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Lot Essay
Cette oeuvre sera incluse dans le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre de Chaïm Soutine actuellement en préparation par Madame Esti Dunow et Monsieur Maurice Tuchman. Une attestation d'inclusion sera remise à l'acquéreur.
C'est à l'occasion d'un premier voyage dans le sud de la France, dans le village de Céret où il séjourne entre 1919 et 1922, que Soutine s'imprègne le plus fortement, et de façon durable, des éléments naturels qui l'entourent. Il peint alors des paysages torturés, où la terre semble trembler de fureur entraînant les arbres dans de grands tourbillons. Ami proche de l'artiste, Amedeo Modigliani comparait d'ailleurs ces compositions aux sensations que lui procurait l'alcool: "tout danse devant mes yeux, comme dans un paysage de Soutine" (cité in A. Werner, Chaïm Soutine, Londres, 1991, p. 38).
Soutine entretiendra toute sa vie une fascination pour la symbolique de l'arbre, emblême de force et de croissance. Il le représente se dressant vers le ciel, les branches comme envahissant l'environnement. Le symbole de l'arbre reste au centre des préoccupations plastiques de l'artiste lors de son séjour à Vence en 1929 où il peint toute une série baptisée "L'arbre de Vence", ensemble de toiles représentant un grand arbre planté au beau milieu d'une place de village, entouré d'un banc public circulaire. Obsédé par la présence de ce grand arbre auquel il ne semble pas pouvoir échapper, le peintre place au coeur de chaque composition cette imposante forme dont les branches se déploient captant l'espace et la lumière de la partie supérieure de la toile. Il poursuit ses recherches dans de nombreux tableaux peints vers 1939 à Civry dans l'Yonne alors que la guerre éclate en Europe. Si les premiers paysages des années 1920 sont traités dans des teintes légères et lumineuses, où l'on sent que la chaleur du soleil du sud accable le peintre, les représentations plus tardives se durcissent en ton. Comme nous pouvons le voir dans la présente oeuvre, le spectateur semble se trouver au pied de cet arbre majestueux et inquiétant dont les branches se déploient sur la moitié de la composition, semblant se mouvoir doucement, entraînant tout le paysage et le spectateur dans sa puissante torsion.
Painting landscapes in the open air is quite different from painting in a studio. The artist is affected by the constant changes in space, atmosphere and light. And if he tends, as Soutine, to identify with his subject, he will easily become an element of the landscape, a part of what he is painting. It was during his first trip to the south of France, to the village of Céret, where he would stay for periods and work between 1919 and 1922, that the artist was most strongly and long-lastingly infused with the natural elements surrounding him, feverishly painting tormented landscapes where the earth seems to tremble with fury, whisking up the trees into a swirling vortex. A close friend of Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, compared these compositions to the feeling of having drunk alcohol: "everything dances before my eyes, like a Soutine landscape" (A. Werner, Cham Soutine, London, 1991, p. 38).
Soutine was fascinated throughout his life by the symbolism of the tree, a symbol of strength and growth, which he represents, turned to the sky, its branches invading its surroundings, almost threatening. The symbol of the tree remained at the centre of Soutine's artistic preoccupations during his trip to Vence in 1929 during which he painted a whole series he called "L'arbre de Vence", a collection of paintings representing a large tree planted in the middle of the village square surrounded by a circular public bench. Obsessed by the presence of this large tree, which he could not seem to escape, the artist placed the imposing form at the centre of each composition, its branches spreading out, capturing the space and light of the upper part of the painting.
He would continue his research in numerous paintings produced in around 1939 in Civry, in the Yonne, where he was living with friends at the outbreak of war. While the early compositions of the 1920s are painted in light, bright tones, giving the impression of the painter drenched in the heat of the southern sun, later representations become harder in tone, their few soft, light colours confronting deep greens and rich blacks, as can be seen in this work where the spectator seems to be at the foot of the majestic and unnerving tree whose branches stretch over half the composition, appearing to sway gently along with the landscape and the spectator in its strong contortion.
