Provenance

Ambroise Vollard

French, 1866 - 1939

Explore Selected Works

See all 80 works of art
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

A glass bottle, a glass carafe, a stemmed glass, several pieces of fruit, and white and blue cloths are arranged on a wooden table in this horizontal still life. The bottle and carafe are at the center of this composition. The bottle has a crimson-red label, and the carafe has a tall, narrow neck and a rounded body. The stemmed glass has straight, flaring sides, and it sits on the table just in front of the carafe. Several pieces of fruit, painted in reds and yellows, are interspersed on the white cloth that surrounds the glassware. The muted, celestial-blue tablecloth is patterned with scrolls and leaves, and it bunches around the objects on the tabletop. The wall behind the table is mottled with cool blues and greens, and a brown line, perhaps a chair rail, runs from behind the still life to the right edge of the painting. Short brushstrokes are visible throughout.
Paul Cezanne, The Peppermint Bottle, 1893/1895, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.104

The Peppermint Bottle

Paul Cezanne · 1893/1895 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.104

Jean-Louis Forain, Woman at a Counter, brush and black ink with black chalk on wove paper, Gift of William B. O'Neal, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.150.26

Woman at a Counter

Jean-Louis Forain · · brush and black ink with black chalk on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1991.150.26

Auguste Renoir, Peaches on a Plate, 1902/1905, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.79

Peaches on a Plate

Auguste Renoir · 1902/1905 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.79

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

Paul Cezanne, Self-Portrait [recto], 1897/1900, graphite on wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.27.a

Self-Portrait [recto]

Paul Cezanne · 1897/1900 · graphite on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1995.47.27.a

Paul Gauguin, Two Tahitians Gathering Fruit [verso], 1899/1900, graphite and blue colored pencil on wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.41.b

Two Tahitians Gathering Fruit [verso]

Paul Gauguin · 1899/1900 · graphite and blue colored pencil on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1995.47.41.b

Painted with loose, visible brushstrokes mostly in shades of spring green, sky blue, straw yellow, and ivory white, four couples lock in intense embraces across a landscape in front of a body of water in this nearly square painting. Trees rise up and off the top edges to both sides of the canvas, and a band of green grass runs across the width. Just beyond, a body of pale blue water extends to the horizon, which comes about a quarter of the way up the composition. Off-white clouds swirl against the topaz-blue sky above. Three pairs of people are spaced evenly across the grass, close to us, and the fourth pair are on a steep rise to our right. The people all have pale or slightly peachy skin, and most of them have honey-yellow hair. The painting technique is loose throughout, making many details, especially facial features and some body parts, indistinct. Near the lower left corner, a nude person crouches on the ground with an arm raised overhead while another person, nude except for a few swipes of brick red to suggest a cape, stands above with one arm raised. At the center of the painting, two people with long, blond hair seem to embrace, though the one farther from us is partially or wholly lifted off the ground. To our right, a tanned person kneels over a pale, nude woman with rounded breasts and hips. Their heads blend together, possibly to suggest that they kiss, and one of them has black hair. They hold hands locked overhead. Dark gray strokes nearby in the lower right corner of the painting suggest a dog leaping at this couple. The fourth pair is on a sand-colored rise, about halfway up the right edge of the composition. They are even more loosely painted, but one person seems to grab onto the other as they tip toward the ground or water below.
Paul Cezanne, The Battle of Love, c. 1880, oil on canvas, Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman, 1972.9.2

The Battle of Love

Paul Cezanne · c. 1880 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1972.9.2

A vase holding mostly white flowers sits on a floral-patterned cloth in this vertical still life painting. The ice-blue vase has a narrow foot, tall, slightly tapering sides, round shoulders, and a long neck flanked by handles. An ivory-white circle at the center could be a flower painted on the body. The flowers the vase holds are all pearl and snow white except for two golden yellow flowers and dark greenery. The cloth on which the vase sits is patterned with muted red and dark yellow flowers with green leaves against parchment white and earth brown. A few brown lines cutting across the bottom left corner of the painting could be the edge of a wooden table. Just behind the flowers, a cloth or curtain patterned with dark yellow, moss green, and spruce blue hangs against a teal-green wall, visible along each side of the composition. The objects are loosely painted and outlined with cobalt blue.
Paul Cezanne, Vase of Flowers, 1900/1903, oil on canvas, Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, 1958.10.2

Vase of Flowers

Paul Cezanne · 1900/1903 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1958.10.2

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Saint Anthony and the Two Temptresses (Saint Antoine et deux Tentatrices)

Georges Aubert · 1896-1900 · engraved woodblock ·  Accession ID  2014.137.4

Bibliography

1936

  • Vollard, Ambroise. Recollections of a Picture Dealer. Translated by Violet M. MacDonald. Boston, 1936.

1976

  • Fabiani, Martin. Quand j'etais marchand de tableaux. Paris, c. 1976.

1977

  • Russell, John. "Out of nowhere, he became the top art dealer in Paris." Smithsonian 8, no 4 (July 1977): 68+.

1978

  • Monneret, Sophie, L'Impressionnisme et son Époque 4 vols. Paris, 1978-1981:III:56-58.

1994

  • Nicholas, Lynn H. The Rape of Europa. New York, 1995: 92-93, 425.

1995

  • Cezanne. Exh. cat. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1995: 572.

2006

  • Rabinow, Rebecca, ed. Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, PAtron of the Avant-Garde. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006.