curatorial

The French painter and printmaker Armand Guillaumin occupies a pivotal position between Impressionism and the avant-garde movements that followed. While historically associated with the Impressionists,¹Guillaumin exhibited in six of the eight Impressionist exhibitions, including the inaugural exhibition in 1874. his career both anticipates and shapes the emergence of FauvismFauve: French for “wild beasts.” A term coined in 1905 by the conservative art critic Louis Vauxcelles (1870–1943) to mock Henri Matisse (1869–1954), André Derain (1880–1954), and other artists who exhibited at the Salon d’Automne that year. Vauxcelles objected to these artists’ bold, non-naturalistic colors, which were sometimes applied onto the canvas straight from the paint tube, and their simplified, unsystematically rendered forms, which gave their paintings an almost abstract appearance. The Fauves’ use of vibrant colors to communicate emotional states inspired artists associated with Expressionism and other twentieth-century avant-garde movements., an art movement named in 1905 after the French word fauve, or “wild beasts,” to describe its bold use of color, expressive brushwork, and simplified forms to convey emotion over realism. Decades earlier, critics like Joris-Karl Huysmans and Félix Fénéon had already recognized some of these tendencies in Guillaumin’s work, praising his “ferocious” yet unexpectedly delicate tonal contrasts and dubbing him a “frenzied colorist”—a striking departure from Impressionism’s focus on rendering the subtleties of natural light.²In 1881, Joris Karl Huysmans wrote, “M. Guillaumin est, lui aussi, un coloriste et, qui plus est, un coloriste féroce; au premier abord, ses toiles sont un margouillis de tons bataillants et de contours frustres, un amas de zébrures et de vermillon et de blue de Prusse; écartez-voux et clignez de l’oeil, le tout se remet en place, le plans s’assurent, le tons hurlants s’apaisent, les couleurs hostiles se concilient et l’on reste étonné de la délicatesse imprévue que prennent certaines parties de ces toiles” (Mr. Guillaumin is also a colorist, and what is more, a ferocious colorist; at first glance, his canvases are a jumble of battling tones and rough contours, a mass of zebra stripes and vermilion and Prussian blue; step aside and blink, everything falls back into place, the planes are assured, the screaming tones calm down, the hostile colors reconcile and one remains astonished by the unexpected delicacy that certain parts of these canvases take on). This and subsequent translations, unless otherwise noted, are by the author. Joris Karl Huysmans, “L’Exposition des Indépendants en 1881,” reprinted in Huysmans, L’Art Moderne, 2nd ed. (Paris: P. V. Stock, 1902), 261. For the Fénéon quote “ce coloriste forcené” (this frenzied colorist), see Félix Fénéon, “Les Impressionnistes,” La Vogue, June 13–20, 1886, 261–75, quoted in Ruth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886 (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1996), 1:443. Guillaumin’s 1904 painting Morning, Rouen exemplifies this evolution, capturing the city’s industrial port with bold, contrasting hues that prefigure the palettes of Fauve artists like Henri Matisse (1869–1954) and Othon Friesz (1879–1949). Through this work, Guillaumin bridges Impressionism’s explorations of light and Fauvism’s expressive celebration of pure color while also engaging with Rouen’s rich artistic legacy. Morning, Rouen underscores Guillaumin’s innovative approach to color and modernity, cementing his role as a key figure in the transition between these movements.

Fig. 1. William Miller, after Joseph Mallord William Turner, Rouen, from St Catherine’s Hill, from the series Turner’s Annual Tour: The Seine, 1834, etching and engraving on a sheet of India laid on wove paper; engraver’s proof, finished state, before letters, 5 13/16 x 8 13/16 in. (14.8 x 22.4 cm), British Museum, London, 1868,0822.4182. © The Trustees of the British Museum

