Footnotes

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Olivier Bertrand. This work will be included in the forthcoming Théo Van Rysselberghe catalogue raisonné, currently being prepared by Olivier Bertrand.

Provenance
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 10 December 1969, lot 166;
Thomas Collection (acquired at the above sale);
Johan Albert Mohn Collection, Norway;
Kaplan Gallery, London (acquired by 1972);
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 7 December 1978, lot 529;
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London (acquired in 1978);
Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 25 March 1980, lot 17;
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, New York, 21 May 1981, lot 620;
Francis E. Flower III Collection, US (acquired at the above sale); his sale, Sotheby's, New York, 14 May 1998, lot 143;
Borzo Kunsthandel, Den Bosch, no. M.RYS.02; where acquired in 1999.

Literature
R. Feltkamp, Théo van Rysselberghe 1862-1926, Paris, 2003, no. 1906-034 (illustrated p. 361).


'Veere is silence itself: it is an old, derelict little town, surrounded by water and now deserted – or nearly - and where, in the evening, it feels like a lost island in the mist.'

(Théo van Rysselberghe)

Théo van Rysselberghe wrote this poetic statement in a letter to the author Marie Closset after he visited the Dutch town of Veere in autumn 1906 (van Rysselberghe quoted in R. Feltkamp, Théo van Rysselberghe 1962-1926, Brussels, 2003, p. 105). He had previously visited this region in southwest Netherlands with the artist Georges Lacombe, but it can be assumed that its beauty and quietude lured him back. The peaceful atmosphere of Veere - which stands on the Veerse Meer lagoon on the island of Walcheren - struck a creative chord with the Belgian artist, prompting him to create a small series of oils and watercolours, from which the present work derives. Known for being the leader of the Belgian Neo-Impressionists, Quai à Veere is a prime example of van Rysselberghe's celebrated mature style.

The turn of the century and subsequent years marked a pivotal stage within van Rysselberghe's painterly corpus. Around 1904, he individualised his style and technique by instilling a sense of freedom and fluidity to his painting, as he slowly moved away from the Pointillist technique, which he fully abandoned in 1910. Compared to the more demanding technique of the 1880s and 1890s, he began to apply his brushstrokes in a more spontaneous manner, elongating the daubs of paint, which added a certain levity to his later works. He sustained, however, his remarkable ability to capture the subtle effects of light on a landscape, exemplified by the present work.

Van Rysselberghe was first confronted with Pointillism, the pioneering technique of the Neo-Impressionist movement, upon seeing Georges Seurat's seminal Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte at the eighth and final Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1886. Favouring a precise, methodical application of individual dots of paint, Neo-Impressionism was governed by the scientific principles of colour theory. Seurat's iconic canvas represented a direct assault on the natural approach of Impressionism and heralded the arrival of this new and exciting visual idiom.

Van Rysselberghe and the Belgian Symbolist poet Emile Verhaeren invited Seurat to exhibit La Grande Jatte one year later in 1887 in Brussels, showcased by the avant-garde group 'Les XX' (a group comprising twenty painters), which was the primary vehicle for disseminating new artistic ideas in Belgium. Van Rysselberghe was one of the eleven founding members (other notable members included James Ensor, Willy Finch, and Fernand Khnopff) and he began painting in a divisionist manner in 1888, becoming one of the movement's leading proponents. As he wrote to his close friend Paul Signac in 1892, one year after Seurat's untimely passing: 'Like you I am more convinced of the excellence of our technique than ever and I find a real delight in it because it's so logical and good' (van Rysselberghe quoted in M. Bocquillon, 'Signac and van Rysselberghe: The Story of a Friendship, 1887-1907', in Apollo, June 1998, p. 13).

In the final years of the 1890s, however, influenced by the death of Seurat, van Rysselberghe became disillusioned with the systematic, time-consuming technique, and by 1900 sought to convey a more instinctive and direct depiction of nature. Manifesting in a looser, more relaxed style, an intangible yet distinct sense of musicality is conveyed in his works of this period. While Neo-Impressionism is sometimes identified primarily by its technique, scholar Cornelia Homburg argues there is in fact a strong emotional and suggestive aspect embedded in the movement (C. Homburg, Neo-Impressionism and the Dream of Realities, New Haven, 2014, p. vii). The artists of Les XX had a fascination with the imagination and the intangible, nurtured in large part by their interactions with Symbolist writers and genius composers such as Richard Wagner. Van Rysselberghe was deeply involved with music, demonstrated by his portrait of Anna Boch in his studio which depicts the neck of a string instrument in the background.

Quai à Veere prompts a peaceful reaction in the viewer, as if in a dream-like state. Devoid of any human figure or activity, van Rysselberghe evokes a mood of spiritual solitude. The varied skyline of Veere, marked by the charming steeple set behind the still water, alludes to a musical harmony. The reflection of the buildings and trees in the lower plane, mirroring the shapes above, provide a gentle rhythm to the horizontal composition, as if notes on a musical score. The connection between painting and music was put into words by Charles Morice (poet and playwright) in 1889: 'Painting is a witness, music is an aspiration. Through music the soul soars and regains its conscience in the solid silence of painting' (C. Morice, La littérature de tout à l'heure, Paris, 1889, pp. 281-282).

The viewer participates in this moment of stillness as van Rysselberghe masterfully captures the calm of the evening light. The present work is a celebration of the artist's use of evocative colour, which is key in conjuring this atmosphere of serenity. His earlier works of the 1890s often had a restrictive palette of two complementary hues – seen in Gros nuages (Big Clouds) from 1893 - yet Quai à Veere comprises a cacophony of blue, white, and green, as well as orange, pink, purple and red.

Van Rysselberghe may have been the most daring Neo-Impressionist after Seurat himself due to his use of bold colours and three-dimensional build-up of paint. The wonderful impasto shown in Quai à Veere, and overall excellent condition, makes the work a joy for the senses. He excelled in achieving a predominant tone of calmness to his landscapes, and after 1900, his devotion to contemplative content became almost unwavering. He chose a path that led away from discord and discontent; if drama did exist in his paintings, it was seen in a bursting sunset, or in this case, the simple beauty of a reflection in water.