Georges Rouault, 
French 1871-1958 -

Paysage anime, 1905; 

watercolour, gouache and pastel on paper, signed and dated lower left 'G Rouault 1905', 54 x 65 cm (ARR) 

Provenance: 
Sotheby's, London, 24th March 2004, lot 10; 
Peter Feuchtwanger, Munich & London, by whom acquired at the above sale and thence by descent to the present owner; 
Christie’s, London, Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper & Day Sale, 19th June 2019, lot 191 (unsold); 

Literature: 
Lionello Venturi, 'Georges Rouault', Paris, 1948, no.23 (illus.);  
B. Dorival & I. Rouault, 'Rouault, L'oeuvre peint, vol. I', Monte Carlo, 1988, no.375 

Note: 
this early work demonstrates the artist's development of his unique style, imbuing the landscape with a mystical, almost religious feeling through his expressive handling of the watercolour and deep use of blue. Depicting a lone figure in a landscape with two birds sweeping through the sky, Rouault acknowledges the influence of Van Gogh on his work, in particular his 'Wheatfield with Crows', 1890 (Van Gogh Museum). This work is just one of the sixteen landscapes the artist painted between 1902 and 1909. 

1905 was an important year for Rouault, exhibiting alongside his contemporaries Henri Matisse, Charles Camoin and Henri Manguin at the Salon d'Automne in Paris, where this group of artists was first called the Fauves. Rouault's works from 1905-06 are often seen as a climax of his early work in their expressive quality, paving the way to his almost iconographic later style. This would be highly influential on younger artists, in particular in Germany, in its liberation of colour and form and its transcendental qualities.