Provenance

Paul Mellon

Mellon, Paul
Mellon, Paul Estate of

American, 1907 - 1999

Explore Selected Works

See all 1,277 works of art
Edgar Degas, Studies of Feet [verso], 1855, graphite on laid paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.32.b

Studies of Feet [verso]

Edgar Degas · 1855 · graphite on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1995.47.32.b

Edgar Degas, René de Gas [recto], 1855, graphite on laid paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.32.a

René de Gas [recto]

Edgar Degas · 1855 · graphite on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1995.47.32.a

Auguste Renoir, The Young Soldier, c. 1880, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.46

The Young Soldier

Auguste Renoir · c. 1880 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.18.46

""

Woman Rubbing Her Back with a Sponge, Torso

Edgar Degas · original modeled 1880s/1890s, plaster cast by 1917 · plaster of Paris, pigments, on wooden base ·  Accession ID  1999.79.43

Edgar Degas, Racehorses (study for "Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey"), c. 1881, charcoal on light brown paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.9

Racehorses (study for "Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey")

Edgar Degas · c. 1881 · charcoal on light brown paper ·  Accession ID  1999.79.9

To our right in this vibrantly colored, stylized, nearly square painting, a woman with light, peach-colored skin and chestnut-brown hair sits slumped along a table as she sleeps, her head resting on one extended arm. The lilac-purple tabletop has round forms representing fruit scattered around a potted plant. Many of the forms are outlined with gray and filled in with mostly flat areas of color in mint and sage green, icy blue, coral red, orange, and lemon yellow. The tabletop curves around its edges and the surface is vivid purple, while the skirt and legs of the table are pale ginger brown. The woman’s head rests facing us on her bent right arm, that hand dangling over the front edge of the table. She rests her other hand, closer to us, near the crook of her elbow. She wears a white, blousy top with rows of navy-blue zigzags on the shoulder and elongated dots on the sleeves, and a light, mint-green skirt. Her brown hair seems to be pulled back and gathered into bunches of curving waves. Her stylized eyes, nose, and mouth are drawn simply with gray lines. The round orange, peach, and yellow fruit on the table are scattered near her arm and across the table to the other side, close to a plant in a brown clay pot. The plant has shoots of long, curving stems with vibrant spruce-green leaves. Two more plants are behind the woman near the back wall, in front a rectangular opening over the woman that could be a window or mirror. The glass is painted with streaks of baby blue and pale magenta pink around a field of white, and is outlined with a band of sunshine yellow and then scarlet red. The wall around it is also painted with watercolor-like, soft fields of pale blue and pink. The floor under the table and to our left is a flat field of caramel brown. Behind the table and to our left, forms suggest a wooden chair and a blue and white ceramic pot on a tall, spindly stand. In the lower left corner of the canvas, the artist signed and dated the work with dark red paint: “40 Henri Matisse.”
Henri Matisse, Still Life with Sleeping Woman, 1940, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.26

Still Life with Sleeping Woman

Henri Matisse · 1940 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.26

Georges Seurat, The Watering Can - Garden at Le Raincy, c. 1883, oil on wood, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.51

The Watering Can - Garden at Le Raincy

Georges Seurat · c. 1883 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  2014.18.51

A tomato-red, oval floating in a field of blue-violet nearly fills this horizontal abstract painting. A thin, vertical, gently waving line and a black dot float near the red oval, near the upper right corner of the canvas. The red oval is wider at our right side, like an egg. The oval, wavy line, and the dot are all outlined in white. The blue-violet background is painted with short, visible strokes, giving it a mottled look.
Joan Miró, Flight of the Dragonfly in Front of the Sun, 1968, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.23

Flight of the Dragonfly in Front of the Sun

Joan Miró · 1968 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.23

Georges Rouault, The Breton Wedding, 1937, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.37

The Breton Wedding

Georges Rouault · 1937 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.37

Paul Klee, Rote Säulen vorbeiziehend (Passing By Red Pillars), 1928, palette knife with color gesso, watercolor, stamped gouache, and casein on paper, on artist's original mount, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2006.128.23

Rote Säulen vorbeiziehend (Passing By Red Pillars)

Paul Klee · 1928 · palette knife with color gesso, watercolor, stamped gouache, and casein on paper, on artist's original mount ·  Accession ID  2006.128.23

Bibliography

1983

  • Richard, Paul. "Mellon Gives 93 Art Works." The Washington Post. 28 January 1983: D1, D8.

1985

  • Kastor, Elisabeth. "The Glitter and Glow of Paul Mellon's Goodbye." The Washington Post. 4 May 1985: D1+

  • Richard, Paul. "Paul Mellon, Reveries & Riches." The Washington Post. 2 May 1985: B1+

1989

  • Allis, Sam. "The Fine Art of Giving." Time 18 September 1989: 86-87

1992

  • Mellon, Paul, and John Baskett. Reflections in a Silver Spoon: A Memoir. New York, 1992.

1999

  • Barnes, Bart. "Philanthropist Paul Mellon Dies," The Washington Post, 2 February 1999:A1+