Ballet

1952

Nicolas de Staël

Painter, French, born Russia, 1914 - 1955

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 200.6 x 350.4 cm (79 x 137 15/16 in.)
    framed: 203.2 x 353.1 cm (80 x 139 in.)

  • Accession

    1983.1.34

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Galerie Jacques Dubourg, Paris). private collection, Nantes.[1] (Galerie Pierre, Paris); Pierre Loeb's estate; (Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York);[2] purchased December 1969 by Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1983 to NGA.
[1] The first two owners are given in Eliza Rathbone, Nicolas de Staël in America, exh. cat. The Phillips Collection, Washington; Cincinnati Art Museum; Washington, 1990: 176, no. 27. According to Alexandre Rosenberg, however, Pierre Loeb (owner of Galerie Pierre) was the second owner of the painting (letter of 6 April 1970 to John Rewald; copy in NGA curatorial files).
[2] Pierre Loeb (1897-1964) closed his gallery a few months before his death in May 1964. A. Rosenberg's letter (see note 1) states that Loeb still owned the painting when he died, and that Rosenberg "purchased it from his estate." Two Galerie Pierre labels removed from the back of the painting (in NGA curatorial files) include the following numbers: 2872, no. 128 and 2855, no. 130.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1964

  • documenta III, Alte Galerie, Museum Fridericianum, and Orangerie, Kassel, 1964, no. 1, repro.

1965

  • De Staël: A Retrospective Exhibition, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Kunsthaus, Zurich; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1965-1966, no. 63 (Dutch catalogue), repro.

1990

  • Nicolas de Staël in America, The Phillips Collection, Washington; Cincinnati Art Museum, 1990, no. 27, repro.

1994

  • Nicolas de Staël: Retrospektive, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany, 1994, no. 67, repro.

2003

  • Nicolas de Staël, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2003, no. 136, repro.

Bibliography

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 380, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20194505

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