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Rouen, located on a bend of the Seine River, about seventy-five miles from the open sea, has long captivated artists.³For an exhibition chronicling Rouen as an artistic site of inspiration during the Impressionist era, see Laurent Salomé, ed., A City for Impressionism: Monet, Pissarro, and Gauguin in Rouen, exh. cat. (Milan: Skira, 2010). Its industrial vibrance, Gothic architecture, and atmospheric light inspired artists like English painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), whose watercolors, sketches,⁴See several examples at the Tate, including Joseph Mallord William Turner, View of Rouen from the Side of St. Catherine’s Hill, part of the Dieppe, Rouen, and Paris sketchbook, 1821, graphite on paper, 4 5/8 x 4 13/16 in. (11.8 x 12.3 cm), Tate, London, D24509, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-view-of-rouen-from-the-side-of-st-catherines-hill-d24509. and later prints (Fig. 1)⁵The line engraving appeared in Turner’s Annual Tour, 1834: Wanderings by the Seine, which was part of a larger project titled River Scenery of Europe and engraved under Charles Heath’s supervision. See the catalogue entry on the website for the Tate, London, at https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-rouen-from-st-catherines-hill-t04705 (accessed December 16, 2024). For a further discussion of the later publication of The Rivers of France (1837), in which the view of Rouen also appeared, see the Tate’s extended catalogue entry for Nantes, also from Turner’s Annual Tour, at https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-nantes-t04678 (accessed December 16, 2024). profoundly influenced Impressionist painters Claude Monet (1840–1926) and Camille Pissarro (1830–1903).⁶Turner’s dynamic interplay of light and weather finds echoes in Claude Monet’s series of Rouen Cathedral paintings (1892–94). See, for example, Monet, Rouen Cathedral: The Portal (Sunlight), 1894, oil on canvas, 39 1/4 x 25 7/8 in. (99.7 x 65.7 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 30.95.250, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437124. Turner’s elevated view of Rouen also influenced Monet’s General View of Rouen, 25 1/2 x 39 5/16 in. (65 x 100 cm), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, 995.7.1, https://mbarouen.fr/en/oeuvres/general-view-of-rouen. Both Monet and Pissarro made repeated visits to Rouen from the 1870s to the 1890s, collectively realizing more than fifty compositions of various aspects of the city and its port.⁷Monet realized more than thirty views of the Rouen Cathedral, in addition to other general views of the city and surrounding countryside, whereas Camille Pissarro created more than twenty compositions in Rouen. See especially the latter’s painting Quai Napoléon, Rouen, 1883, oil on canvas, 21 3/8 x 25 3/8 in. (54.3 x 64.5 cm), Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1978-1-25, https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/72114, which is very similar to the Nelson-Atkins composition. For other Pissarro paintings of Rouen, see Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of Paintings (Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005), nos. 1218–1237, 3:761–71. Artists Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), Alfred Sisley (English, born Paris, 1839–1899), and Charles Angrand (1854–1926) were also drawn to the city to create works of their own.⁸See, for example, Paul Gauguin, Street in Rouen, 1884, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (73 x 92 cm), Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, inv. no. 552, https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/gauguin-paul/street-rouen; and Alfred Sisley, Sahurs Meadows in Morning Sun, 1894, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (73 x 92.1 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991.277.3, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437683. Collectively, these artists established Rouen as a site for exploring both urban modernity and the fleeting effects of light. Guillaumin, in turn, built on this legacy, expanding beyond their light-focused techniques to explore bold color contrasts, while still considering atmospheric conditions.

Fig. 2. Armand Guillaumin, Barges, ca. 1904, oil on canvas, framed: 33 1/4 x 37 5/8 in. (84.5 x 95.5 cm), Musée Léon Bonnat, Bayonne. © RMN-Grand Palais (Orsay Museum) / Musée Léon Bonnat, Bayonne. Photo: Bridgeman Images

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Guillaumin made two visits to Rouen in 1898 and 1904, producing at least ten views of the Seine from its banks.⁹See Armand Guillaumin, The Seine of Rouen, ca. 1898, oil on canvas, 15 1/8 x 18 1/8 in. (38.5 x 46 cm), sold at Christie’s, London, “Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale,” June 23, 2016, lot 291, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6009060; Armand Guillaumin, The Banks of the Seine of Rouen, ca. 1898, oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm), sold at Sotheby’s, New York, “Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale,” May 17, 2017, lot 193, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-n09711/lot.193.html; Armand Guillaumin, The Corneille Bridge, ca. 1898, oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm), sold at Sotheby’s, Paris, “Art Impressionniste et Moderne Day Sale,” March 30, 2021, lot 251, https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/art-impressionniste-et-moderne-day-sale/le-pont-de-corneille-a-rouen; Armand Guillaumin, Snow in Rouen: The Barges, ca. 1904, oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 25 1/2 in. (50 x 65 cm), Musée Léon Bonnat, Bayonne, RF 1937 78, https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/neige-rouen-les-peniches-75130; Armand Guillaumin, Barges, ca. 1904, oil on canvas, framed: 33 1/4 x 37 1/2 in. (84.5 x 95.5 cm), Musée Léon Bonnat, Bayonne, RF 1937 87, https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/peniches-75139; Armand Guillaumin, Snow Melting in Rouen, ca. 1904, oil on canvas (no dimensions given), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, https://art.rmngp.fr/fr/library/artworks/armand-guillaumin_neige-fondant-a-rouen_huile-sur-toile; Armand Guillaumin, The Seine Upstream of Rouen, ca. 1904, oil on canvas, 19 1/4 x 25 5/8 in. (49 x 65.2 cm), sold at Sotheby’s, London, “Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale,” February 4, 2009, lot 175, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-l09604/lot.175.html; Armand Guillaumin, Banks of the Seine, near Rouen, 1904, oil on canvas, 21 x 26 in. (54.6 x 66.1 cm), sold at Christie’s, New York, “Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art (Day Sale),” November 9, 1999, lot 245, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1609375; Armand Guillaumin, The Barges of Rouen, 1904, oil on canvas, 21 x 31 1/2 in. (53 x 80 cm), private collection, reproduced in Anne Galloyer, ed., Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927): L’Impressioniste Fauve, exh. cat. (Chatou, France: Musée Fournaise, 2003), 46–47. The inscription on the back of Morning, Rouen, reads “8 h(r?) TG/Rouen 9^bre 1904/le matin,” dating the canvas to November of that year.¹⁰The abbreviation “bre” follows the older Latin-based system of month names, where months from September onward retained their original Roman-numerical roots (Septem = 7, Octo = 8, Novem = 9, and so on) with the addition of “bre” following the number. The first part of the inscription, “TG,” stands for “temps gris” (gray weather). This discovery is unpacked further in the forthcoming technical essay by Sophia Boosalis. Guillaumin had recently been in the Netherlands for nine months, from September 1903 until the end of June 1904, marking his first time away from France. It is unclear when exactly he left for Rouen, but in all likelihood it was late summer into at least early winter, based on the known works cited in Christopher Gray, Armand Guillaumin (Chester, CT: Pequot Press, 1972), 58n12. The painting offers a view looking east toward the Côte Sainte-Catherine, or Sainte-Catherine Hill, but avoids its panoramic vista. Guillaumin instead chose to center the river as a reflective surface for his explosive use of color. A solitary figure traverses the riverbank, evoking both industry and leisure—a dual characteristic of modernity. A second version of the composition, created around the same time, employs a more muted palette and omits the figure entirely (Fig. 2). A contemporary postcard of the same location provides a historical reference, offering a nearly identical perspective of the industrial waterfront (Fig. 3). While the postcard faithfully documents the industrial site, Guillaumin’s transformation of this urban setting into a radiant tableau highlights his prioritization of color and movement over mimetic representation.

