Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The artist’s estate

Ohana Gallery, London (titled Landscape with Gulf)

Arild Wahlstrøm, Oslo

Thence by descent

Bernheim-Jeune, ed., L'Atelier de Renoir, San Francisco, 1989, vol. II, p. 243, pl. 181, no. 574 30

Bernheim-Jeune, Catalogue Raisonné des Tableaux, Pastels, Dessins et Aquarelles, 1911-1919, Paris, 2014, vol. v, pp. 120 & 571, no. 3814

This work will be included in the forthcoming Pierre-Auguste Renoir Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.

The present painting was executed in 1916 and depicts the surroundings of Les Collettes, probably painted from a nearby spot in the garden. With short brushstrokes and bright colours the artist has created a shimmering image of a flowing landscape with blossoming bushes. The blue of the sea is like a mirage on the horizon and the golden yellow colour of the flowers brightens the foreground. There exist several photographs and films from this period showing the artist at his easel feverishly and passionately painting, despite being wheelchair-bound and limited by his arthritis. At this time in the 1900s Auguste Renoir was recognised and internationally appreciated as one of the leading and most prominent figures of impressionism. The crowning moment of his artistic career was the purchase by the Louvre of one of his works in 1919. This was a great honour for a living artist. Auguste Renoir continued to paint up until the moment of his death that same year, and was buried next to his wife Aline, who had passed away two years earlier.

The painting’s provenance is from the legendary Ohana Gallery in London, and was probably bought from there by the art collector Arild Wahlström in the 1950s or 70s. Arild Wahlström (1909-1994) was a Norwegian industrialist, the CEO and later Chairman of Sande Tresliperi A/S and Sande Paper Mill A/S. Apart from business and sport he had a great interest in art and art collecting, an interest he shared with his wife Aasta. In their home in the Holmenkollen area of Oslo the couple built an impressive collection of major Norwegian and international artworks. (see b/w photo) Wahlström travelled extensively and would often combine his business trips with visits to galleries and artists. He developed close relationships with several artists and met Serge Poliakoff, Hans Hartung, Anna-Eva Bergman, Henry Moore, Soulanges, Alfred Manessier, Gustave Singier, and many more. Arild Wahlström was invited three times to visit Picasso in the south of France with the gallerist Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, but each time, and to his great disappointment, business prevented him from going. Wahlström’s interest in Picasso’s prints had been aroused after the War, when on a business trip to Paris in 1946. In a little side street the Wahlström couple had discovered the image of a female head in the window of an art dealer. “It was so beautiful – we were both captivated at once. It was something extraordinary”. This event resulted in an intense bout of collecting, forming one of the largest private collections of Picasso prints in the world with over one thousand graphic sheets. In 1982 Arild Wahlström donated almost five hundred of these, including the entire Vollard Suite, to the National Museum in Oslo. Arild Wahlström and his wife were also passionate golfers and for a period Wahlström was the president of The European Golf Association.