Sunset near Villerville
Charles-François Daubigny (1817 - 1878), c. 1876
oil on canvas, 89 cm x 130 cm
Credits: The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Daubigny paid regular visits to the coastal village of Villerville-sur-Mer in Normandy. There he painted various seascapes, including this sunset. Daubigny applied the paint with quick, broad brushstrokes and a palette knife. That makes the painting look as though it was completed in one sitting. In reality, he made changes to it several times.
Daubigny's use of bright colours, such as intense yellows, oranges and pinks, probably reflects the influence of the French Impressionists. At their first exhibition in 1874, those young painters had caused a commotion with their colourful, swiftly painted impressions of natural scenes.
Daubigny's setting sun is most reminiscent of Claude Monet's Impression soleil levant, the painting that gave Impressionism its name. Monet and Daubigny were friends, and both benefited from their artistic interaction.
- Object number
- hwm0089
- Dimensions
- 89 cm x 130 cm, 123 cm x 158.5 cm, 15 cm
- Provenance
- Sold by Gerard to Boussod, Valadon & Cie, Paris for FRF 4000, 11 January 1895; sold by Boussod, Valadon & Cie (no. 23760, Marine Soleil couchant) to Hendrik Willem Mesdag, The Hague for FRF 8064, 16 January 1895; Collection Museum Mesdag donated by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten to the State of the Netherlands, 14 May 1903; Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag, The Hague, from 1 August 1903; in trust of the Mauritshuis, The Hague, between 1934 and 1990; in trust of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, from 1 April 1990; Museum Mesdag, in trust of the Van Gogh Museum Foundation, Amsterdam, from 1 July 1994, under the name of De Mesdag Collectie from 2011.
- artist
- Charles-François Daubigny
- Credits
- The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Giverny, Musée des impressionnismes Giverny, L'impressionnisme et la mer, 29 March-30 June 2024
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: impressies van het landschap, 21 October 2016-29 January 2017
Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland, Inspiring Impressionism: Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh, 25 June-2 October 2016
Cincinnati, Taft Museum of Art, Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape, 19 February-29 May 2016
Arles, Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, Van Gogh. Coleurs du Nord, couleurs du Sud, 4 April-31 August 2014
Passariano, Villa Manin di Passariano, L'età di Courbet e Monet, 26 September 2009-7 March 2010
Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Franse passie : Courbet, Daubigny, Monet: Franse schilderkunst in Nedelands bezit, 11 November 2006-11 March 2007
Klein, Jacques-Sylvain, La Normandie, berceau de l'impressionnisme : 1820-1900, Rennes, 2024, p. 89
Sciama, Cyrille, Delbarre, Marie, Reis, Valérie, L' impressionnisme et la mer, Giverny, 2024, p. 61
Heugten, Sjraar van, Curiger, Bice, Clergue, Yolande, Van Gogh : colours of the north, colours of the south, Arles, 2014, p. 16-19, 23, 115
Heugten, Sjraar van, Curiger, Bice, Clergue, Yolande, Van Gogh : coulours du nord, coulours du sud, Arles, 2014, p. 16-19, 23, 115
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., De Mesdag Collectie, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 18, p. 29
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., The Mesdag Collection, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 8-9, 18, 29
Vergeest, Aukje, The French collection : nineteenth-century French paintings in Dutch public collections, Amsterdam, 2000, p. 125
Bodt, Saskia de, Leeman, Fred, Leeuw, Ronald de, Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : catalogue of paintings and drawings, Zwolle, 1996, p. 158-159, 204