The Church of Souain

1917

Félix Vallotton

Artist, Swiss, 1865 - 1925

Félix Vallotton

Attributed to

We look across the ruins of a white stone and brick building to a second set of ruins, now of gray stone against a butter-yellow sky in this horizontal landscape painting. Blocks and shards in tan, ivory and parchment white, pale orange, and light yellow are heaped along the bottom edge of the composition. The partially standing wall on the far side supports a few curved tiles, presumably from the previous roof. Long, vivid-green grass grows on both sides of this wall. On a low hill beyond the first ruins, partial arches and fragments of walls rise from a mound of gray rubble. Black lines suggest other supports in the building. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and a few trees with dark green canopies and spindly trunks are silhouetted against the yellow sky. The artist signed and dated the lower right corner, “F. VALLOTTON. 17.”

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 96 x 130 cm (37 13/16 x 51 3/16 in.)
    framed: 120 x 154.3 x 6.3 cm (47 1/4 x 60 3/4 x 2 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1990.30.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1865-1925]; his estate: Pierre-René Vallotton, Richmond and Alfred Vallotton, Paris; (Galerie Paul Vallotton, Lausanne) until at least 1985; private collection, Lausanne; (Mr. and Mrs. Paul Josefowitz, London);[1] purchased 18 May 1990 by NGA.
[1] Early provenance per Marina Ducrey, Félix Vallotton 1865-1925. L'oeuvre peint, 3 vols., Lausanne, 2005, III: no. 1080. It is probable that the Lausanne private collection and Mr. and Mrs. Josefowitz are one and the same.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1970

  • Félix Vallotton, peintre et écrivain, Galerie Paul Vallotton, Lausanne, 1970 [no catalogue].

1983

  • Felix Vallotton, Galerie Paul Vallotton, Lausanne, 1983, no. 14, repro.

1985

  • Felix Vallotton, Huiles, Galerie Paul Vallotton, Lausanne, 1985, no. 7, repro.

1991

  • Felix Vallotton: A Retrospective, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, travelling exhibition, 1991-1993, pl. 246, repro. 204, 302, as The Church of Souain in Silhouette.

1994

  • A Bitter Truth: Avant-Garde Art and the Great War (Die letzten Tage der Menschheit - Bilder des Ersten Weltkrieges), Altes Museum, Berlin; Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1994, pl. 200, repro., as Church at Souain, ruins and ruble.

2013

  • Félix Vallotton: Le feu sous la glace [Félix Vallotton: Fire Beneath the Ice], Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, 2013-2014, no. 168, repro.

Bibliography

1936

  • Hahnloser-Bühler, Hedy. Félix Vallotton et ses amis. Paris, 1936:no. 1115

1985

  • Busch, Günter, et al. Vallotton. Lausanne, 1985:no. 158, repro.

2005

  • Ducrey, Marina. Félix Vallotton 1865-1925. L'oeuvre peint. 3 vols., Lausanne, 2005:III:no. 1180, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: F.VALLOTTON.17

Wikidata ID

Q20192100

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