Galerie Georges Bernheim

French

Explore Selected Works

A man and woman sit across from each other at a small, narrow café table under a porch-like roof in this vertical drawing on tan paper. The people’s skin is the color of the paper, and their clothing and hints of the surrounding are painted with streaks and thin washes of vivid color. Closer to us and to the left, the woman sits in a chair with an arched back. Her face is mostly angled away from us, but she has a delicate nose, and her lips appear to be closed. Her pale turquoise-blue dress has a high neck, a tight bodice, a long skirt, and long sleeves puffed along the upper arm. A black hat with short sprays like a spurting fountain is tucked into her yellow updo. Across from her, the man also has yellow hair. His eyes are almost slits under thin brows, and his small lips are closed and possibly pursed under a thin mustache. He has a square chin and prominent jawline. He wears a black tie and dinner jacket with a white flower tucked into the buttonhole. His shirt and the tablecloth are the tan of the paper. A decanter of a yellow liquid, presumably wine, sits on the table. A gray fenced at elbow height for the seated couple runs across the back of the space. The view under the overhanging roof is cobalt blue with tree canopies shaded turquoise green. A store window across a black street shows a mannequin wearing a pink dress. The scene is loosely sketched and details fade beyond the main couple. The artist signed the lower left corner with his initials, HTL, conjoined in a circle.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Fashionable People at Les Ambassadeurs (Aux Ambassadeurs: Gens Chic), 1893, oil à l'essence over black chalk on wove paper, mounted on cardboard, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.67

Fashionable People at Les Ambassadeurs (Aux Ambassadeurs: Gens Chic)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1893 · oil à l'essence over black chalk on wove paper, mounted on cardboard ·  Accession ID  1995.47.67

Henri Matisse, Odalisque, Half-Length--The Tattoo, 1923, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.40

Odalisque, Half-Length--The Tattoo

Henri Matisse · 1923 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.40

Raoul Dufy, Saint-Jeannet, 1910, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.143

Saint-Jeannet

Raoul Dufy · 1910 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.143

We look down on a few dozen people walking along the sidewalks of a wide, sunlit bridge in this almost square painting. The scene is loosely painted, which gives it a hazy, sun-dappled look and makes some details indistinct. The people wear black, white, light blue, or pale green jackets and pants or long dresses as they walk in all directions. Some wear hats, and a few women carry parasols. The bridge opens into a wide boulevard close to us, as the sidewalks angle into the lower corners of the composition. Several horse-drawn carriages move across the bridge alongside the people. The deck of the oyster-white bridge is lined with black gas lamps. The river beneath shimmers with lapis and turquoise blue. The far side is packed with four and five-story buildings, which are mostly tan with rows of windows painted as blue rectangles. The rooflines bristle with chimneys. Another structure or boat sits on the water near the lower right corner of the painting, and a flag with vertical bands of red, white, and blue flies from a flagpole there. Opposite the flag, on the far bank, is a statue of a man on a horse, both on a tall plinth. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and the azure-blue sky above is dotted with puffy white clouds tinged with dove gray and mauve. The artist signed and dated the lower left, “A. Renoir. 72.”
Auguste Renoir, Pont Neuf, Paris, 1872, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.58

Pont Neuf, Paris

Auguste Renoir · 1872 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.58

Shown from the waist up, pale-skinned young man wearing a bowler hat looks at us from the corners of his eyes in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our right, and he cuts his dark eyes back to look at us, his lips pursed. He has a wide face, round cheeks, and a narrow chin. His white lapels are flipped up, and he wears a buttoned blue jacket. The black bowler hat seems a little too small for his head. The man and setting are painted with areas of mottled, streaked color. For instance, his peachy face is shaded with visible strokes of slate blue. His white collar is a blend of ice blue and frosty green, and his jacket is built up with daubs and strokes of marine blue, moss green, and gray. The white of the canvas underneath shows through in some areas, especially in the jacket. The wrist of one hand resting in the man’s lap is visible, and the back rail of the wooden chair in which he sits peeks out past the shoulder to our left. The wall behind him is painted loosely with the suggestion of a diamond pattern in laurel and olive green, parchment brown, rust orange, and muted blue. A rail or frame running close and parallel to the right edge of the canvas is patterned with elongated red teardrop shapes outlined by white, against a celestial-blue background.
Paul Cezanne, The Artist's Son, Paul, 1886-1887, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.100

The Artist's Son, Paul

Paul Cezanne · 1886-1887 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.100