Fig. 3. Unknown artist, Rouen, The Seine and the Coast of Saint-Catherine, ca. 1905, approx. 3 9/16 x 5 1/2 in. (9 x 14 cm), color lithograph (postcard), collection Bourgeron. Photo: Collection Bourgeron / Bridgeman Images

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Most of Guillaumin’s canvases from Rouen feature some activity on the river related to the industrial nature of the port; the city was a hub for trade, textiles, and porcelain production. In the Nelson-Atkins composition, barges moored to bollards lining the bank appear loaded down with goods, while in other Rouen pictures, larger ships appear in the distance beyond the bridges. In nearly all of his works, he includes factories, which have provided much fodder for scholars interested in these as signposts of the artist’s interest in modernity.¹¹See James Rubin, “Factories and Work Sites,” in Impressionism and Modern Landscape: Productivity, Technology, and Urbanization from Manet to Van Gogh (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 132–34, 216n43.

Industrial subject matter was not new to Guillaumin. In fact, some of his earliest compositions feature working waterways lined with factories belching smoke along the banks, as seen in a painting the artist made thirty-one years earlier (Fig. 4). While the colors are bold in that 1873 composition, they are still naturalistic and reflect an artist keenly aware of tonal gradation and atmospheric effects. In contrast, the Nelson-Atkins painting embraces a more audacious palette, prioritizing color’s expressive potential over strict naturalism. Yet the newly discovered inscription on its verso, noting the weather as “TG” (temps gris, or gray weather) suggests that Guillaumin remained attentive to the nuances of light and climate in his approach.¹²Kress paintings conservation fellow Sophia Boosalis discovered this additional verso inscription on the stretcher of the canvas through infrared reflectography. For more on this, see her forthcoming technical exam.

Fig. 4. Armand Guillaumin, Sunset at Ivry, 1873, oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 31 7/8 in. (65 x 81 cm), Musée d’Orsay, Paris, RF 1951 34. Photo: Bridgeman Images

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In Morning, Rouen, Guillaumin adopts a higher-keyed palette than in the 1873 landscape or his other 1904 Rouen scene, showcasing a confident and striking approach to color, particularly in the vivid, unnatural tones of the water and sky. While he made a point to note that he captured the painting at eight in the morning and in gray weather conditions, which recalls his Impressionist origins, the exaggerated hues push beyond naturalism, reflecting his evolving vision. Here, the sky shifts from orange, above the distant hills, to blue, punctuated by billowing clouds of violet and yellow factory smoke. The juxtaposition of complementary colors—purple and yellow, blue and orange—creates a vibrating intensity that energizes the composition. For example, the orange-roofed factories in the left background are adjacent to blue buildings. The solitary figure walking along the green path is enlivened by the interplay of their blue and orange attire. The vibrant green path stands in sharp contrast to the artist’s signature in red at lower left. The reflections in the Seine also reveal Guillaumin’s bold approach to color, with crisscrossed orange and blue strokes from the boat masts mingling with the lilac-pink smoke rising from the factories. These elements mirror the movement of water and sky, yet their heightened hues suggest a vision that transcends observed reality, transforming the industrial port into an expressive tableau of modernity.

