Alex Reid & Lefèvre, Ltd

British, est. 1926

Explore Selected Works

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Honoré Daumier, French Theater, c. 1856, oil on wood, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.13

French Theater

Honoré Daumier · c. 1856 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1963.10.13

A dark-haired, disembodied head of a haloed man with pale, peach skin floats against a red and yellow background in this vertical portrait. The man’s hair seems to be flattened against his forehead, and extends beyond his head at the back in a way that suggests it may become a cap or hood. His face turns toward us, and he looks down to our left under arched eyebrows. He has a prominent hooked nose and a brushy mustache. Behind his head, the background is divided into a tomato-red zone for the top half and a golden yellow field below, separated by a thin, pine-green line. Two red and green apples hang from a branch near the upper right corner. The thin yellow halo floats over his head to the left of the branch. A pine-green, stylized, vine-like form curves up from the bottom edge of the panel and ends with flat, sunshine yellow, square shapes, perhaps abstracted flowers or fruit. A hand near the lower right holds one end of the vine like a cigarette between fingertips. The vine seems to turn into a serpent’s head beyond the man’s fingers. Numbers and letters are painted in green in the lower left: “1889” and “P Go.”
Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait, 1889, oil on wood, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.150

Self-Portrait

Paul Gauguin · 1889 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1963.10.150

We look across a river at a long, flat bridge that runs parallel to a hazy, city skyline in the distance in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted with visible dashes and strokes of mostly pastel blue, ivory white, muted mauve purple, and navy blue. The flat bridge spans the width of the composition along the horizon, which comes a third of the way up the canvas. The sky above is filled with clouds painted in muted tones of cream white, pale blue, and a few touches of shell pink, which mirror the water below. Along the horizon, buildings with spires and towers stretch from our right about two-thirds of the way across the canvas. To our left, a cluster of several boats, tiny in scale, gather near the bridge. Closer, and to our right, three larger ferries are crowded with passengers who are represented by minuscule daubs of brightly colored paint, mostly in black, golden yellow, crimson red, sky and cobalt blue, and ivory white. These boats are painted in short, flat brushstrokes in bands of flame red and midnight blue. The artist signed and dated the work at the lower left: "C. Pissarro, 1890."
Camille Pissarro, Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.32

Charing Cross Bridge, London

Camille Pissarro · 1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.32

Twenty men, women, and children sit, stand, or stroll along a sandy beach beneath a bright, cloud-filled sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The people are small in scale within the landscape, taking up about a quarter of the canvas's height. The scene is loosely painted so many of the facial features are indistinct, but the faces we can see appear to have pale skin. Across a narrow band of sand, the women wear dresses with long sleeves, tight bodices, and ankle-length skirts in shades of baby blue, smoke gray, teal green, crimson red, gray, or tan. Three women hold parasols in shades of charcoal gray, golden yellow, or teal green. The men wear suits with long tails and rounded hats. About half the people sit in wooden chairs, and others gather in small groups. One child plays in the sand near a pair of women to the left, and another pair play on their own to the right near an empty chair. A fourth child holds the hand of a woman, and a white dog with brown spots runs across the sand closer to us. A rowboat with five people is in the water just off the beach, and a steamboat burps gray smoke to the left on the horizon, which comes less than a quarter of the way up the composition. The artist signed the painting in the lower left corner, “E. Boudin.”
Eugène Boudin, Figures on the Beach, c. 1867/1870, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.12

Figures on the Beach

Eugène Boudin · c. 1867/1870 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.12

A geranium with vibrant pink blossoms sits in a terracotta pot on a ledge in front of two shelves in this stylized, vertical still life painting. The orange terracotta pot has patches of vivid spring green around its base. The rounded leaves of the plant and petals of the blossom are outlined in black and filled in with areas of parakeet and moss green for the leaves and pink for the petals. The pot sits on a bright, lavender-purple ledge, and two more shelves are stacked behind it. A single terracotta pot sits to our left behind the plant on the lower shelf, and four pots are lined up on the shelf above, cut off by the top edge of the canvas. Brushstrokes are visible throughout. A turquoise strip runs along the bottom edge of the composition, and the artist signed the lower right corner, “Henri Matisse.”
Henri Matisse, Pot of Geraniums, 1912, oil on linen, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.41

