“The Boy in the Red Vest” is a painting by Paul Cezanne of 1889 or 1890 [1] , which is an example of a mature period of the master’s work. It is stored in the collection of the Emil Burle Foundation in Zurich.
| ||
| Paul Cezanne | ||
| A boy in a red vest . 1889 or 1890 | ||
| fr. Le garçon au gilet rouge | ||
| Canvas, oil. 80 × 64.5 cm | ||
| Emil Bürle Foundation Meeting , Zurich , Switzerland | ||
| ( inv. ) | ||
Cezanne painted four portraits of this Italian boy in a red vest in various poses, studying the connections between the character and the surrounding space [2] . The most famous of the portraits depicts a boy sitting at a table in a melancholy pose, resting his head on his palm.
The collection of the Emil Bürle Foundation notes the high picturesqueness of the painting, demonstrating "the perfect balance between a carefully thought-out composition and immediate artistic flair." In 1895, critic Gustave Geoffrey called a picture comparable to the best creations of old masters [1] .
The picture is painted in richly saturated, festive colors. The composition is formed by three main diagonals: along the back and head of the boy, a dark green curtain behind him and a seat line with a table rising from the lower left corner. They are opposed by the position of the arms and legs of the boy, creating a tightly articulated structure of intersecting diagonals [1] .
The painting was purchased from Cezanne by the art dealer Arbroise Vollard around 1895. In 1909, Hungarian collector Marcel Némesh became its owner, and in 1913 the German merchant Gottlieb Rieber. Emil Georg Burle acquired the painting from Rieber in 1948. After the death of Burle in 1956, his heirs donated the painting to the collection of the Emile Burle Foundation, where it has been stored since 1960 [3] . The remaining three portraits of the boy in a red vest are stored in museums in the United States [4] .
In February 2008, the painting, considered the most valuable in the collection of the Emil Burle Foundation, worth $ 91 million [5] , was stolen from the museum building [6] . In April 2012, the painting was discovered in Serbia and returned to the place of storage [4] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Foundation EG Bührle: The Boy in the Red Vest (1889/90)
- ↑ "The Boy in the Red Vest". In: Cézanne . Random House, 2005.S. 130.
- ↑ Paul Cézanne: Le Garçon au gilet rouge , ca. 1888/90. Oil on canvas, 79.5 x 64 cm. Rewald no. 658. Provenance . Foundation EG Bührle Collection. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 Stolen Cezanne found by Serbian police , BBC News (April 12, 2012). Date of appeal April 13, 2012.
- ↑ " 2 Paintings Stolen From Zurich Museum Didn't Get Far ." New York Times, February 20, 2008
- ↑ Reward for $ 180m Zurich art heist bandits , Herald Sun (February 13, 2008).