While critics had acknowledged the artist’s vivid palette since the mid-1880s, it was not until 1891, with a substantial windfall from a lottery win, that the artist was liberated from the financial burden of having to sell works to sustain himself.¹³Guillaumin scholar Christopher Gray highlights the transformative impact of the artist’s 100,000-franc lottery win, noting that at a time when the annual wage of a skilled worker rarely exceeded 1,750 francs, the interest alone from this sum provided five thousand francs annually, ensuring unparalleled financial security. This pivotal event occurred when Guillaumin was fifty years old, married, and the father of two young children. Gray references Georges Lecomte, who describes how “la bonne fortune d’un lot important à l’un des tirages du Crédit Foncier lui permit de se libérer totalement” (the good fortune of a large lot in one of the Crédit Foncier draws allowed him to free himself completely). See Georges Lecomte, Guillaumin (Paris: Bernheim Jeune, 1926), 23, cited and trans. in Gray, Armand Guillaumin, 45n24. Freed from financial constraints, Guillaumin devoted himself further to his exploration of chromatic intensity, bridging the naturalism of Impressionism and the abstraction of Fauvism. This strong interest in color attracted many of his near contemporaries, including Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890).

From 1886 to 1888, Guillaumin was the Impressionist with the closest connections to Van Gogh, sharing with him the radical idea of a studio modeled on medieval workshops.¹⁴Rainer Budde, ed., Vom Spiel der Farbe: Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927); ein vergessener Impressionist, exh. cat. (Cologne: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 1996), 35–36. Van Gogh greatly admired Guillaumin’s use of vibrant, unconventional color, which would influence his own expressive palette.¹⁵There are thirty-six letters among the corpus of Van Gogh correspondence that mention Guillaumin; see Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten, and Nienke Bakker, eds., Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters, online edition (Amsterdam and The Hague: Van Gogh Museum and Huygens, 2009), https://vangoghletters.org/vg/search/simple?term=Guillaumin. In a letter to Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh specifically calls out Gullaumin’s use of vigorous color, noting that one finds “the same pink, orange, and violet blue patches, but his touch is vigorous.” See Theo van Gogh, Paris, to Vincent van Gogh, October 22, 1889, published in Jansen et al., Letters, no. 813, https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let813/letter.html. All English translations of Van Gogh’s letters are from this publication. See also Vincent’s response to Theo: “What you say about Guillaumin is very true, he has found a true thing and . . . he . . . becomes stronger.” Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, to Theo van Gogh, October 25, 1889, published in Jansen et al., Letters, no. 815, https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let815/letter.html. This admiration also facilitated the Australian artist John Russell (1858–1930)’s acquisition of several Guillaumin works through Theo van Gogh, Vincent’s brother.¹⁶See Vincent van Gogh, Arles, to Theo van Gogh, May 1, 1888, published in Jansen et al., Letters, no. 602, http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let602/letter.html. See also Vincent van Gogh, Arles, to Theo van Gogh, May 4, 1888, published in Jansen et al., Letters, no. 604, http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let604/letter.html. Guillaumin’s vivid canvases left a lasting impression on Russell, who later became a key influence on Matisse. According to Van Gogh’s correspondence, Russell purchased multiple works by Guillaumin in 1888 and expressed interest in acquiring more, likely sharing them with visitors to his home on Belle-Île, including Matisse during his visit in 1897–98. Matisse’s groundbreaking Woman with a Hat (1905), with its chromatic intensity and roughly applied pigments to the sitter’s face, dress, and background, suggest the influence of Guillaumin (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. Henri Matisse, Woman with a Hat, 1905, oil on canvas, 31 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. (80.7 x 59.7 cm), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Photo: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art / Bridgeman Images

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Guillaumin’s impact extended beyond Van Gogh and Matisse to the next generation of avant-garde artists. Among them was the young Othon Friesz, who went to work with Guillaumin in the summer of 1901 at Crozant, the picturesque village central to the elder artist’s career. There Friesz encountered Guillaumin’s mastery of pure tones, a revelation that profoundly shaped his approach to color and composition. Friesz later credited Guillaumin with inspiring his shift toward prioritizing bold, unrestrained color over strict naturalism.¹⁷See Sophie Monneret, L’impressionnisme et Son Époque: Dictionnaire International Illustré (Paris: Denoël, 1978), 260.

