh
Dutch, 1853-1890

In technique, Fishing in Spring is a testament to Vincent van Gogh’s friendship with Paul Signac. Van Gogh had seen works by Signac and Georges Seurat in the spring of 1886 at the final Impressionist exhibition. Signac was an eloquent spokesman for Seurat’s pioneering Neo-Impressionism, explaining it as a natural development of Impressionism. Under Signac’s influence, Van Gogh’s palette brightened, his brushstrokes became more varied, and his subject matter expanded. The setting of this work is the Seine River at the Pont de Clichy, near Asnières, where Van Gogh and Signac painted together on several occasions.

Status: On View, Gallery 241
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Title: Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières)
Place: Paris (Object made in)
Date: 1887
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 50.5 × 60 cm (19 7/8 × 23 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Charles Deering McCormick, Brooks McCormick, and Roger McCormick
Reference Number: 1965.1169
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J[acob]-B[aart] de la Faille, L’œuvre de Vincent van Gogh, Catalogue raisonné vol. 1-2 (Paris: G. Van Oest, 1928), no. 354, pl. 47.
Rene Huyghe, “Vincent van Gogh: Sa vie et son oeuvre,” L’Amour de L’Art 18 (1937): 11, 31 (ill.).
Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (September 1966): 206.
Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 1965-1966 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1966): 5, 9, 27 (ill.).
Mark Roskill, Van Gogh, Gauguin and the Impressionist Circle (Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1970), 45, pl. 22.
Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings (New York: Reynal, 1970), 166-67, 182 (color ill.), F354.
Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, Vincent Van Gogh: His Paris Period 1886-1888 (Utrecht: Editions Victorine, 1976), 95, 233, 296 (ill.).
Paolo Lecaldano, L’opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh e i suoi nessi grafici: Da Etten a Parigi vol. 1 (Milan, 1977), 115 (ill.), no. 382..
Jan Hulsker, The complete Van Gogh: Paintings, drawings, sketches (New York: H.N. Abrams, 1980, 280, no. 1270.
Herbert Henkels, “Cézanne en Van Gogh in het Rijksmuseum voor Moderne Kunst in Amsterdam: de collectie van Cornelis Hoogendijk (1866-1911),” Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 41, no. 3-4 (1993): 228, pl. 101.
Chris Stolwijk and Han Veenenbos, The Account Book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum; Leiden: Primavera Pers, 2002), 143.
Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, eds., The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven : Yale University Press, 2008), 120 (ill), cat. 55.
Louis van Tilborgh, et al., “Weave matching and dating of Van Gogh’s paintings: an interdisciplinary approach,” Burlington Magazine (February 2012): 114 (color ill.), 115.
Christies, London, “Maurice de Vlaminch (1876-1958): Les régates á Bougival,” Impressionist/Modern Evening Sale: Wednesday 20 June 2012.
Hélène Eisenberg and François Lespinasse, Peintres de la Seine (Rouen : Éditions des Falaises, 2013), 206 no. 88, 207 (color ill.).
Richard Kendall, Sjraar van Heugten, and Chris Stolwijk, Van Gogh and Nature, exh. cat. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015) fig. 89, cat. 20.
Nienke Bakker and Nicole R. Myers, eds., Van Gogh and the Olive Groves, exh. cat. (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2021), 34, 170 cat. 19, 197.

