Dread
Maurice Denis (1870 - 1943), 1891
oil on canvas, 40.5 cm x 32.5 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
This painting was originally much bigger. Its size made it unsalable, so Denis cut out the section showing these girls. We know what the original composition looked like. It went back to his illustration for a stage play by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949): L’Intruse (Intruder). The girls are aghast at the intrusion of Death after their mother has given birth.
The pale green faces and elongated hands contrast with the vivid floral pattern behind them. Such simplified forms and decorative areas of flat colour were typical of the work of a group of artists known as the Nabis. Denis was a leading member of it.
- Object number
- s0423V1991
- Dimensions
- 40.5 cm x 32.5 cm, 70 cm x 63 cm, 7.5 cm
- Provenance
- Sold by the artist to Arsène Alexandre probably during the exhibition in Paris, Galerie Le Barc de Boutteville (Première Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes), cat. 19 (Motif d’effroi), 1892; probably Gustave Fayet; after his death on 24 September 1925 probably inherited by his daughter, Yseult Alban d’Andoque de Sériège; Galerie Berès, Paris, by 1967; sold by Galerie Berès to Pierre David-Weill, Paris; donated by Pierre David-Weill to baroness de Montesquiou-Fezensac, in or before 1970; sold by baroness de Montesquiou-Fezensac to Francis Lombrail, Enghien; acquired from Francis Lombrail by Marc Blondeau, Paris, in or before 1991; sold by a private collector through Galerie Hopkins-Thomas, Paris to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 25 July 1991; since then on permanent loan to the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
- artist
- Maurice Denis
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Ōsaka, Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, Van Gogh’s Home, the Van Gogh Museum: The Painter, The Family, The Legacy (working title)
Tokyo, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Prints in Paris 1900: From Elite to the Street, 18 October 2017-8 January 2018
Ghent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Gent), De wereld van George Minne en Maurice Maeterlinck, 22 October 2011-19 February 2012, no. 45
Rovereto, Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Maurice Denis. Maestro del Simbolismo internazionale, 23 July-23 September 2007, no. 21
Rovereto, Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Maurice Denis : maestro del Simbolismo internazionale, 23 June-23 September 2007
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Maurice Denis : earthly paradise (1870-1943), 31 October 2006-21 January 2007, no. 21
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Musée départemental Maurice Denis "Le Prieuré", L' Oeuvre dévoilé : Maurice Denis dessinateur, 28 October 2006-21 January 2007
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Le théâtre de l'oeuvre 1893-1900 : naissance du théâtre moderne, 12 April-3 July 2005, no. 12
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris-Bruxelles, Bruxelles-Paris, 18 March-14 July 1997
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Maurice Denis 1870-1943, 7 July-17 September 1995, no. 42
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Maurice Denis 1870-1943, 21 April-18 June 1995, no. 42
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Maurice Denis 1870-1943, 22 January-2 April 1995, no. 42
Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts (Lyon), Maurice Denis 1870-1943, 29 September-18 December 1994, no. 42
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Nabis 1888-1900, 21 September 1993-3 January 1994, no. 39
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zürich, Die Nabis : Propheten der Moderne, 28 May-15 August 1993, no. 39
Shimonoseki, Shimonoseki City Art Museum, Gauguin et les Nabis, 12 April-12 May 1991, no. V-2
Ōsaka, Navio Museum of Art, Gauguin et les Nabis, 8 March-7 April 1991, no. V-2
Niigata, Niigata Daiwa, Gauguin et les Nabis, 2-15 January 1991, no. V-2
Tokyo, Parthenon Tama, Gauguin et les Nabis, 31 October-2 December 1990, no. V-2
Paris, Galerie Berès, Au temps des Nabis, 1990, no. 45
New York, Wildenstein, La Revue Blanche : Paris in the days of Post-Impressionism and Symbolism, 17 November-December 1983, no. geen catnr. / no cat. no.
Paris, Le Barc de Boutteville, Peintres impressionnistes et symbolistes (1e exposition), December 1890-January 1891, no. 19
Leeuw, Ronald de, Aanwinsten/Acquisitions, Zwolle, 1991, p. 54-55, 69
Aitken, Geneviève, Berès, A., Letonturier, B., Au temps des Nabis, Paris, 1990, [unpaged]
Sanchez, Pierre, Les expositions de la galerie Le Barc de Boutteville (1891-1899) et du Salon des Cent (1894-1903) : repertoire des artistes et liste de leurs oeuvres, Dijon, 2012, p. 63-65
Vergeest, Aukje, The French collection : nineteenth-century French paintings in Dutch public collections, Amsterdam, 2000, p. 146-147
Gauguin et les Nabis, Tokyo, 1990, p. 40-41, 129
Bouillon, Jean-Paul, Assante di Panzillo, M., Maurice Denis (1870-1943), Paris, 2006, p. 137
Lemoine, Serge, Cogeval, Guy, Bouillon, Jean-Paul, Maurice Denis : earthly paradise (1870-1943), Paris, 2006, p. 137
Maurice Denis : maestro del Simbolismo internazionale, Milano, 2007, p. 135
Bouillon, Jean-Paul, Maurice Denis 1870-1943, Ghent, 1994, p. 24-25, 166
Frèches-Thory, C., Perucchi-Petri, Ursula, Die Nabis : Propheten der Moderne, München, 1993, p. 152-153, 402
Frèches-Thory, C., Perucchi-Petri, Ursula, Nabis 1888-1900 : Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Georges Lacombe, Aristide Maillol, Paul-Elie Ranson, József Rippl-Rónai, Kerr-Xavier Roussel, Paul Sérusier, Félix Vallotton, Jan Verkade, Edouard Vuillard, Paris, 1993, p. 152-153, 402
Kuenzli, Katherine M., The Nabis and intimate modernism : painting and the decorative at the Fin-de Siécle, Surrey, 2010, p. xi, 86-87
Post-impressionist group exhibitions, New York and London, 1982, p. 16
Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Fleur, Prints in Paris 1900 : from elite to the street, Amsterdam, 2017, p. 28
Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Fleur, Prints in Paris 1900 : van elitair tot populair, Amsterdam, 2017, p. 28
Bernier, G., La Revue Blanche : Paris in the days of post-impressionism and symbolism, New York, 1983, p. 62, 83
Le théâtre de l'oeuvre 1893-1900 : naissance du théâtre moderne, Milan, 2005, p. 14, 113
Van Gogh Museum : jaarverslag 1991, Amsterdam, 1992, p. 16, 19, 24
Leeuw, Ronald de, Van Gogh Museum : schilderijen en pastels, Zwolle, 1993, p. 248-249
Leeuw, Ronald de, Tilborgh, Louis van, Esner, Rachel, Becker, Edwin, Heugten, Sjraar van, Leeman, Fred, Vriend, Anita, Van Gogh Museum Journal 1995, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 183
Hoozee, R., Laoureux, Denis, Verleysen, Cathérine, De wereld van George Minne en Maurice Maeterlinck, Antwerpen, 2011, p. 100-102, 113
