Opium
Artist
Maurice de Vlaminck
(1876 - 1958)
Datec. 1910
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions81.3 x 53.2 cm
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery.
Donated by the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland in memory of Sarah Purser, 1944.
© The Estate of Maurice de Vlaminck.
Object number922
DescriptionMaurice de Vlaminck was a self-taught painter who, along with André Derain and Henri Matisse, was part of the Fauve group, a seminal movement in French painting at the beginning of the twentieth century. From 1908 to 1914, Vlaminck experimented with Cubism and Opium is one of the finest examples from this period. The choice of subject, a seated woman holding an opium pipe, is an unusual one but it is also an exceptional work in that Vlaminck usually applied his cubist style to his still-life studies. Like Derain, Vlaminck was attracted to primitive tribal art and the influence of African masks is much in evidence, in particular in the face of the figure. He claimed to have first encountered African statuettes as early as 1904 and certainly by 1905-06, he and Derain had bought some masks. From 1907 to 1910, the influence of the work of Cézanne was also crucial and Vlaminck particularly admired its structural elements. This influence can be observed in Opium with its fragmented planes. Compared with his brightly coloured works from his Fauve period the greenish blue tonality of this work seems muted but he does make distinctive use of thick white hatching to highlight parts of the work.On View
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Evie Sydney Hone
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