KEES VAN DONGEN (Rotterdam, 1877 – Monaco, 1968) - Still Life with Doll (1908)

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GRAND MARCH AUCTION OF OLD MASTERS AND COLONI...

By Templum Fine Art Auctions

Mar 25, 2026

Set Reminder 2026-03-25 10:00:00 2026-03-25 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : GRAND MARCH AUCTION OF OLD MASTERS AND COLONIAL ART https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/templum-fine-art-auctions/grand-march-auction-of-old-masters-and-colonial-art-22766
AUCTION · 25 MARCH · 3:00 PM EXHIBITION OPEN FROM 13 MARCH Templum Fine Art Auctions info@templumauctions.com

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• Lot Description
  Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 61 x 46 cm. Signed in the lower right corner “Van Dongen” and inscribed “Margoden” on the reverse. The work will be included in the digital Van Dongen Catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. Painted in 1908, at the height of his Fauvist period, this work is a unique example within Kees van Dongen's oeuvre, situated on the border between portraiture and still life. The composition is dominated by a doll, seated with a certain rigidity and frontality, accompanied by a small porcelain horse, barely suggested at her side. Although they are objects, Van Dongen manages to give them an intense, almost human presence. The doll, with her wavy blond hair, rosy cheeks, small red mouth, and, above all, her large blue eyes, acquires a melancholic and evocative expression that indirectly refers to the childhood world of the girl who owned her. The artist thus transforms toys into vestiges of a privileged childhood, turning the scene into an image laden with memory, intimacy, and a strange vitality. The work also stands out for its synthetic treatment of form, chromatic intensity, and decorative simplification characteristic of Van Dongen's work closest to Fauvism, capable of animating even a still life with a profoundly modern visual energy. A Dutch painter who became a naturalized French citizen, Van Dongen trained at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts before settling in Paris in 1899. There he came into contact with avant-garde circles and began working as an illustrator for anarchist publications, such as L'Assiette au beurre. In 1905, he participated, along with Matisse, Vlaminck, and other artists, in the celebrated Salon d'Automne, which gave rise to the term "fauves." Settled at the Bateau-Lavoir, in Picasso's circle, he developed a style of painting characterized by the bold use of color, the simplification of forms, and a direct and provocative expressiveness. He later became one of the great ...
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