Kees van Dongen

Kees van Dongen was a Dutch-French artist known as "the painter of brothels," who had a particular fascination with the red light district, portraying its dancers, singers, and prostitutes. Afterward, van Dongen shifted to painting society ladies and elongating their forms, creating an appearance that was both elegant and slightly dangerous.

Biography of Kees van Dongen

Cornelis Theodorus Marie van Dongen, commonly recognized as Kees van Dongen, was born in 1877 in Delfshaven, near Rotterdam, Netherlands. Growing up in a Dutch bourgeois family of brewers, the young Kees displayed an early passion for art. Leaving school at twelve, he joined his father at the Malthouse and took evening classes at a school focused on design and decorative arts. At sixteen, he enrolled at the Akademie voor Beeldende Kunsten (The Royal Academy of Fine Arts) in Rotterdam, now called the Willem de Kooning Academy. While at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he encountered and fell in love with a fellow student, Juliana Augusta "Guus" Preitinger.

Van Dongen's next destination was Paris. In July 1897, armed with a modest sum from his father, he relocated to the Butte Montmartre, a neighborhood renowned for its artists and societal outcasts. Van Dongen, then twenty years old, found himself captivated by the free-spirited atmosphere of the French capital. He officially settled in Paris in 1899 to join Guus. During this time, he made acquaintance with Parisian anarchists and was influenced by Félix Fénéon, an art critic and artist known for championing the Neo-Impressionists. 

By 1900, Van Dongen had depleted his funds, leading to a period between 1900 and 1903 when he took on various odd jobs and nearly gave up painting. Following his marriage to Guus in 1901, they experienced the tragic loss of their son, who passed away two days after birth. With support from Théophile Steinlein, a Swiss Art Nouveau painter, Van Dongen worked as a draughtsman for several satirical newspapers, including L'Assiette au Beurre, Frou Frou, Le Rabelais, and Gil Blas.

In contrast to his earlier Impressionist-inspired landscapes from the Netherlands, Paris, and Normandy, characterized by subdued colors, Van Dongen's works from this period featured a much brighter palette. The primary subjects of his paintings shifted to the prostitutes roaming the streets of Montmartre.

In 1904, Ambroise Vollard, a prominent Parisian art dealer, extended an invitation to van Dongen to participate in the Salon des Indépendants. The following year, he showcased his work in the memorable Salon d'Automne alongside Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, Albert Marquet, and André Derain. These exhibitions marked the emergence of Fauvism, establishing van Dongen as one of the founders of two pivotal early avant-garde movements of the 20th century. 

In 1905, van Dongen and his wife Guus welcomed the arrival of their baby daughter, Dolly. The entire family relocated to the Bateau-Lavoir, a building in Montmartre that served as a residence for several bohemian artists, including the young Pablo Picasso. Picasso introduced van Dongen to his mistress and muse, Fernande Olivier, who became the Dutch painter's second favorite model after Guus, much to the dismay of both the Spanish painter and van Dongen's wife.

Invited by Max Pechstein, he participated in several Expressionist exhibitions between 1908 and 1910. Vollard acquired some of van Dongen's paintings from these exhibitions, enabling the artist to upgrade to a residence in the 9th arrondissement and rent a separate studio near the Folies Bergere, a central bar and dance hall in Montmartre. Van Dongen continued to concentrate on the nocturnal world, ranging from the cabaret singer to the prostitute.

In 1910, with the support of the esteemed Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, Van Dongen achieved both critical acclaim and public recognition. Leveraging his recent commercial success, he embarked on travels, first returning to Holland and subsequently visiting Italy, Spain, and Morocco during the winter of 1910. The Flamenco music, dance, and extravagant costumes of Andalusia left a profound mark on his work in the ensuing decade.

As World War I loomed, Van Dongen had established himself as an accomplished painter, gaining visibility in the circles of the Parisian elite. Actively participating in their salons and social gatherings, he had relocated to the more upscale neighborhood of Montparnasse. He associated with influential figures such as French couturier Paul Poiret, who became a close friend, and the eccentric Italian heiress and art patron Marquise Luisa Casati. Immersed in the glamorous world of models, celebrities, and starlets, he hosted hedonistic parties in his studio on rue Denfert-Rochereau.

In 1914, while Guus and Dolly, his wife and daughter, were visiting the Netherlands, they found themselves stranded there until the end of the war. Upon their return in 1918, Van Dongen refused to receive them, having taken a mistress, Jasmy Jacob, the director of a haute couture house, with whom he lived until 1927. Jacob played a pivotal role in elevating him on the social ladder, ensuring a consistent flow of portrait commissions and financial stability for the remainder of his life. His divorce from Guus was finalized in 1921.

In 1926, the artist received the Legion of Honor and obtained French citizenship in 1929. By 1930, van Dongen had forsaken the anarchist tendencies of his earlier career, fully embracing the role of a society painter. At sixty-three, he crossed paths with Marie-Claire Huguen, a much younger woman with whom he fathered a son, Jean Marie, in 1940. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, he continued to document the lives of the rich and famous, providing a crucial record of the atmosphere in Paris during the inter-war period.

In 1941, Arno Brecker, the official sculptor under the Third Reich, extended an all-expenses-paid propaganda tour invitation to Van Dongen, which he accepted, joining twelve other artists, including Derain, Vlaminck, and Friesz. From the perspective of the predominantly anti-Nazi French art circles in which he moved, this decision represented an unforgivable lapse in judgment, permanently staining his reputation.

After the war, the artist faced a one-year prohibition from exhibiting at the Salon d'Automne, and his artistic standing waned, even among some critics who had previously lauded his work. Van Dongen and Huguen tied the knot in 1953, and in 1959, they relocated to the chic locale of Monaco, acquiring a house that he named "Le Bateau Lavoir" in homage to the building where he had once thrived with fellow artists in his youth.

In 1967, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris organized a retrospective to honor the 90-year-old painter's oeuvre. Although the exhibition later traveled to Rotterdam, it did not receive favorable reviews. Kees van Dongen passed away shortly afterward in 1968, in Monaco, in relative anonymity.

Kees van Dongen's Art Style

In his early works, characterized by earthy toned-down colors, Kees van Dongen's art bore the influence of the Dutch master Rembrandt. He explored the streets of the Red Quarter, known for its houses of prostitution, and the seaport, drawing inspiration for his naturalistic illustrations for the local newspaper Rotterdamsche Nieuwsblad.

A distinctive figure among the Fauves, van Dongen acted like a sponge, absorbing various avant-garde styles he encountered. This included the influence of Max Pechstein, a precursor to the Dresden-based movement Die Brücke. Pechstein's bold, non-realistic colors and daring figurative subjects pushed van Dongen even further toward Expressionism.

The artist's approach to the female body, treating it as a sensuous surface devoid of psychological depth, granted later painters like Willem de Kooning, Tom Wesselmann, and Yves Klein the liberty to view the female body as a metaphor for the painted canvas. His body of work occupies the intersection of Fauvism and Expressionism, and as an artist, he took risks that illuminated the path to the future.