About the Works on View

Highlights

"Cézanne to Picasso" features individual rooms dedicated to Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso. Included are five of the paintings that Vollard displayed in his groundbreaking Cézanne exhibition of November 1895. In 1898 the dealer hosted a small exhibition of Gauguin's Tahitian-period paintings—the centerpiece of that show, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is a highlight of the exhibition. Another point of special interest consists of three paintings that Vollard seems to have presented as a triptych in his 1896–97 Van Gogh exhibition: Banks of the Seine with Pont de Clichy in the Spring (Dallas Museum of Art), Fishing in Spring, The Pont de Clichy (Asnières) (The Art Institute of Chicago), and Woman in a Garden (private collection). Vollard recalled that, early on, "even the boldest were unable to stomach [Van Gogh's] paintings."

Other galleries in the exhibition focus on groups of artists, such as the Nabis and Fauves. Vollard championed the artists known collectively as the Nabis by purchasing their works, commissioning their prints, and holding two major group exhibitions at his rue Laffitte gallery in 1897 and 1898. This exhibition features paintings by Nabi artists Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Ker-Xavier Roussel, and Édouard Vuillard, as well as their lithograph albums, livres d'artistes, and Bonnard's bronze table sculpture, Surtout de Table (The Terrasse Children) (The Art Institute of Chicago), which was the subject of a 1902 exhibition at Vollard's gallery.

The Fauve room includes works made by a selection of artists who exhibited together in Paris in the famous 1905 Salon d'Automne. On display are paintings from Matisse's first solo exhibition—held at Vollard's gallery in June 1904—and three of André Derain's paintings of the Thames River, which Vollard commissioned around 1906 after seeing Monet's paintings of the same subject. Also featured in this gallery are colorful plates and vases that the Fauves produced in conjunction with the master ceramicist André Metthey at Vollard's request.

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Vollard as Publisher

Vollard had a lifelong interest in publishing, and he played a vital role in the original printmaking revolution at the end of the 19th century. He was responsible for a number of celebrated albums of original lithographs by Bonnard, Denis, Roussel, and Vuillard, and his enthusiasm for publishing extended to the production of luxury livres d'artistes, monographs on Cézanne, Degas, and Renoir, and his own autobiography in 1936. "Cézanne to Picasso" includes a room devoted exclusively to these books and prints. Vollard's personal copy of Émile Bernard's Oeuvres de François Villon (private collection), heightened in gouache by the artist, is also included, as well as a group of never-before-exhibited copper plates and proofs for Cirque de l’étoile filante, annotated with color notes by Georges Rouault (Fondation Georges Rouault, Paris).

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Portraits of Vollard

Pablo Picasso once remarked that Vollard's likeness was painted more often than the world's most beautiful woman. "Cézanne to Picasso" features portraits of Vollard by the leading artists of his day, among them Cézanne's portrait of him holding a book (Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris), Renoir's interpretation of him as a toreador (Nippon Television Network Corporation, Tokyo), and Bonnard's portraits of him with his beloved cat (Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris and Kunsthaus Zürich). Also in the exhibition will be Bonnard's rarely seen painting of Vollard and his guests dining in the dealer's famous "cave"—the humid cellar beneath his gallery, where "tout Paris" mingled.

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Vollard and Picasso

The exhibition concludes with a gallery devoted to the work of Pablo Picasso, who had his first Parisian exhibition in 1901 at Vollard's gallery. Eight paintings from that exhibition are featured, including a portrait of Gustave Coquiot, who wrote the preface to the 1901 Picasso exhibition catalogue (Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d'art moderne/Centre de création industrielle). Vollard bought many of Picasso's Blue Period and Rose Period paintings, and new research has shown that he purchased Cubist paintings as well, among them Picasso's memorable portrait of Vollard (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow). The 100 etchings that compose Picasso’s Suite Vollard conclude the exhibition.

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Exhibition Organizers

The exhibition was organized by Gary Tinterow, Engelhard Curator in Charge, and Rebecca Rabinow, Associate Curator, both of the Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Douglas Druick and Gloria Groom at the Art Institute of Chicago; Ann Dumas, a London-based art historian; and Anne Roquebert at the Musée d'Orsay.

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Exhibition Catalogue

A 460-page, full-color catalogue accompanies the exhibition, with scholarly essays examining Vollard's career and expertise in the art market, his relationships with individual artists and collectors, and the wealth of previously unpublished material from the newly available archive of Vollard's documents. Visit the online Met Store to learn more about the catalogue and other items related to the exhibition.

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