Soutine made his way to Paris in 1913 in pursuit of a career as a painter. There, he became friends with other Russian Jewish artists, such as Marc Chagall and Amedeo Modigliani. While he did not adhere to one particular style, he gravitated to the expressive work of El Greco, Vincent van Gogh, and the Fauves. Best known for his dramatic figure and still-life paintings, Soutine also made landscapes. From 1923 to 1925, the artist spent time in the mountain village of Cagnes along the French Riviera, where he made this canvas. The blue, green, and ocher palette here suggests the serene atmosphere of the region, while the swirling, energetic brushwork gives the village a distorted, pulsating quality.
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Artwork Details
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Title:View of Cagnes
Artist:Chaim Soutine (French (born Lithuania), Smilovitchi 1893–1943 Paris)
Date:ca. 1924–25
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:23 3/4 × 28 7/8 in. (60.3 × 73.3 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls Collection, 1997
Accession Number:1997.149.2
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Soutine
François Reichenbach, Paris (by 1950–at least 1959); Anne Burnett Tandy, Fort Worth (until d. 1980; her estate, 1980–81; sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, November 5, 1981, no. 216, as "Houses at Cagnes," 1923, sold to Perls); [Perls Galleries, New York, from 1981]; Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, New York (until 1997; their gift to MMA)
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Soutine," October 31, 1950–January 7, 1951, unnumbered cat. (p. 62; as "Houses of Cagnes," lent by François Reichenbach, Paris).
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Soutine," January 30–March 18, 1951, unnumbered cat.
Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Cranbrook Academy of Art. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," July 16–August 6, 1951, no catalogue.
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," August 20–September 10, 1951, no catalogue.
Los Angeles County Museum. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," September 24–October 14, 1951, no catalogue.
Seattle. Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," October 29–November 19, 1951, no catalogue.
Kansas City, Mo. William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Atkins Museum of Fine Arts. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," December 3–24, 1951, no catalogue.
Nashville Parthenon. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," January 4–25, 1952, no catalogue.
Palm Beach, Fla. Society of the Four Arts. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," February 8–March 2, 1952, no. 18 (as "House of Cagnes," ca. 1923, lent by Mr. Francois [sic] Reichenbach to The Museum of Modern Art's Circulating Exhibition).
Coral Gables, Fla. University of Miami. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," March 16–April 6, 1952, no catalogue.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," April 20–May 10, 1952, no catalogue.
Utica, N. Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. "Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1895–1943," May 24–June 14, 1952, no catalogue.
Münster. Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte. "Chaïm Soutine, 1893–1943," December 13, 1981–February 28, 1982, no. 42 (as "Häuser in Cagnes [Houses at Cagnes]," 1923, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
London. Hayward Gallery. "Chaïm Soutine, 1893–1943," July 14–August 22, 1982, no. 42 (as "Houses at Cagnes," 1923, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Kunstmuseum Luzern. "Chaïm Soutine, 1893–1943," August 31–October 31, 1982, no. 42 (as "Häuser in Cagnes [Houses at Cagnes]," 1923, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 97).
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," September 14–November 24, 2002, no. 55 (dated 1924).
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003, no. 55.
New York. Cheim & Read. "The New Landscape/ The New Still Life: Soutine and Modern Art," June 22–September 8, 2006, unnumbered cat.
Jack Tworkov. "The Wandering Soutine." Art News 49 (November 1950), p. 32, ill., calls it "Houses at Cagnes" and dates it 1923.
"Art: Hot and Heavy." Time 56 (November 13, 1950), ill. p. 44.
Monroe Wheeler. Soutine. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1950, pp. 68, 113, ill. p. 62, dates it 1923.
Michel Georges-Michel. "Chaim Soutine." La Biennale di Venezia no. 4 (April 1951), ill. p. 7, as "Case a Cagnes," 1923, in the collection of François Reichenbach.
Bulletin. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute (May 1952), p. [2], ill., as "House of Cagnes".
Paolo D'Ancona. Modigliani, Chagall, Soutine, Pascin: Some Aspects of Expressionism. Milan, 1953, p. 62, calls it "Houses at Cagnes" and locates it in the collection of François Reichenbach.
David Sylvester. "Soutine Reconsidered in Paris Exhibition." New York Times (September 6, 1959), ill. p. X16, as "Houses at Cagnes," in the collection of François Reichenbach, Paris [this work is not listed in the catalogue of the exhibition reviewed in the article: "Cent Tableaux de Soutine," Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1959].
Pierre Courthion. Soutine: Peintre du déchirant. Lausanne, 1972, ill. p. 227, fig. B, calls it "Maisons à Cagnes" and dates it 1923; erroneously lists Gimpel Fils, London in the provenance.
Eo Plunien. "Ein Rasender vernichtet die Pyrenäen." Die Welt (January 8, 1982), ill. p. 19, erroneously identified in the caption as "Strasse in Cagnes" in the collection of the Nationalgalerie Berlin (Ref. Tuchman et al. 1993, no. I-123).
Ekkehard Mai. "Ausstellungen. 'Chaim Soutine 1893–1943'." Pantheon 40 (January/ February/ March 1982), pp. 63–64, ill., calls it "Häuser in Cagnes"; dates it 1923–24 in the caption and 1923 in the text.
Maurice Tuchman inChaim Soutine, 1893–1943. Ed. Ernst-Gerhard Güse. Exh. cat., Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster. London, 1982, p. 59.
Esti Dunow inChaim Soutine, 1893–1943. Ed. Ernst-Gerhard Güse. Exh. cat., Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster. London, 1982, pp. 73, 79, 244, no. 42, colorpl. 42.
Esti Dunow inSoutine (1893–1943). Exh. cat., Galleri Bellman. New York, 1983, pp. 7, 10, fig. 4, calls it "Houses at Cagnes," dates it 1923, and locates it in the Perls Galleries, New York.
Maurice Tuchman, Esti Dunow, and Klaus Perls. Chaim Soutine (1893–1943): Catalogue raisonné. Werkverzeichnis. Cologne, 1993, vol. 1, p. 262, no. I-135, ill. p. 265 (color), call it "Houses of Cagnes"; erroneously list Gimpel Fils, London in the provenance.
Stanley Meisler. Shocking Paris: Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders of Montparnasse. New York, 2015, unpaginated, ill. (color).
Roberta Smith. "A Trans-Atlantic View of Modernism." New York Times (January 9, 2015), p. C30.
Denise Murrell inThe Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Ed. Denise Murrell. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2024, p. 37, colorpl. 80.
Bridget R. Cooks inThe Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Ed. Denise Murrell. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2024, p. 127, colorpl. 80.
Chaim Soutine (French (born Lithuania), Smilovitchi 1893–1943 Paris)
ca. 1924
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