C'est à l'occasion d'un premier voyage dans le sud de la France, dans le village de Céret où il séjourne entre 1919 et 1922, que Soutine s'imprègne le plus fortement, et de façon durable, des éléments naturels qui l'entourent. Il peint alors des paysages torturés, où la terre semble trembler de fureur entraînant les arbres dans de grands tourbillons. Ami proche de l'artiste, Amedeo Modigliani comparait d'ailleurs ces compositions aux sensations que lui procurait l'alcool: "tout danse devant mes yeux, comme dans un paysage de Soutine" (cité in A. Werner, Chaïm Soutine, Londres, 1991, p. 38).
Soutine entretiendra toute sa vie une fascination pour la symbolique de l'arbre, emblême de force et de croissance. Il le représente se dressant vers le ciel, les branches comme envahissant l'environnement. Le symbole de l'arbre reste au centre des préoccupations plastiques de l'artiste lors de son séjour à Vence en 1929 où il peint toute une série baptisée "L'arbre de Vence", ensemble de toiles représentant un grand arbre planté au beau milieu d'une place de village, entouré d'un banc public circulaire. Obsédé par la présence de ce grand arbre auquel il ne semble pas pouvoir échapper, le peintre place au coeur de chaque composition cette imposante forme dont les branches se déploient captant l'espace et la lumière de la partie supérieure de la toile. Il poursuit ses recherches dans de nombreux tableaux peints vers 1939 à Civry dans l'Yonne alors que la guerre éclate en Europe. Si les premiers paysages des années 1920 sont traités dans des teintes légères et lumineuses, où l'on sent que la chaleur du soleil du sud accable le peintre, les représentations plus tardives se durcissent en ton. Comme nous pouvons le voir dans la présente oeuvre, le spectateur semble se trouver au pied de cet arbre majestueux et inquiétant dont les branches se déploient sur la moitié de la composition, semblant se mouvoir doucement, entraînant tout le paysage et le spectateur dans sa puissante torsion.
Painting landscapes in the open air is quite different from painting in a studio. The artist is affected by the constant changes in space, atmosphere and light. And if he tends, as Soutine, to identify with his subject, he will easily become an element of the landscape, a part of what he is painting. It was during his first trip to the south of France, to the village of Céret, where he would stay for periods and work between 1919 and 1922, that the artist was most strongly and long-lastingly infused with the natural elements surrounding him, feverishly painting tormented landscapes where the earth seems to tremble with fury, whisking up the trees into a swirling vortex. A close friend of Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, compared these compositions to the feeling of having drunk alcohol: "everything dances before my eyes, like a Soutine landscape" (A. Werner, Cham Soutine, London, 1991, p. 38).
Soutine was fascinated throughout his life by the symbolism of the tree, a symbol of strength and growth, which he represents, turned to the sky, its branches invading its surroundings, almost threatening. The symbol of the tree remained at the centre of Soutine's artistic preoccupations during his trip to Vence in 1929 during which he painted a whole series he called "L'arbre de Vence", a collection of paintings representing a large tree planted in the middle of the village square surrounded by a circular public bench. Obsessed by the presence of this large tree, which he could not seem to escape, the artist placed the imposing form at the centre of each composition, its branches spreading out, capturing the space and light of the upper part of the painting.
He would continue his research in numerous paintings produced in around 1939 in Civry, in the Yonne, where he was living with friends at the outbreak of war. While the early compositions of the 1920s are painted in light, bright tones, giving the impression of the painter drenched in the heat of the southern sun, later representations become harder in tone, their few soft, light colours confronting deep greens and rich blacks, as can be seen in this work where the spectator seems to be at the foot of the majestic and unnerving tree whose branches stretch over half the composition, appearing to sway gently along with the landscape and the spectator in its strong contortion.