Detail of View of Cagnes by Soutine in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2019

View of Cagnes,ca. 1924–25


Object Details

Artist: Chaim Soutine (French (born Lithuania), Smilovitchi 1893–1943 Paris)

Date: ca. 1924–25

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 23 3/4 × 28 7/8 in. (60.3 × 73.3 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: The Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls Collection, 1997


Accession Number: 1997.149.2

Soutine made his way to Paris in 1913 in pursuit of a career as a painter. There, he became friends with other Russian Jewish artists, such as Marc Chagall and Amedeo Modigliani. While he did not adhere to one particular style, he gravitated to the expressive work of El Greco, Vincent van Gogh, and the Fauves. Best known for his dramatic figure and still-life paintings, Soutine also made landscapes. From 1923 to 1925, the artist spent time in the mountain village of Cagnes along the French Riviera, where he made this canvas. The blue, green, and ocher palette here suggests the serene atmosphere of the region, while the swirling, energetic brushwork gives the village a distorted, pulsating quality.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/486840