By the time Guillaumin painted Morning, Rouen in 1904, his use of color had reached an intensity that prefigured Fauvism’s radical break with tradition. Guillaumin served as head of the paintings division at the Salon d’Automne in 1905 and 1906, where works by Matisse and other Fauves were displayed. Guillaumin’s vivid industrial landscapes, with their bold hues and modern subjects, embodied the energy and transformation of a world in flux. While rooted in Impressionism, his work foreshadowed Fauvism’s emotional immediacy, positioning him as a pivotal figure in modern art’s evolution. Félix Fénéon’s description of Guillaumin’s paintings as restoring “a robust and placid animality”¹⁸“Nous voici devant les Guillaumin. Des ciels immenses: des ciels surchauffés, où se bousculent des nuages dans la bataille des verts, des pourpres, des mauves et des jaunes; d’autres, crépusculaires alors, où de l’horizon se lève l’énorme masse amorphe de nues basses que des vents obliques strient. Sous ces ciels lourdement somptueux, se bossuent, peintes par violents et larges empâtements des campagnes violettes alternant labours et pacages; des arbres se crispent à des pentes fuyant vers des maisons qu’enceignent des potagers, les cours de fermes où se dressent les bras des charrettes. . . . Parmi des arbres et des fleurs, sous des chapeaux de jardin, de mafflées gaillardes lisent, dorment, tassant leurs charnures dans des fauteuils d’osier. Et ce coloriste furieux, ce beau peintre de paysages gorgés de sèves et haletants, a restitué à toutes ses figures humaines une robuste et placide animalité” (Here we are before the Guillaumins. Immense skies: overheated skies, where clouds jostle in the battle of greens, purples, mauves, and yellows; others, then twilight, where from the horizon rises the enormous amorphous mass of low clouds that are streaked by oblique winds. Under these heavily sumptuous skies, violet countrysides are hunched, [their fields] alternate between plowing and pasture, painted in violent and broad impastos; trees cling to slopes leaning toward houses surrounded by vegetable gardens, the farmyards where handcarts stand. . . . Among trees and flowers, under garden hats, lively plump women read [and] sleep, squeezing their flesh into wicker armchairs. And this furious colorist, this beautiful painter of breathtaking, sap-filled landscapes, has restored to all his human figures a robust and placid animality). Original review of the Eighth Impressionist Exhibition by Félix Fénéon, “Les Impressionnistes,” La Vogue, June 13–20, 1886, 261–75, quoted in Berson, The New Painting, 1:443 resonates with the untamed spirit later captured by the term fauve. Though Guillaumin did not fully embrace the avant-garde currents of his time, his innovative approach to color and form bridges the dialogue between naturalism and abstraction, making him an indispensable link between Impressionism and the raw emotional power of Fauvism.

Notes

1. Guillaumin exhibited in six of the eight Impressionist exhibitions, including the inaugural exhibition in 1874.

2. In 1881, Joris Karl Huysmans wrote, “M. Guillaumin est, lui aussi, un coloriste et, qui plus est, un coloriste féroce; au premier abord, ses toiles sont un margouillis de tons bataillants et de contours frustres, un amas de zébrures et de vermillon et de blue de Prusse; écartez-voux et clignez de l’oeil, le tout se remet en place, le plans s’assurent, le tons hurlants s’apaisent, les couleurs hostiles se concilient et l’on reste étonné de la délicatesse imprévue que prennent certaines parties de ces toiles” (Mr. Guillaumin is also a colorist, and what is more, a ferocious colorist; at first glance, his canvases are a jumble of battling tones and rough contours, a mass of zebra stripes and vermilion and Prussian blue; step aside and blink, everything falls back into place, the planes are assured, the screaming tones calm down, the hostile colors reconcile and one remains astonished by the unexpected delicacy that certain parts of these canvases take on). This and subsequent translations, unless otherwise noted, are by the author. Joris Karl Huysmans, “L’Exposition des Indépendants en 1881,” reprinted in Huysmans, L’Art Moderne, 2nd ed. (Paris: P. V. Stock, 1902), 261. For the Fénéon quote “ce coloriste forcené” (this frenzied colorist), see Félix Fénéon, “Les Impressionnistes,” La Vogue, June 13–20, 1886, 261–75, quoted in Ruth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886 (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1996), 1:443.

3. For an exhibition chronicling Rouen as an artistic site of inspiration during the Impressionist era, see Laurent Salomé, ed., A City for Impressionism: Monet, Pissarro, and Gauguin in Rouen, exh. cat. (Milan: Skira, 2010).

4. See several examples at the Tate, including Joseph Mallord William Turner, View of Rouen from the Side of St. Catherine’s Hill, part of the Dieppe, Rouen, and Paris sketchbook, 1821, graphite on paper, 4 5/8 x 4 13/16 in. (11.8 x 12.3 cm), Tate, London, D24509, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-view-of-rouen-from-the-side-of-st-catherines-hill-d24509.

