In Paris, the Dutch artist Kees van Dongen lives in Bateau-Lavoir with Pablo Picasso, makes a name for himself with sociocritical illustrations, and eventually becomes a celebrated “Fauve.”
Heavily made-up women's eyes, backgrounds saturated with color, and always this glint of green on the skin, as if the dim light of nights spent celebrating is reflected in their faces: Kees van Dongen's signature is unmistakable. In his Autoportrait fauve from 1909, the artist paints himself with reddish-brown skin and radiant blue, squinty eyes. As one of the upward climbing bohemians from Montmartre, the Dutchman initially painted artist, dancer, and prostitute friends of his, later members of high society. But his career begins like many of his fellow artists: in miserable circumstances and with odd jobs.
After completing art school in Rotterdam, van Dongen moved for a few months to Paris; in 1899 he returned with his later wife, Guus Preitinger, and they stay. They periodically live in the studio and residential building Bateau-Lavoir, a run-down structure in Montmartre into which various artists moved in around 1900 and which is regarded as the birthplace of the avant-garde. Picasso painted his seminal painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon here, which sparked Cubism.
Early Joy of Experimentation
Like many other Parisian painters, the Dutchman experiments with different styles of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Early cityscapes testify to an inquiring look at his new environment. His painting Montmartre, Le Sacré-Cœur from 1904 features the famous church above the roofs of Montmartre at sunset. Under the shimmering golden sky, the otherwise white structure, like the streets and several trees, is drenched in shades of green and brown. Le Carrousel ou place Pigalle from 1901 shows the bustling activity around the carousel at the Place Pigalle; dabs of color form the crowd.
Van Dongen paints Buveuse d'absinthe in 1902; the painting features a women sitting on the floor intoxicated with absinthe and looking at the laughing skull wearing a top hat opposite her. It is reminiscent of scenes of Parisian nightlife, such as those that appear in paintings and posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec with black contours and colored areas inspired by the Japanese woodcut. Van Dongen was taken with young French poster art, which he had already become acquainted with in Rotterdam.
From Left-wing Illustrator to Painter of High Society
Van Dongen is increasingly active as an illustrator in Paris; artist and journalist friends arrange his first jobs. He admires works by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, who gives him his big break by arranging to have sixteen of his illustrations on the theme of prostitution published in the anarchist journal L'Assiette au beurre in 1901. Van Dongen is enthusiastic about the leftist intellectual currents of his time; from then on he works primarily for left-wing newspapers and publishers, draws current events, captures street scenes with beggars or prostitutes on paper, directly and unadorned. Using black chalk, ink, and watercolors, he devotes himself to the misery in the big city and in the marginal figures of society; he makes a name for himself as a sociocritical artist.
Van Dongen's works are soon exhibited in the Salon des Indépendants and in the galleries run by Berthe Weill and Ambroise Vollard. The year 1905 is an important one in the artist's life: his daughter Dolly, whom he will repeatedly paint, is born, and van Dongen becomes a member of the "Fauves," the "animals of prey." Painters such as Henri Matisse and André Derain are also part of this avant-garde group of artists. What they share is the wild and expressive use of color. Van Dongen again applies himself increasingly to painting and literally throws himself into a frenzy of color. He now paints portraits of women; his preferred models are his wife, Guus, and Fernande Olivier, Picasso's lover. They all live together in Bateau-Lavoir.
Van Dongen paints in a crude, wild, unpolished manner; he has found his style. Color remains his means of expressions. In 1909 he leaves Montmartre, like many of his fellow artists, and moves to Montparnasse, which now becomes a popular artists' quarter. He hosts masquerade balls in his new apartment; decadence finds its way into his life and his work. Beginning in 1916, his lover, Jasmy Jacon, one of the big names in the fashion industry, introduces him to her influential friends. He now receives lucrative commissions, primarily painting portraits of rich women, and becomes a painter of high society. He dies at the age of ninety-one in 1968 in Monte Carlo, his last domicile.