Houses at Chatou

c. 1905

Maurice de Vlaminck
French, 1876–1958

In reviewing the 1905 Salon d’Automne, an alternative exhibition to the official Salon, one critic likened the work of Maurice de Vlaminck, Henri Matisse, and André Derain to that of wild beasts (fauves in French). Although not intended as a criticism, others used the name to attack this new direction in avant-garde art. The Fauves were not a formally unified group, but their style was nevertheless distinct, characterized by their use of vibrant, unmixed paint and rough, spontaneous brushwork. The thick application, explosive color, and subject of Houses at Chatou—possibly one of the works included in the 1905 Salon—reveal the importance of the work of Vincent van Gogh to the Fauves.

Status: On View, Gallery 391
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Maurice de Vlaminck
Title: Houses at Chatou
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1900–1910
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed, l.l.: "Vlaminck"
Dimensions: 81.3 × 101.6 cm (32 × 40 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice E. Culberg
Reference Number: 1951.19
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Galerie Bing & Cie, Les Fauves 1904 à 1908, exh. cat. (Paris: Galerie Bing et Cie, 1927), n.p. as Les coteaux de Bougival, n.d.
Salmon, André, “Les fauves et le fauvisme,” L’Art Vivant 57 (May 1, 1927), p. 323 (ill.), n.d.
George, Waldemar, “The Fauves Exhibition,” Drawing and Design 11, 12 (June 1927), p. 181 (ill.), as Les Côteaux de Bougival, n.d. [Galerie Bing & Cie, Paris]
Bazin, George, “Maurice de Vlaminck,” L’Amour de l’art 14, 6 (June 1933), n.p., fig. 155, as La verger, c. 1905.
Huyghe, René, “L’Histoire de l’art contemporaire,” L’Amour de l’art 14, 6 (June 1933), p. 130, fig. 155, as La verger, c. 1905.
Cogniat, Raymond, Les étapes de l’art contemporain: IV. Les fauves: l’Atelier Gustave Moreau, exh. cat. (Paris: Les Exposition de Beaux Art, 1934), n.p. (ill.), no. 157, as Le Potager, n.d.
Vauxcelles, Louis, “Les Fauves: A Propos de l’exposition de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6, 12 (July 1934), p. opp. 278, fig. 11, as Le potager, n.d.
Watt, Alexander, “Notes from Paris,” Apollo 21, 121 (January 1935), p. 41 (ill.), as Le potager, n.d.
Baschet, Jacques, Pour une renaissance de la peinture française (Paris, 1946), p. 78 (ill.), as Le potager, n.d.
Sidney Janis Gallery, Les Fauves, exh. cat. (New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1950), n.p. (ill.), cat. 36, as Houses at Chatou, 1903.
“Chicago’s Fabulous Collectors Earmark Art for Institute,” Life 33, 17 (October 27, 1952), n.p. (ill.), as Houses at Chatou, 1903.
Davis, Richard S., “Works of Les Fauves to be Seen in an Important Loan Exhibition,” Bulletin: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts 42, no. 1 (January 3, 1953), p. 3, 5 (ill.), as Gardens in Chatou, n.d.
Geist, Sidney, “The First Five Years, or Janis Shows a Picture,” Art Digest 28 (October 15, 1953), p. 17, as Les Maisons à Chatou, 1903.
Museum of Modern Art, Les Fauves, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1953), p. 27 (ill.), n.p., cat. 142, as Gardens at Chatou, 1904.
Sidney Janis Gallery, Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, exh. cat. (New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1953), n.p., cat. 53 (ill.), as Les maisons à Chatou, 1903.
Arts Club of Chicago, Les Fauves, exh. cat. (Chicago: Arts Club of Chicago, 1956), n.p., cat. 26, as Houses at Chatou, before 1906.
Sauvage, Marcel, Vlaminck: Sa vie et son message (Geneva: Pierre Cailler, 1956), p. 109, pl. 9, n.p. (ill.), as Maisons à Chatou, 1904.
Sidney Janis Gallery, Ten Years of Janis, exh. cat. (New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1958), n.p., fig. 76.
Leymarie, Jean, Fauvisme: étude biographique et critique, (Genéve: Skira, 1959), pp. 46 (ill.), 55, as Gardens in Chatou, 1904.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: Art Institute, 1961), p. 462, as Village (Rueil), about 1912.
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Le Fauvisme français et les débuts de l’Expressionnisme allemand, exh. cat. (Paris: Musée National d’Art Moderne, 1966), p. 186, cat. 127, 192 (ill.), as Les Jardins a Chatou/Maisons a Chatou.
Kunstverein, Matisse und seine Freunde-Les Fauves, exh. cat. (Hamburg: Kunstverein, 1966), n.p., cat. 100, 79, as Gärten in Chatou, 1905.
Huyghe, Rene and German Bazin, eds., Histoire de l’art contemporain (New York, 1968), pp. 130, fig. 155, n.p, as Le Verger, c. 1905.
Maxon, John, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1970), pp. 270 (ill.), 288, as Houses at Chatou, 1903.
Elderfield, John, The Wild Beasts: Fauvism and its Affinities, exh. cat. (Oxford University Press, 1976), pp. 10, 70, 72 (ill.), 74, 154, n. 56, as The Houses at Chatou, 1905-6.
Oppler, Ellen C., “Fauvism Reexamined” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1969), pp. 114, n. 2, pl. 36, 409, n.p., fig. 37, as Gardens of Chatou or Maisons à Chatou, 1905-6.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago: 100 Masterpieces (Chicago: Art Institute, 1978), as Houses at Chatou, 1905-6.
Speyer, A. James and Courtney Graham Donnell, Twentieth-Century European Paintings (University of Chicago Press, 1980), p. 75, pl. 4C3, as Houses at Chatou, c. 1905-6.
Stuckey, Charles F., French Painting, (New York: Hugn Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 1991), p. 213 (ill.), as Houses at Chatou, 1905-6.
Ferrier, Jean-Louis, Les Fauves: Le Régne de la Couleur (Paris: Éditions Pierre Terrail, 1992), p. 88 (ill.), as Maisons à Chatou, 1905-1906.
Christie’s, New York, Important Impressionist and Modern Paintings from a European Estate, sales cat. (Christie’s, May 10, 1994), p. 19, fig. 2, as Maisons à Chatou, 1905-6.
Christie’s, London, Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Watercolours and Sculpture, Part I, sales cat. (Christie’s, June 26, 1995), pp. 74, 75 (ill.), fig. 1, as Maisons å Chatou, 1905-6.
Zürcher, Bernard, Les Fauves (Paris: Éditions Hazan, 1995), p. 65 (ill.), as Maisons à Chatou, 1905.
Israel, Glenis, Artwise (Milton, Queensland: Jacaranda Wiley Ltd., 1997), p. 98 (ill.), as Houses at Chatou, c. 1905-6.
Leitte, Lynn M., “Fauves on Sacred Ground: Arcadian Landscapes by Matisse, Derain, Manguin, and Vlaminck 1905-1908” (MA Thesis, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), pp. 1, pl. 3, 32, 95 (ill.), as Gardens at Chatou, 1904.