5. The line engraving appeared in Turner’s Annual Tour, 1834: Wanderings by the Seine, which was part of a larger project titled River Scenery of Europe and engraved under Charles Heath’s supervision. See the catalogue entry on the website for the Tate, London, at https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-rouen-from-st-catherines-hill-t04705 (accessed December 16, 2024). For a further discussion of the later publication of The Rivers of France (1837), in which the view of Rouen also appeared, see the Tate’s extended catalogue entry for Nantes, also from Turner’s Annual Tour, at https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-nantes-t04678 (accessed December 16, 2024).

6. Turner’s dynamic interplay of light and weather finds echoes in Claude Monet’s series of Rouen Cathedral paintings (1892–94). See, for example, Monet, Rouen Cathedral: The Portal (Sunlight), 1894, oil on canvas, 39 1/4 x 25 7/8 in. (99.7 x 65.7 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 30.95.250, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437124. Turner’s elevated view of Rouen also influenced Monet’s General View of Rouen, 25 1/2 x 39 5/16 in. (65 x 100 cm), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, 995.7.1, https://mbarouen.fr/en/oeuvres/general-view-of-rouen.

7. Monet realized more than thirty views of the Rouen Cathedral, in addition to other general views of the city and surrounding countryside, whereas Camille Pissarro created more than twenty compositions in Rouen. See especially the latter’s painting Quai Napoléon, Rouen, 1883, oil on canvas, 21 3/8 x 25 3/8 in. (54.3 x 64.5 cm), Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1978-1-25, https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/72114, which is very similar to the Nelson-Atkins composition. For other Pissarro paintings of Rouen, see Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of Paintings (Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005), nos. 1218–1237, 3:761–71.

8. See, for example, Paul Gauguin, Street in Rouen, 1884, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (73 x 92 cm), Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, inv. no. 552, https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/gauguin-paul/street-rouen; and Alfred Sisley, Sahurs Meadows in Morning Sun, 1894, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (73 x 92.1 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991.277.3, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437683.

9. See Armand Guillaumin, The Seine of Rouen, ca. 1898, oil on canvas, 15 1/8 x 18 1/8 in. (38.5 x 46 cm), sold at Christie’s, London, “Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale,” June 23, 2016, lot 291, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6009060; Armand Guillaumin, The Banks of the Seine of Rouen, ca. 1898, oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm), sold at Sotheby’s, New York, “Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale,” May 17, 2017, lot 193, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-n09711/lot.193.html; Armand Guillaumin, The Corneille Bridge, ca. 1898, oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm), sold at Sotheby’s, Paris, “Art Impressionniste et Moderne Day Sale,” March 30, 2021, lot 251, https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/art-impressionniste-et-moderne-day-sale/le-pont-de-corneille-a-rouen; Armand Guillaumin, Snow in Rouen: The Barges, ca. 1904, oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 25 1/2 in. (50 x 65 cm), Musée Léon Bonnat, Bayonne, RF 1937 78, https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/neige-rouen-les-peniches-75130; Armand Guillaumin, Barges, ca. 1904, oil on canvas, framed: 33 1/4 x 37 1/2 in. (84.5 x 95.5 cm), Musée Léon Bonnat, Bayonne, RF 1937 87, https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/peniches-75139; Armand Guillaumin, Snow Melting in Rouen, ca. 1904, oil on canvas (no dimensions given), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, https://art.rmngp.fr/fr/library/artworks/armand-guillaumin_neige-fondant-a-rouen_huile-sur-toile; Armand Guillaumin, The Seine Upstream of Rouen, ca. 1904, oil on canvas, 19 1/4 x 25 5/8 in. (49 x 65.2 cm), sold at Sotheby’s, London, “Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale,” February 4, 2009, lot 175, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-l09604/lot.175.html; Armand Guillaumin, Banks of the Seine, near Rouen, 1904, oil on canvas, 21 x 26 in. (54.6 x 66.1 cm), sold at Christie’s, New York, “Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art (Day Sale),” November 9, 1999, lot 245, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1609375; Armand Guillaumin, The Barges of Rouen, 1904, oil on canvas, 21 x 31 1/2 in. (53 x 80 cm), private collection, reproduced in Anne Galloyer, ed., Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927): L’Impressioniste Fauve, exh. cat. (Chatou, France: Musée Fournaise, 2003), 46–47.

10. The abbreviation “bre” follows the older Latin-based system of month names, where months from September onward retained their original Roman-numerical roots (Septem = 7, Octo = 8, Novem = 9, and so on) with the addition of “bre” following the number. The first part of the inscription, “TG,” stands for “temps gris” (gray weather). This discovery is unpacked further in the forthcoming technical essay by Sophia Boosalis. Guillaumin had recently been in the Netherlands for nine months, from September 1903 until the end of June 1904, marking his first time away from France. It is unclear when exactly he left for Rouen, but in all likelihood it was late summer into at least early winter, based on the known works cited in Christopher Gray, Armand Guillaumin (Chester, CT: Pequot Press, 1972), 58n12.

