Paul Gauguin
Sunflowers on an Armchair
1901
Tournesols sur un fauteuil
Oil on canvas
68 x 75.5 cm
Sigend & dated lower right: P. Gauguin 1901
Wildenstein 602 (PG62DT)
Georges Wildenstein, Gauguin, Paris 1964. See also: Gauguin: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings 1891–1903, Wildenstein Plattner Institute (ed.), https://digitalprojects.wpi.art/artworks/gauguin/introduction (Wildenstein Plattner)
Provenance
1Ambroise Vollard Paris • by 1904 Acquired from the artist for FF 200, Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso… L'aventure des Stein, (exh. cat.) Grand Palais, Paris 2011–12 etc., no. 21.
2Leo and Gertrude Stein Paris • 1904–1908 Acquired from the above on 28 October 1904, exh. cat. as above, n. (1); Suzanne Diffre, Marie-Josèphe Lesieur, «Gauguin in the Vollard Archives», in Gauguin, Tahiti, The Studio of the South Sea, (exh. cat.) Grand Palais, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2003–04, p. 311.
3Ambroise Vollard Paris • 1908 Taken back from the above on 27 April 1908, in exchange for works of art and cash, exh. cat. as above, n. (1).
4Walther Halvorsen Paris & Oslo • until 1928 Zentralarchiv des internationalen Kunsthandels e.V., Cologne, Thannhauser Archive, Lagerbuch II, _1302: 17 XI 1928 Halvorsen Walter Paris Gauguin P.K. Stilleben (1901) Öl 75 x 61 1/2 22. Juni 1929 Stransky Josef New York.
5Galerie Thannhauser Berlin • 1928–1929 Acquired from the above, Lagerbuch II as above, n. (4); see also Zentralarchiv des internationalen Kunsthandels e.V., Cologne, Thannhauser Archive, Letter from Justin K. Thannhauser, New York, to Walther Halvorsen, Oslo, 9 April 1953, asking for confirmation of sale transactions executed in 1928 and 1929 and no longer recorded due to the seizure of the Thannhauser archive in Paris during the war; and confirmation given by Walther Halvorsen, Oslo, to Justin K. Thannhauser, New York, 10 June 1953, on the same sheet. According to this correspondence, the painting was purchased for ca. $ 18.000.
6Josef Stransky New York • 1929 until [d.] 1936 Acquired from the above, Lagerbuch II as above, n. (4).
7The Estate of Josef Stransky New York • 1936–1945 Wildenstein Plattner no. PG62DT.
8Georges Wildenstein New York • 1945 Wildenstein Plattner no. PG62DT.
9Sam Salz New York• 1945 National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Sam Salz Archive, Collection Summary 1939–1981, p. 94, June 4, 1945, Wildenstein Plattner no. PG62DT.
10Oscar Homolka Hollywood • 1945–1952 Acquired from the above, Collection Summary as above, n. (9).
11Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt Zurich • 1952 Acquired from the above ca. March 1952; in March 1952, Oscar Homolka met Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt in London, and they agreed upon the sale of the painting, Information given by Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich, son of Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt, to Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, on 11 November 2019, based upon a letter from Marianne Feilchenfeldt, Zurich, to Grete Ring, London, 26 March 1952.
12Emil Bührle Zurich • 1 July 1952 until [d.] 28 November 1956 Acquired from the above, AStEGB, Entry Book I, 10 June 1952, with reference to the date of purchase. An indication regarding the purchase price might be the insurance value of CHF 250.000, declared when the painting was lent to the Gauguin exhibition in Edinburgh and London in 1955, AStEGB, Letter from G. White, The Arts Council of Great Britain, London, to Emil Bührle, 4 July 1955.
13Given by the heirs of Emil Bührle to the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection Zurich • 1960 Inv. 46.
AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
Georges Wildenstein, Gauguin, Paris 1964. See also: Gauguin: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings 1891–1903, Wildenstein Plattner Institute (ed.), https://digitalprojects.wpi.art/artworks/gauguin/introduction (Wildenstein Plattner)
Exhibitions
1928Paul Gauguin 1848–1903 Galerie Thannhauser • Berlin • 1928 no. 72.
1936Paul Gauguin 1848–1903 The Boston Chapter of the Museum of Modern Art, New York (Fogg Art Museum) • Cambridge (Massachusetts) • 1936 no. 42.
1936Paul Gauguin 1848–1903, A Retrospective Exhibition of His Paintings Baltimore Museum of Art • 1936 no. 28.
1946A Loan Exhibition of Paul Gauguin for the Benefit of the New York Infirmary Wildenstein, New York • 1946 no. 38.
1954Werke der französischen Malerei und Grafik des 19. Jahrhunderts aus Privat- und Museumsbesitz Museum Folkwang (Villa Hügel) • Essen • 1954 no. 43.
1955Europäische Meister 1790–1910 Kunstmuseum Winterthur • 1955 no. 91.
1955Gauguin, An Exhibition of Paintings, Engravings & Sculpture Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh • Tate Gallery, London • 1955 no. 60.
1955Gauguin Kunstnerforbundet Oslo • 1955 no. 34.
1958Sammlung Emil G. Bührle, Festschrift zu Ehren von Emil G. Bührle zur Eröffnung des Kunsthaus-Neubaus und Katalog der Sammlung Emil G. Bührle Kunsthaus Zurich • 1958 no. 251.
1958Französische Malerei von Manet bis Matisse aus der Sammlung Emil G. Bührle/Zürich Nationalgalerie der ehemals Staatlichen Museen • Schloss Charlottenburg • Berlin • 1958 no. 43.
1958Hauptwerke der Sammlung Emil Georg Bührle–Zürich Haus der Kunst • Munich • 1958–59 no. 61.
1961Masterpieces of French Painting from the Bührle Collection Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh • National Gallery, London • 1961 no. 52.
1990The Passionate Eye, Impressionist and Other Master Paintings from the Collection of Emil G. Bührle, Zurich, Catalogue of the Exhibition in Commemoration of the 100th Birthday of the Collector Emil G. Bührle National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. • Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal • Yokohama Museum of Art • Royal Academy of Arts, London • 1990–91 no. 55.
1998Paul Gauguin, Das verlorene Paradies Museum Folkwang, Essen • Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie • 1998–99 no. 54.
2001The Nature of Still Life, From Manet to the Present Day (La natura della natura morta, Da Manet ai nostri giorni) Galleria d'Arte Moderna Bologna • 2001–02 no. 11.
2005Blumenmythos, Von Vincent van Gogh bis Jeff Koons; Flower Myth, Vincent van Gogh to Jeff Koons Fondation Beyeler • Riehen/Basel • 2005 no. 43.
2010Van Gogh, Cézanne, Monet, Die Sammlung Bührle zu Gast im Kunsthaus Zürich Kunsthaus Zurich • 2010 no. 46.
2011Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso… L'aventure des Stein Grand Palais • Paris • 2011–12 etc., no. 21 (exhibited in Paris only).
2015«Ich bin eine Pflanze», Naturprozesse in der Kunst Kunstmuseum Ravensburg • 2015 pp. 42–43.
2016Van Gogh and Gauguin, Reality and Imagination Metropolitan Art Museum Tokyo • Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya • 2016–17 no. 68.
2017Chefs-d'oeuvre de la collection Bührle, Manet, Cézanne, Monet, Van Gogh… Fondation de l'Hermitage • Lausanne • 2017 no. 35.
2018Bührle Collection: Impressionist Masterpieces from the E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich (Switzerland) National Art Center, Tokyo • Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka • Nagoya City Art Museum • 2018 no. 53.
2019La Collection Emil BührleMusée Maillol • Paris • 2019 no. 39.
References
1955Pierre Courthion • Reginald H. Wilenski Gauguin (1848–1903, Second Collection) London • 1955 • p. 22, fig. 10.
