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an image of a painting of two women laying on the grasspainting of a woman laying on the ground with her feet on the groundan image of a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture of a picturea sculpture of a man standing in front of a painting in a room
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Charles LAVAL Breton Women at Rest – 1889 Watercolour, pencil and white chalk on thin cardboard Signed and dated lower centre: “C.Laval/1889” 48.5 x 62.7 cm Provenance: Maurice Savin Collection, Paris François Zunini, Chilly-Mazarin Samuel Josefowitz Collection, Lausanne (1979), then by inheritance  Auction, Paris, Christie’s, 31 March 2016, lot 117 Eric Gillis Fine Art, Brussels Acquired from the latter by the current owner on 10 March 2017 Louis Grandchamp des Raux Collection Exhibitions: Tokyo, Bunkamura Museum of Art; Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art, ‘Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School’, April–November 1993, no. 26, reproduced on p. 47 Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, ‘Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School’, May–July 1994, no. 84, reproduced on p. 143 Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art; Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery; Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts; Memphis, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens; San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art, ‘Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven’, September 1994 – September 1996, no. 84, reproduced on p. 116 Paris, Musée du Luxembourg; Quimper, Musée des Beaux-Arts, ‘L’Aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin’, April–September 2003, no. 58, p. 186, reproduced in colour on p. 187 Maastricht, TEFAF, Eric Gillis Fine Art, 2017, reproduced on p. 456 Charlottenlund, Museum Odrupgaard, ‘Gauguin and His Friends’, January–May 2022, no. 14, p. 44, reproduced in colour on p. 45 Bibliography: *Gauguin und die Schule von Pont-Aven*, exhibition catalogue, Künzelsau, Museum Würth, March–June 1997, no. 84, p. 222, reproduced in black and white on p. 223 Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven, exhibition catalogue, Künzelsau, Museum Würth, March–June 1997, no. 84, p. 222, reproduced in black and white on p. 223 A. Ellridge, Gauguin and the Nabis, Terrail, Paris, 2001, reproduced in colour p. 44 B. Frelaut, The Wonderful Brittany of the Painters, Naef, Geneva, 2005, reproduced p. 95  Eric Gillis Fine Art, 1785–1919. Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture, exhibition catalogue no. 19, Brussels, October 2017, no. 4, pp. 62–63, reproduced in colour on p. 63 Watercolour, pencil and white chalk on thin cardboard; signed and dated lower centre; 19 1/8 x 24 3/4 in. An inseparable companion of Paul Gauguin, Charles Laval had a brief career, cut short by his untimely death. His known body of work, now very limited, is all the more precious for it. Barely a dozen works dating from his Breton period have survived to the present day. This watercolour therefore constitutes a rare and valuable record of the artist’s stay in Pont-Aven, at a time when his art was developing in close harmony with that of Paul Gauguin. Two young Breton women, dressed in traditional regional costume, are resting or taking a nap. One is lying on the grass, her face turned towards the ground, her two bare feet close together. The other, seated with her back to the viewer, hides her face with her right hand. Her demeanour, somewhere between sleep and sadness, leaves the viewer free to interpret the scene. With no horizon line, the gentle atmosphere is suggested solely by light touches of green and yellow pastel, and by the curved lines with defined contours that form a sort of vegetal setting. The sleeping girls, through their poses and the sensitivity of the treatment, are reminiscent of Degas’s explorations (fig. 1) and the innovative touches in Millet’s works. As for the seated girl, she seems to convey not so much a deep melancholy as a simple weariness born of working in the fields, much like that depicted by Gauguin in his *Misères humaines*, 1888, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund (fig. 2). There are few works and chronological references that allow us to trace Charles Laval’s career with any precision. Engaged in 1891 to Madeleine, Émile Bernard’s sister (fig. 3), his health deteriorated progressively and he died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1894. This watercolour thus provides a rare insight into this artist, who died in the prime of his career and played such a decisive role in the emergence of Synthetism. Fig. 1: Edgar Degas, *Ironers*, circa 1984–1986, oil on canvas, Musée d’Orsay, Paris Fig. 2: Paul Gauguin, Grape Harvest at Arles or Human Misery, 1888, oil on canvas, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund Fig. 3: Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Madeleine Bernard, 1888, oil on canvas, Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble Charles LAVAL 48.5 x 62.7 cm Charles Laval, Paul Gauguin’s inseparable companion, had a brief career that was cut short by his untimely death. His known works, as yet very few in number, are all the more precious. Barely ten or so works from his Breton period have survived to this day. This watercolour is thus a rare and valuable record of the artist’s stay in Pont-Aven, at a time when his art was developing in close relation to that of Paul Gauguin. Two young Breton women, dressed in traditional regional costume, are resting or asleep. One is lying on the grass, her face turned towards the ground, her bare feet close together. The other, seated with her back to the viewer, hides her face with her right hand. Her demeanour, somewhere between sleep and sorrow, leaves the viewer free to interpret the scene. There is no horizon line, and the gentleness of the atmosphere is suggested solely by light touches of pastel green and yellow, and by the curved lines with defined contours that form a verdant setting. The sleeping girls, in their pose and in the sensitivity of the artist’s treatment, recall the experiments of Degas (ill. 1) and the innovative features of works by Millet. As for the seated girl, she seems to convey not so much a deep melancholy as a simple weariness born of working in the fields, much like that depicted by Gauguin in his ‘Misères Humaines’, 1888, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund (ill. 2). The small number of works and sparse chronology make it difficult to trace Charles Laval’s career with any precision, but we know that he became engaged in 1891 to Madeleine, the sister of Émile Bernard (ill. 3), that his health deteriorated progressively, and that he died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1894. This watercolour is a rare insight into the work of this artist, who died in his prime yet played such a decisive role in the emergence of Synthetism. Fig. 1: Edgar Degas, *Repasseuses*, circa 1984–1986, oil on canvas, Musée d’Orsay, Paris Fig. 2: Paul Gauguin, The Grape Harvest at Arles or Human Misery, 1888, oil on canvas, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund Fig. 3: Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Madeleine Bernard, 1888, oil on canvas, Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble
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About the sale The Louis Grandchamp des Raux Collection
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Auction time 10/24/2026 at 4:00 PM
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