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Lot 352
Georges Rouault (1871-1958)
Clown au bonnet blanc
Closed28 June 2017
Price Realised
GBP 87,500
More Information
Specialist note
The Fondation Georges Rouault has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Circus performers and the characters of the commedia dell'arte remained Rouault's most frequent subjects throughout his career. In the romantic melancholy of Pierrot, the archetypal sad and self-effacing clown frequently referred to throughout his oeuvre, the artist found a touchstone for the human condition and a mirror that reflected the vast parade of life. He evokes what was for Rouault both a universal pathos: "I have seen clearly that the 'clown' was I, was us, almost all of us...We are all clowns to a greater or lesser extent...Who would then dare say that he has not been overwhelmed, down to the pit of his stomach, by an immense pity?" (quoted in F. Hergott, Rouault, Barcelona, 1992, p. 15).
The sombre palette and bordered format of Clown au bonnet blanc lend a memorialising quality to Rouault’s much beloved Pierrot, this portrait depicting him in his white hat as if a religious icon revering a martyr. The diverted gaze of Pierrot in Clown au bonnet blanc imbues him with a shy and meditative quality, his head slightly askew and eyebrows lowered at the corners. The vulnerable disposition of his face brings out a pathos upon his aspect as he meditates in this pose, likened as he was by Rouault to the tragic figure of Christ, his white bonnet a crown in place of a wreath of thorns. The noble sanctity of this wise and whimsical clown evokes an auspicious soul, one whose philosophical outlook and serenity matched the artist's own, newfound peace in the mid-1930s. "I spent my life painting twilights," Rouault reflected at the time. "I ought to have the right now to paint the dawn" (J. T. Soby, Georges Rouault, Paintings and Prints, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1945, p. 28).
Circus performers and the characters of the commedia dell'arte remained Rouault's most frequent subjects throughout his career. In the romantic melancholy of Pierrot, the archetypal sad and self-effacing clown frequently referred to throughout his oeuvre, the artist found a touchstone for the human condition and a mirror that reflected the vast parade of life. He evokes what was for Rouault both a universal pathos: "I have seen clearly that the 'clown' was I, was us, almost all of us...We are all clowns to a greater or lesser extent...Who would then dare say that he has not been overwhelmed, down to the pit of his stomach, by an immense pity?" (quoted in F. Hergott, Rouault, Barcelona, 1992, p. 15).
The sombre palette and bordered format of Clown au bonnet blanc lend a memorialising quality to Rouault’s much beloved Pierrot, this portrait depicting him in his white hat as if a religious icon revering a martyr. The diverted gaze of Pierrot in Clown au bonnet blanc imbues him with a shy and meditative quality, his head slightly askew and eyebrows lowered at the corners. The vulnerable disposition of his face brings out a pathos upon his aspect as he meditates in this pose, likened as he was by Rouault to the tragic figure of Christ, his white bonnet a crown in place of a wreath of thorns. The noble sanctity of this wise and whimsical clown evokes an auspicious soul, one whose philosophical outlook and serenity matched the artist's own, newfound peace in the mid-1930s. "I spent my life painting twilights," Rouault reflected at the time. "I ought to have the right now to paint the dawn" (J. T. Soby, Georges Rouault, Paintings and Prints, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1945, p. 28).