Possibly on loan to Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1927.
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Vincent van Gogh en zijn tijdgenooten, Sep. 6-Nov. 2, 1930, cat. 29.
Venice, Palazzo dell’Esposizione, Ventunesima esposizione biennale internazionale d’arte, 1938 - 1939, cat. 14.
New York, Metropolitan Art Museum, Vincent van Gogh paintings and drawings. A special loan exhibition, Oct. 21, 1949 - Jan. 15, 1950, cat. 96; Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 1 - Apr. 16, 1950.
New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, Van Gogh in Auckland, Aug.–Sep., 1975, cat 5.
Toyko, National Museum of Western Art, Masterpieces of World Art From American Museums From Ancient Egyptian to Contemporary Art, Sep. 11-Oct. 17, 1976, cat. 47; Kyoto, National Museum, Nov. 2–Dec. 5, 1976.
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Post-Impressionism: Cross Currents in European Painting, Nov. 17, 1979 - Mar. 26, 1980, cat. 96; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Post-Impressionism: Cross-Currents in European and American Painting, May 25 - Sep. 17, 1980 [London only].
Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Trésors impressionnistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27-Aug. 31, 1980, cat. 28.
Memphis, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, The Genius of van Gogh, May 9-June 13, 1982, cat. 12.
Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, The Impressionist Tradition: Masterpieces from The Art Institute of Chicago, October 18-December 17, 1986, cat. 44; Fukuoka Art Museum, Jan. 5-Feb. 2, 1986; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Mar. 4-Apr. 13, 1986.
Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Van Gogh à Paris, Feb. 2-May 15, 1988, cat. 30.
Leningrad [now St. Petersburg], Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: shedevry frantsuzskoĭ zhivopici XIX-nachala XX veka, iz Muieia Metropoliten v Niu-Ĭorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago, Mar. 15-May 19, 1988, cat. 22; Moscow, Pushkin Museum, June 10-July 30, 1988. [From Delacroix to Matisse: Great Paintings From the XIX century to the Beginning of the XXth century From Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago]
London, The National Gallery, Seurat and The Bathers, July 2-Sep. 28, 1997, cat 87.
Martigny, Switzerland, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Van Gogh, June 21-Nov. 26, 2000, cat. 39.
Art Institute, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, Sep. 22, 2001-Jan. 13, 2002, cat. 18; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Feb. 9-June 2, 2002.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cézanne to Picasso Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde, Sep. 13, 2006-Jan. 7, 2007, cat. 116; Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 17-May 13, 2007; Paris, Musée d’Orsay, June 18-Sep. 16, 2007.
Fort Worth, TX., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 55.
Basel, Switzerland, Kunstmuseum Basel, Vincent van Gogh- Between Earth and Heaven: The Landscapes, Apr. 26 - Sep. 27, 2009, cat. 21.
Williamstown, Massachusetts, The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Van Gogh and Nature, June 13-Sep. 13, 2015, cat. 20.
Dallas Museum of Art, Van Gogh and the Olive Groves, Oct. 17, 2021-Feb. 6, 2022; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Mar. 11-June 12, 2022, cat. 19.

The artist’s sister-in-law, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (died 1925), Amsterdam [this and the following according to records in van Gogh Bonger’s account book, reproduced in Stolwijk and Veenenbos 2000, 47 no. 12/7, 142–43]; probably sent to Ambroise Vollard, Paris, Nov. 1896. Cornelis Hoogendijk (died 1911), The Hague, Netherlands, by 1906; by descent to his sister, Maria Ida Adriana (Riet) van Blaaderen-Hoogendijk (died 1942), Amsterdam, 1911 [Venice 1938]; by descent to her son, Tom van Blaaderen, Laren, 1942 [this and the following according to Wisselingh Stock Book, no. 6858, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, Netherlands; cited in a letter from Louis van Tilborg, Van Gogh Museum, Feb. 20, 2000]; sold to E. J. Van Wisselingh, Amsterdam, June 24, 1946; sold to Katz Art Gallery, Bussum and The Hague, Netherlands, June 24, 1946. Baron Louis de Chollet (died 1972), Fribourg, Switzerland, until 1947 [this and the following according to Knoedler Stock Book 9, No. A3608; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Knoedler and Co., New York, January 2, 1947; sold to Chauncey McCormick (died 1954) and Marion Deering McCormick (died 1965), Chicago, May 1947; by descent to their children, Charles Deering McCormick, Brooks McCormick, and Roger McCormick, Chicago, 1965; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1965.

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