11. See James Rubin, “Factories and Work Sites,” in Impressionism and Modern Landscape: Productivity, Technology, and Urbanization from Manet to Van Gogh (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 132–34, 216n43.

12. Kress paintings conservation fellow Sophia Boosalis discovered this additional verso inscription on the stretcher of the canvas through infrared reflectography. For more on this, see her forthcoming technical exam.

13. Guillaumin scholar Christopher Gray highlights the transformative impact of the artist’s 100,000-franc lottery win, noting that at a time when the annual wage of a skilled worker rarely exceeded 1,750 francs, the interest alone from this sum provided five thousand francs annually, ensuring unparalleled financial security. This pivotal event occurred when Guillaumin was fifty years old, married, and the father of two young children. Gray references Georges Lecomte, who describes how “la bonne fortune d’un lot important à l’un des tirages du Crédit Foncier lui permit de se libérer totalement” (the good fortune of a large lot in one of the Crédit Foncier draws allowed him to free himself completely). See Georges Lecomte, Guillaumin (Paris: Bernheim Jeune, 1926), 23, cited and trans. in Gray, Armand Guillaumin, 45n24.

14. Rainer Budde, ed., Vom Spiel der Farbe: Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927); ein vergessener Impressionist, exh. cat. (Cologne: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 1996), 35–36.

15. There are thirty-six letters among the corpus of Van Gogh correspondence that mention Guillaumin; see Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten, and Nienke Bakker, eds., Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters, online edition (Amsterdam and The Hague: Van Gogh Museum and Huygens, 2009), https://vangoghletters.org/vg/search/simple?term=Guillaumin. In a letter to Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh specifically calls out Guillaumin’s use of vigorous color, noting that one finds “the same pink, orange, and violet blue patches, but his touch is vigorous.” See Theo van Gogh, Paris, to Vincent van Gogh, October 22, 1889, published in Jansen et al., Letters, no. 813, https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let813/letter.html. All English translations of Van Gogh’s letters are from this publication. See also Vincent’s response to Theo: “What you say about Guillaumin is very true, he has found a true thing and . . . he . . . becomes stronger.” Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, to Theo van Gogh, October 25, 1889, published in Jansen et al., Letters, no. 815, https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let815/letter.html.

16. See Vincent van Gogh, Arles, to Theo van Gogh, May 1, 1888, published in Jansen et al., Letters, no. 602, http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let602/letter.html. See also Vincent van Gogh, Arles, to Theo van Gogh, May 4, 1888, published in Jansen et al., Letters, no. 604, http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let604/letter.html.

17. See Sophie Monneret, L’impressionnisme et Son Époque: Dictionnaire International Illustré (Paris: Denoël, 1978), 260.

18. “Nous voici devant les Guillaumin. Des ciels immenses: des ciels surchauffés, où se bousculent des nuages dans la bataille des verts, des pourpres, des mauves et des jaunes; d’autres, crépusculaires alors, où de l’horizon se lève l’énorme masse amorphe de nues basses que des vents obliques strient. Sous ces ciels lourdement somptueux, se bossuent, peintes par violents et larges empâtements des campagnes violettes alternant labours et pacages; des arbres se crispent à des pentes fuyant vers des maisons qu’enceignent des potagers, les cours de fermes où se dressent les bras des charrettes. . . . Parmi des arbres et des fleurs, sous des chapeaux de jardin, de mafflées gaillardes lisent, dorment, tassant leurs charnures dans des fauteuils d’osier. Et ce coloriste furieux, ce beau peintre de paysages gorgés de sèves et haletants, a restitué à toutes ses figures humaines une robuste et placide animalité” (Here we are before the Guillaumins. Immense skies: overheated skies, where clouds jostle in the battle of greens, purples, mauves, and yellows; others, then twilight, where from the horizon rises the enormous amorphous mass of low clouds that are streaked by oblique winds. Under these heavily sumptuous skies, violet countrysides are hunched, [their fields] alternate between plowing and pasture, painted in violent and broad impastos; trees cling to slopes leaning toward houses surrounded by vegetable gardens, the farmyards where the handcarts stand. . . . Among trees and flowers, under garden hats, lively plump women read [and] sleep, squeezing their flesh into wicker armchairs. And this furious colorist, this beautiful painter of breathtaking, sap-filled landscapes, has restored to all his human figures a robust and placid animality). Original review of the Eighth Impressionist Exhibition by Félix Fénéon, “Les Impressionnistes,” La Vogue, June 13–20, 1886, 261–75, quoted in Berson, The New Painting, 1:443

provenance

Possibly with Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, by 1906–possibly 1924 [1];

Acquired by a private collector, France, around 1920 [2];

By descent to his son, at least 2019–2020;

With Leighton Fine Art, Marlow, London, by March–August 5, 2021;

Purchased from Leighton Fine Art by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2021.