Shown from about the knees up, a young woman sits in a chair angled to our right but she turns her face to look at us in this loosely painted, vertical portrait. Her chair has a rounded back and arms made from what looks like bent, woody vines, and the background is a solid field of pale aqua. Her dark hair is parted in the middle and tied at the nape of her neck with a red ribbon. Dark eyebrows curve over brown eyes, and she has a rounded nose, and her petal-pink lips are slightly parted. Her pale peach skin is tinged with green on her face and hands. Her right arm, on our left, rests along the arm of the chair. In her other hand, which rests in her lap, she holds a sprig of blooming oleander, with light pink flowers and green leaves. The bodice of her high-necked dress is striped with brick red and royal blue, and is lined with a row of round gold buttons down the front. The sleeves come down to her forearms and the cuffs and collar at her neck are white. Her full skirt is royal blue with pumpkin-orange dots. The brushwork is loose throughout and individual brushstrokes are visible, especially in the stripes of her bodice and the patchy peach tones that make up her skin.
Vincent van Gogh, La Mousmé, 1888, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.151

La Mousmé

Vincent van Gogh · 1888 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.151

A small, shaggy, black and white dog stands in a wood paneled room with its body angled to our right but turning its head, pink tongue out, to our left in this vertical painting. The animal is painted with loose brushstrokes that evoke the dog’s long, feathery fur. The dog peers to our left with golden brown eyes. It is black along its flanks and ears, with a stripe of white down the center of the head, and on the muzzle. The chest, belly, and legs are also white, and the bushy tail, which curls up and out like a fountain, is a mixture of black and white. Leaning on the paneling behind the dog to our right is a light wood walking stick. An object, presumably a stuffed toy in the shape of a person wearing a long black robe lined in crimson, lies on the brownish sage-green floor in front of the dog. The dog’s name, “TAMA,” appears in tan block letters at the upper left. The artist signed the work in the lower right corner, "Manet."
Edouard Manet, Tama, the Japanese Dog, c. 1875, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.12

Tama, the Japanese Dog

Edouard Manet · c. 1875 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1995.47.12

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Ulysses, 1827, oil on canvas on wood, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.34

Ulysses

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres · 1827 · oil on canvas on wood ·  Accession ID  1963.10.34

Shown from about the knees up, a woman with pale, pink skin and cinnamon-brown hair sits with her hands in her lap as she gazes off to our right in this vertical portrait painting. Her body is angled to our left but she looks in the other direction with round blue eyes. She has a straight nose and her wide, peach lips are closed in a soft line. Her hair is parted down the middle and tied back at the nape of her neck with a purple ribbon. She wears a long-sleeved, periwinkle-purple dress with black five black buttons down the front. Black lace lines her cuffs and her shoulders where the sleeves meet the bodice, and a black bow is tied around the high collar. She wears a wide black belt with a gold, rectangular buckle. A black lace shawl is wrapped around her waist and she holds it closed under her overlapping hands, which rest in her lap. Her full skirt spans the width of the canvas along the bottom edge. She wears gold hoop earrings with gray, oval stones at the front of each loop. On the hand we can see, she wears gold rings set with stones on her ring and pinky fingers. Her emerald-green chair has a rounded back. One vibrant yellow button is seen near her shoulder, and another is mostly covered by her skirt. The background behind her is stone gray to our left and shamrock green to our right. The portrait is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes, especially in the dress and background. The artist signed and dated the painting “A. RENOIR, 1865” along the edge of her skirt on the right side.
Auguste Renoir, Mademoiselle Sicot, 1865, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.209

Mademoiselle Sicot

Auguste Renoir · 1865 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.209

A small child stands facing us on a sun-dappled path that runs up the center of a garden dominated by towering yellow and burnt-orange sunflowers in this loosely painted, vertical scene. The light comes from our right so long, sea-green and plum-purple shadows cross the peach-colored path. The path is wide at the bottom center of the canvas and narrows as it reaches the steps of a house, beyond the garden. Close to us, four blue and white porcelain urns line the path, separating it from the grassy banks to either side. The urns are filled with tall stems with coral-pink and cardinal-red flowers. The child stands about halfway back along the path, where the garden transitions from grass to the banks of tall sunflowers. A few strokes in front of the child could be a small dog. Behind the child, a woman and another child stand on the steps. The woman wears a cornflower-blue and white dress, while both children have bare legs and wear white clothes and yellow hats. All three have indistinct facial features and peach-colored skin. The house spans with width of the composition. It has an amethyst-purple roofline with two chimneys, and the petal-pink walls have mango-yellow highlights. Windows are covered with blue latticework. Above the house, fluffy white clouds float against a vibrant blue sky. The artist signed and dated the painting at the lower right in dark blue, “Claude Monet 80.”
Claude Monet, The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, 1881, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.45

The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil

Claude Monet · 1881 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.45