Pot of Geraniums

Henri Matisse · 1912 · oil on linen ·  Accession ID  1963.10.41

We look slightly down onto a loosely painted scene with three ballerinas in rose-pink costumes and one man, wearing a black suit and top hat, against a backdrop made up of dabs and strokes of lime, mint, and pine green in this vertical painting. The people all appear to have light skin. The most defined person is the woman closest to us, shown from the knees up to the right of center. Her body is angled to our left, and her profile faces that direction. Dark eyelashes suggest her eyes are closed. She has a pointed nose, and her red lips are closed. Dark brown hair is pulled up into a large bun with a coral-pink flower tucked in at the back of her head. She grips opposite elbows at her waist, her arms close to her body. Her pink costume has a low-cut bodice with loops low over her shoulders and a flaring, knee-length tutu. She wears a black choker tied with a bow at the back of her neck and two black bands encircle her wrists. A touch of white at the ear we can see suggests a gold earring. To our right and cut off by the right edge of the painting, a man stands beyond the woman’s shoulder, in shadow as he looks onto the scene. His face is painted with taupe-gray strokes. His suit and top hat are black except for a narrow white collar at his neck. Beyond this pair and seen from the chest up between them, another woman in the same pink costume faces our right. A short distance from us to our left, a third ballerina stands facing away from us. The elephant-gray floor she stands on visually creates a vertical band up the left side of the composition. The rest of the space behind and around the man and dancers is painted loosely with shades of vibrant to muted greens, with a few dabs of pale pink. The painting has a narrow sand-brown border. The artist signed the work by incising into the green paint in the upper right corner, “Degas.”
Edgar Degas, Dancers Backstage, 1876/1883, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.25

Dancers Backstage

Edgar Degas · 1876/1883 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.25

Paul Cezanne, Banks of the Seine at Médan, 1880-1885, watercolor and graphite, Florian Carr Fund, 2013.102.1

Banks of the Seine at Médan

Paul Cezanne · 1880-1885 · watercolor and graphite ·  Accession ID  2013.102.1

We look across the water at two sailing ships with cream-white sails and dark rigging floating in a shimmering, ice-blue river against a distant shore lined with trees, hills, and buildings in this nearly square landscape painting. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and the ships’ masts and sails are silhouetted against a topaz-blue sky with wispy white clouds. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout so many of the details are indistinct. One boat floats near the left edge of the painting and the second is situated a little father back, to our right of center. Both have rust-orange anchors painted near the pointed bows, which face us. Tall, narrow, asparagus-green trees line the far riverbank between the boats. Tall spires and towers of buildings rise in a cluster to our left near that edge of the canvas, and boats cluster near the distant shore to our right. Oatmeal-brown hills rise beyond the trees and town. The trees and boats are reflected in the water, which is painted with horizontal dashes and squiggles. The artist signed the painting in the lower left, “Claude Monet.”
Claude Monet, Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen, 1872/1873, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.43

Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen

Claude Monet · 1872/1873 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.43

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Portrait of a Young Girl, 1850 or 1859, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.9

Portrait of a Young Girl

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot · 1850 or 1859 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.9

A young and older man, both with pale skin, stand next to each other in shadowy room looking at a piece of white paper held by the older man in this vertical painting. Light from the upper left falls across the men, and they take up most of the height of the composition. The paper is held by a balding, elderly man at the center of the painting. He wears a knee-length, dark brown jacket and trousers. His has a gray beard and hair, and thin black lines delineate his brows and trace the creases on his face. A younger man standing to our left has short black hair and ruddy skin. He tilts his head to gaze at the paper in the older man’s hands. The younger man wears a sage-green jacket, and his lower body is partially hidden by a wooden rack before him. The V-shaped rack supports an open, dark green portfolio folder, and the young man rests his hands on the edges of more sheets of paper there. There are two paintings hanging on the olive-green wall of the room to each side of the men, but they are loosely painted and deep in shadow, so the subjects are difficult to make out. Another aquamarine-blue folder rests against a red bed or sofa that runs along the back wall. A white, folded cloth sits on the sofa above the portfolio. The artist signed the lower left, “h. Daumier.”
Honoré Daumier, Advice to a Young Artist, 1865/1868, oil on canvas, Gift of Duncan Phillips, 1941.6.1

Advice to a Young Artist

Honoré Daumier · 1865/1868 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1941.6.1