Provenance

1Wilhelm Uhde Paris • by 1907 Acting on behalf of the artist, or as the owner of the painting, Bettina Heil, «'Der Zweck unserer Anstalt ist nicht, die Menschheit vor Entwicklung zu schützen', Georges Braque im Museum Folkwang», in Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum Hagen, Briefe an Karl Ernst Osthaus, Hagen 2000, pp. 41–44, 168, n. 37.

2Karl Ernst Osthaus Hagen • Westphalia • ca. 1907 until [d.] 1921 Most probably acquired from the above, ca. October 1907. In August 1907, a small landcape by Georges Braque, entitled Boats, was sent by Wilhelm Uhde to the Folkwang Museum along with a shipment of 12 paintings (letter from Wilhelm Uhde, Paris, to Karl Ernst Osthaus, Hagen, 29 August 1907); in October 1907, Uhde was expecting the return of the paintings which had been exhibited at the Museum, referring to possible purchases by Osthaus, Heil as above, n. (1). It is unknown why the painting was not included in the collection catalogue of the Folkwang Museum, published in 1912, for which, however, Braque had been approached by the Folkwang with a request for biographical information, Heil as above, n. (1).

3The heirs of Karl Ernst Osthaus 1921/22 «Das schönste Museum der Welt», Museum Folkwang bis 1933, (exh. cat.) Museum Folkwang, Essen 2010, pp. 179–189, 349; «Das schönste Museum der Welt», Museum Folkwang bis 1933, Essays zur Geschichte des Museum Folkwang, Göttingen 2010, pp. 60–61 (ill.), 69, n. 32.

4Museum Folkwang Essen • 1922–1937 Acquired from the above, as part of the collection of the Folkwang Museum, Hagen, by a syndicate acting for the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, Essen, which then adopted the name of the Folkwang Museum, too.

5Seized by the German authorities as «degenerate art» (= EK no. 3622), and transferred to castle Schönhausen, Berlin, to be sold July/August 1937 A painting by Georges Braque, entitled River Landscape, was listed in the collection catalogue of the Folkwang Museum, published for the opening of a new building for the museum in 1929, Museum Folkwang, vol. 1, Moderne Kunst, Malerei, Plastik, Grafik, Agnes Waldstein (ed.), Essen 1929, no. 98. The identification of that painting with the painting now in the Emil Bührle Collection was made possible through a photograph which was taken at castle Schönhausen after the painting had been seized (on the frame, a label with the title «Flusslandschaft» is clearly visible), Letter from Hartwig Fischer [Director of the Museum Folkwang], Essen, to Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, 27 August 2009, with a copy of the photograph enclosed.

6Galerie Zak Paris • by 1939 Exh. cat. as above, n. (3), p. 349

7Hugo Perls New York • ca. 1939/41 Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., (exh. cat.) Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (Virginia); Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, Philadelphia 1941, no. 17.

8Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. New York • by 1941 Exh. cat. as above, n. (7).

9Colonel Samuel A. Berger New York • by 1955 Getty Research Center, Santa Monica (California), Knoedler Gallery Archive, Stock Book 10, p. 150, no. A6006.

10M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. New York • 1955–1956 Acquired from the above on 23 May 1955 for $ 6.700, Stock Book as above, n. (9).

11Emil Bührle Zurich • 27 March 1956 until [d.] 28 November 1956 Acquired from the above on 27 March 1956 for $ 13.000, Stock Book as above (n. 9); the painting was purchased together with Cézanne, Tentation de St-Antoine (Emil Bührle Collection, Inv. 15), priced at $ 75.000; AStEGB, Confirmation of payment of $ 88.000 to M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, from Industrie- und Handelsbank, Zurich, to Emil Bührle, 27 March 1956.

12Given by the heirs of Emil Bührle to the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection Zurich • 1960 no. 10

AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich