Bernard Buffet

We wish to thank Galerie Maurice Garnier for confirming the authenticity of the present work, which is recorded in the gallery's Archives. Please note this Lot will be accompanied by a photo-certificate.

Please note this work will be on view at our New York City office, at 32 E. 67th Street, from October 24th to October 26th (included), 9am-5pm.

Provenance:
Galerie David et Garnier, Paris.

Literature:
Bernard Buffet, Catalogue Raisonné de l'Œuvre Peint, Vol. 2, Fonds de Dotation Bernard Buffet, Paris, 2024, p. 390 (illustrated).

Lot Essay:
Bernard Buffet showed an early aptitude for art as he enrolled, at a mere fifteen years old, at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He became an art sensation a few years later when he exhibited, to much acclaim, at the Salon des Moins de Trente Ans in 1946, and at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants the following year. At that time, Buffet was considered the proud successor of artists such as Georges Rouault, and made a reputation for himself for his hyper-realistic, borderline existentialist works, featuring disheveled characters, or very simple still lifes with a strong sense of line and a very restricted color palette. 

The present work was executed in 1958, when Bernard Buffet decided, on a whim, to travel to the French Riviera. Along famous villages such as Saint Tropez, Buffet visited Beaulieu-sur-mer, as shown here, a charming resort town located in between Monaco and Nice. Throughout his summer trip, Buffet painted several harbors, which would offer him a radical change from the grey scenes he had witnessed in Brittany as a child. That summer, he also met Annabel Schwob, who would become his muse and wife, and who is credited with the sudden introduction of bold, warm colors in Buffet’s palette. 

With its warm climate and easy access to the sea, Beaulieu-sur-mer was a touristic destination on the French Riviera. In the present work however, Buffet presents the town as an empty one, without any villagers in sight. The viewer stands on the marina, next to tall palm trees, facing a harbor where several fishing boats are moored. All seem abandoned, without drawn sails or sailors, gently rocking on the blue sea. On the horizon lays the town itself, captured in a soothing salmon-pink that is reflected in the harbor, and which nicely contrasts with the bright blue sky above, and the imposing, pointy, mountain in the background. The result is a tight composition, filled from top to bottom and with strongly heightened vertical and horizontal lines. Here, Buffet packs a bold and impactful image of the South, replete of primary colors which echo the giddy joy the artist must have felt when confronted with such an idyllic scenery. Côte d’Azur thus stands as a charming counterpoint to Buffet’s earlier, more monochromatic views, and offers the viewer a taste of an easy, joyful day in the sun.