Notes

[1] It is possible that Morning, Rouen was exhibited at the Exposition Guillaumin, held at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, April 6–21, 1906, as one of seven options: no. 8, Rouen, 1904; no. 11, Rouen; no. 13, Quai à Rouen; no. 16, Rouen; no. 17, La Seine avant Rouen (fumées); no. 18, Quai de Rouen; or no. 19, Rouen. The catalogue does not reproduce the works nor list sizes, and contemporary criticism has not produced enough details to identify individual canvases.

In 1924, Bernheim-Jeune was listed as an owner of two Guillaumin paintings, both entitled “Vue de Rouen,” with one matching the Nelson-Atkins dimensions: 54 x 65 cm. See Édouard Des Courières, Armand Guillaumin (Paris: Henri Floury, 1924), 165. This painting might also be Banks of the Seine, near Rouen, 1904, oil on canvas, 21 x 26 in. (54.6 x 66.1 cm), sold at Christie’s, New York, “Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art (Day Sale),” November 9, 1999, lot 245 (see below in Related Works).

[2] The painting appeared for sale twice by this private collector, but went unsold both times: Art Impressionniste et Moderne, Art Contemporain Cornette de Saint Cyr, Maison de Ventes S.A.S., Paris, June 27, 2019, lot 53; and again at Art Impressionniste et Moderne, Cornette de Saint Cyr, Maison de Ventes S.A.S., Paris, July 1, 2020, lot 78, as Rouen le matin, septembre 1904. The provenance in the sales catalogue says, “Acquise vers 1920 par le père du propriétaire actuel. Par descendance” (Acquired around 1920 by the father of the current owner. By descent).

Armand Guillaumin, The Seine at Rouen, ca. 1898, oil on canvas, 15 1/8 x 18 1/8 in. (38.5 x 46 cm), sold at Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale, Christie’s, London, June 23, 2016, lot 291.

Armand Guillaumin, Barges (Rouen, the Seine, Morning), ca. 1904, oil on canvas​, framed: 33 1/4 x 37 5/8 in. (84.5 x 95.5 cm), Musée Léon Bonnat, Bayonne / Musée d’Orsay, Paris, RF 1937 87.

Armand Guillaumin, Snow in Rouen: The Barges, ca. 1904, oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 25 1/2 in. (50 x 65 cm), Musée Léon Bonnat, Bayonne / Musée d’Orsay, Paris, RF 1937 78.

Armand Guillaumin, The Barges of Rouen, 1904, oil on canvas, 21 x 31 1/2 in. (53 x 80 cm), private collection; reproduced in Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927): L’Impressioniste Fauve, exh. cat (Chatou, France: Musée Fournaise, 2003), no. 53, pp. 46–47.

Armand Guillaumin, Banks of the Seine, near Rouen, 1904, oil on canvas, 21 x 26 in. (54.6 x 66.1 cm), sold at Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art (Day Sale), Christie’s, New York, November 9, 1999, lot 245.

Possibly Exposition Guillaumin, MM. Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, April 6–21, 1906, as one of seven options: no. 8, Rouen, 1904; no. 11, Rouen; no. 13, Quai à Rouen; no. 16, Rouen; no. 17, La Seine avant Rouen (fumées); no. 18, Quai de Rouen; or no. 19. Rouen.

Possibly Ausstellung von werken Französischer Künstler der Gegenwart, Alten Schloss, Strassburg, March 2–April 2, 1907, no. 128, as Ansicht von Rouen.

references

Possibly Exposition Guillaumin, exh. cat. (Paris: Bernheim-Jeune, April 6–21, 1906), unpaginated.

Possibly Georges Bal, “Exposition Guillaumin,” New York Herald (April 10, 1906): 5, as Vues de Rouen.

Possibly Katalog der Ausstellung von werken Französischer Künstler der Gegenwart, exh. cat. (Strassburg: Fischbach, 1907), 12, as Ansicht von Rouen.

Possibly Édouard Des Courières, Armand Guillaumin (Paris: Henri Floury, 1924), 165, as Vue de Rouen, and with dimensions of 54 x 65 cm.

Art Impressionniste et Moderne, Art Contemporain (Paris: Cornette de Saint Cyr, June 27, 2019), 20–21, (repro.), as Rouen le Matin.

Art Impressionniste et Moderne (Paris: Cornette de Saint Cyr, July 1, 2020), 74–75, (repro.), as Rouen le Matin, septembre 1904.

“Nelson-Atkins donor gifts enhance European collection,” ArtDaily (December 15, 2021): https://artdaily.cc/news/142058/Nelson-Atkins-donor-gifts-enhance-European-collection-#.YbomdbpMGUk.

“Nelson-Atkins welcomes French Impressionist works,” Live Auctioneers: Auction Central News (December 22, 2021): https://www.liveauctioneers.com/news/top-news/nelson-atkins-welcomes-french-impressionist-works/.