1964Georges Wildenstein Gauguin vol. 1 Catalogue Paris • 1964 • no. 602.
1972Gabriele Mandel Sugana L'opera completa di Gauguin Milan • 1972 • fig. 54, no. 421 (ill.; 21981; German edition: Das gemalte Gesamtwerk von Gauguin, Lucerne etc. 1972 • Spanish edition: La obra pictórica di Gauguin, Barcelona 1973 • French edition; Tout l'œuvre peint de Gauguin, Paris 1981).
1973Leopold Reidemeister etc. Stiftung Sammlung Emil G. Bührle • Fondation Collection Emil G. Bührle • Foundation Emil G. Bührle Collection Zurich & Munich • 1973 • no. 81 (ill.; 21986).
1994Emil Maurer Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Zürich Bern • 1994 • p. 14 (English edition: Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Bern 1995).
1998Sybille Ebert-Schifferer Die Geschichte des Stillebens Munich • 1998 • pp. 317–321, fig. 233.
1999Albert Kostenevitch «Catalogue, Explanatory Notes» in Bouguereau to Matisse, French Art at the Hermitage St. Petersburg • 1999 • p. 419, no. 142.
2001Monica Bohm-Duchen The Private Life of a Masterpiece London • 2001 • p. 141 (ill.).
2003Suzanne Diffre • Marie-Josèphe Lesieur «Gauguin in the Vollard Archives» in Gauguin, Tahiti, The Studio of the South Sea (exh. cat.) Grand Palais, Paris • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston • 2003–04 • p. 311 (French edition: «Gauguin dans les archives Vollard du musée d'Orsay», in Gauguin Tahiti, L'atelier des tropiques, p. 353).
2004Lukas Gloor • Marco Goldin (ed.) Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Catalogue vol. 3 • Conegliano & Zurich • 2004 • no. 124 (ill.; German edition: Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Katalog • Italian edition: Fondazione Collezione E.G. Bührle, Catalogo).
2006Cézanne to Picasso, Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde (exh. cat.) • Metropolitan Museum of Art • New York etc. • 2006–07 • p. 280.
2007Paul Gauguin, Artist of Myth and Dream (exh. cat.) Complesso del Vittoriano • Rome • 2007–08 • entry for cat. no. 119, p. 372 (Italian edition: Paul Gauguin, Artista di mito e sogno).
2011J. Bishop etc. (ed.)The Steins Collect, Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde New Haven & London • 2011 • no. 64 (ill.).
2013Martin Bailey The Sunflowers are Mine, The Story of Van Gogh's Masterpiece London • 2013 • p. 125, fig. 54.
2013Albert Kostenevich Entry for cat. no. 3 (Sunflowers), in Gauguin, Bonnard, Denis, A Russian Taste for French Art (exh. cat.) Hermitage Amsterdam • 2013–14 • p. 30 (ill.).
2015Nicole Fritz «'Blumen möchte ich sprechen…', Zum Motiv der Sonnenblume im Werk von Egon Schiele» in Egon Schiele, Fast ein ganzes Leben Munich • 2015 • pp. 287–288, fig. 5.
2019Cornelia Homburg «Seeking oneself thourgh others, Gauguin's portaits of his colleagues and friends», in Gauguin, Portraits (exh.cat.) National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa • National Gallery, London • 2019–20 • fig. 37.
2021Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc., (ed.)Gauguin: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, 1891–1903 Texts by Richard R. Brettell and Elpida Vouitsis, Research by Françoise Marnoni, Evgenia Kuzmina, and Jennifer Gimblett, [URL] (accessed on 8 July 2021), no. PG62DT (ill.).
2021Lukas Gloor «The Holdings of the Emil Bührle Collection: Illustrated List of All 633 Purchases» in The Emil Bührle Collection: History, Full Catalogue and 70 Masterpieces Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich (ed.), Munich 2021, no. 241 (ill.).