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Lot Essay
The late Louis-André Valtat has confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
Suzanne Valtat sur le rivage d'Anthéor is an incredibly vivid painting of the artist's wife in Agay-Anthéor in the South of France, a region famous for its coast of massive red rocks by the sea. Valtat's paintings of Agay-Anthéor are characterized by their pure and aggressive colors--he eventually owned a home in the region and it is while living and painting there that he developed a more daring and energetic palette. Paul Signac wrote to his good friend Valtat in a letter dated 10 February 1899: "I wish I could be over there [in Agay], among this blue, this red, and this green" (quoted in Louis Valtat à l'aube du fauvisme, exh. cat., Musée de Lodève, 2011, p. 153). In this work, Valtat makes use of these flashing colors--reds, greens, blues, and yellows--to recreate a joyful composition of the hues that characterized this natural landscape. It is paintings like this one that link the artist to the Fauvist movement, a style known for its devotion to pure color over form and figure. Suzanne Valtat is positioned just off-center along the bottom edge of the painting, yet the viewer's attention is more immediately captivated by the intense blood-orange coloration of the rocks-- this was a subject that quickly became a favorite of the artist and one that he would paint a number of times during his stay in Agay-Anthéor.
Suzanne Valtat sur le rivage d'Anthéor is an incredibly vivid painting of the artist's wife in Agay-Anthéor in the South of France, a region famous for its coast of massive red rocks by the sea. Valtat's paintings of Agay-Anthéor are characterized by their pure and aggressive colors--he eventually owned a home in the region and it is while living and painting there that he developed a more daring and energetic palette. Paul Signac wrote to his good friend Valtat in a letter dated 10 February 1899: "I wish I could be over there [in Agay], among this blue, this red, and this green" (quoted in Louis Valtat à l'aube du fauvisme, exh. cat., Musée de Lodève, 2011, p. 153). In this work, Valtat makes use of these flashing colors--reds, greens, blues, and yellows--to recreate a joyful composition of the hues that characterized this natural landscape. It is paintings like this one that link the artist to the Fauvist movement, a style known for its devotion to pure color over form and figure. Suzanne Valtat is positioned just off-center along the bottom edge of the painting, yet the viewer's attention is more immediately captivated by the intense blood-orange coloration of the rocks-- this was a subject that quickly became a favorite of the artist and one that he would paint a number of times during his stay in Agay-Anthéor.