Paris, Grand Palais, Salon d’Automne, 3e Exposition, October 18-November 25, 1905, cat. 1579, as Le Jardin.
Paris, Galerie Bing & Cie, Les Fauves 1904 à 1908, April 15–30, 1927, n.p., as Les coteaux de Bougival.
Paris, Galerie de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Les étapes de l’art contemporain: IV. Les fauves: l’Atelier Gustave Moreau, November-December 1934, n.p. (ill.), cat. 157, as Le Potager, n.d.
New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Les Fauves, November 13–December 23 1950, n.p. (ill.), no. 36, as Houses at Chatou, 1903.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Les Fauves, October 8, 1952–January 4, 1953, p. 27 (ill.), n.p., cat. 142, as Gardens in Chatou, 1904; traveled to Minneapolis Institute of Arts, January 21–February 22, 1953; San Francisco Museum of Art, March 13–April 12, 1953; and Toronto, Art Gallery, May 1–31, 1953.
New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, September 29–October 31, 1953, n.p., cat. 53 (ill.), as Les maisons à Chatou, 1903.
Chicago, Arts Club, Les Fauves, January 10–February 15, 1956, n.p., cat. 26, as Houses at Chatou, before 1906.
Toledo Museum of Art, What is Modern Art? March 6–27, 1960.
Paris, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Le Fauvisme français et les débuts de l’Expressionnisme allemand, January 15–March 6, 1966, p. 186, cat. 127, 192 (ill.), as Les Jardins a Chatou/Maisons a Chatou; traveled to Munich, Haus der Kunst, March 26–May 15, 1966, as Die Gärten in Chatou/Die Häuser in Chatou.
Hamburg, Kunstverein, Matisse und seine Freunde: Les Fauves, May 25-July 10, 1966, n.p., cat. 100, 79, as Gärten in Chatou, 1905.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, The “Wild Beasts” Fauvism and Its Affinities, March 26–June 1, 1976, pp. 10, 70, 72 (ill.), 74, 154, n. 56, as Houses at Chatou, 1905-06; traveled to San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, June 29–August 15, 1976; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, September 11–October 31, 1976.
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, October 6, 2013–February 16, 2014, no cat. no.

Galerie Bing et Cie, Paris, by May 1927 [Salmon 1927]. Ambroise Vollard, Paris, by Nov. 1934 to at least 1946 [Vauxcelles 1934 and Baschet 1946]. Galerie Bing et Cie, Paris, by 1950 [this and the following according to letter from Sidney Janis Gallery, July 1976, in curatorial file]; sold to Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 1950; sold to Mr. and Mrs. Maurice E. Culberg, Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1951.

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