A “Catalogue”

An American colleague drew my attention to yet another gem found in a publication that has been making the world laugh since its release in 2003. Here is a painting featured in the “catalogue raisonné”. One would therefore expect the work to be authentic. Although with this publication, you...

Tulipes et Capucines

Exquisite small painting (46×38 cm) painted around 1905/08 by Théo Van Rysselberghe. A medley of shimmering colours that will delight even the most discerning eye. Offered in Zurich on 28 November by the renowned auction house Koller, which estimated its value at a reasonable 20,000-30,000 Swiss francs and catalogued...

Saint-Clair (Var)

Saint-Clair. Commune of Le Lavandou (Var). Théo Van Rysselberghe’s house and studio, designed by his brother Octave, an architect. The painter explored the region from the early years of the century and produced countless beautiful compositions featuring bathers, one of his favourite subjects. He also painted numerous still lifes,...

Unpublished portrait of Pierre Olin

Absent, like many other works by the artist, from the unreasonable and irrational catalogue published in 2003, which can be considered one of the worst publications of its kind, given the omnipresence of omissions, fantasies, approximations and errors. It seems that the art market only acknowledges its existence, as...

George Morren. Portrait of a Lady, 1922

When blatant incompetence is compounded by negligence, expertise becomes grotesque. What else can be said when this authentic painting by George Morren (authenticated as such by Tony Calabrese, the artist’s distinguished expert) is found in a self-proclaimed ‘Catalogue raisonné of Théo Van Rysselberghe’ under the number 1922-012. The painting...

Louis Bonnier, architect

The architect Louis Bonnier was painted by van Rysselberghe in 1903, two years after he commissioned the design of his new studio on Avenue Laugier in Paris. Bonnier had previously drawn up the plans for Georges Flé’s villa in Ambleteuse, where Maria and Théo Van Rysselberghe regularly stayed. Bonnier...

Expertise…

Confronted with a work to be analyzed, an artist’s expert calls on more than his or her first, instinctive impression (which in reality is the instantaneous sum of years of research and examination), his or her memory, emotion and the most advanced possible knowledge of the artist, his or...

Fishing boats in Zeeland

Painted in Veere in 1906 by Théo Van Rysselberghe, this fine painting is unsurprisingly missing from the Feltkamp catalogue raisonné, but will be accompanied by a certificate from Olivier Bertrand, the artist’s expert who is preparing a scientific catalogue raisonné based on unpublished archives.The painting was exhibited in 1908...

Knokke 1894

This beautiful painting by Théo Van Rysselberghe was painted in Knokke in 1894 during a summer spent with his friend, the French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. It depicts the typical little houses that can still be found today in the immediate Knokke countryside. Van Rysselberghe painted many fine Neo-Impressionist...

Côte d’Opale

Côte d’Opale is an exquisite little picture painted around 1900 by the artist, who was probably on holiday at the home of his friends Laure and Georges Flé, with whom he had a habit and from whom he travelled up and down the coast, working tirelessly to produce some...

Breaking news! Wrong attribution

Sold for $5,000 on 28 July in New York, this painting of the painter Théo Van Rysselberghe is NOT by Théo Van Rysselberghe. It is not a forgery but a work by another artist (perhaps his pupil Suzanne Wehler-Schlumberger). An interesting document, executed after the model around the 1920s....