In a hand carved and gilded pastel frame
Frame size: 29 ½ x 37 ½ in / 74.9 x 95.2 cm

Vlaminck grew up in the Parisian suburb of Chatou, a town located on the river Seine. An avid yachtsman, he frequently found subjects for his painting in the bustling life along the river and in particular he loved to paint the bridge at Chatou which became a favourite haunt and provided him with a wealth of subject matter. ‘In art and in life this bridge had very particular associations for Vlaminck. It was not just a point from which he could reconnoitre his painting territory. The bridge was as vital to him as it was to Chatou itself. He later recalled his tutelage by the naïve painter “Monsieur Henri Rigal of Chatou” whom Vlaminck visited every day at “his favourite haunt under the bridge”…A contemporary critic, evidently recognising the bridge’s importance to Vlaminck, went so far as to call it “his atelier” (J Klein, exhibition catalogue, The Fauve Landscape, Los Angeles, 1990, p. 143)

Vlaminck’s fondness for rivers and bridges prompted Ambroise Vollard to suggest that he visit London and paint the banks of the Thames. ‘Although Vlaminck had always been curiously reluctant to travel, he set off for London and spent a fortnight there. In his English pictures, Tower Bridge, Southampton, etc…, his new style is confirmed….Working within the framework of this conception of landscape, which combined an undeniable force of expression and a fairly mature interpretation of Nature, Vlaminck revealed himself immediately as a master. These pictures, which are painted in wide sweeps of mostly rather dark colour, catch our eye as much by virtue of their rare quality of being able to freeze a moment of time as by their sober passion. For the painter, who was in his full maturity, they certainly represented a perfect compromise between his fiery temperament and his desire to keep it within bounds.’ (Jean Selz, Vlaminck, pp 69-72).