Provenance
Gift of the artist to the sitter, Mme Alexandre Kohler.[1] Probably Amédée Schuffenecker [1854-1936], by 1906. [2] Leon Pédron, Le Havre; (his sale, Paris, 2 June 1926, no. 23 as _Portrait de Mme Kohler_); purchased for ff 15000 by (Galerie L. Dru, Paris); sold 6 June 1926 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York;[3] bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] As noted in an inventory kept by Gauguin noting the whereabouts of his paintings. A facsimile of the carnet containing the inventory list is reproduced and annotated in René Huyghe, _Le Carnet de Paul Gauguin_ (Paris, 1950), volume II, page 226. Mme Kohler was a neighbor of Emile Schuffennecker, Amédée's brother. (See Marice Maligne, ed.,_Letters of Gauguin_, Paris, 1946, p.132, n.2.) Claude Emile Schuffenecker was a friend and early collector of Gauguin. Due to his divorce that was finalized in 1904, he sold his collection of over 100 works by Gauguin, van Gogh and others to his brother Amédée in the hopes that the collection would remain in tact. Amédée, however, was just starting out as a dealer and sold many of the works. (See Sophie Monneret, _Impressionnisme et son époque_, Paris, 1978, volume 2, p. 333 and _Claude-Emile Schuffenecker_, Exh. cat., University Art Gallery, State University of New York at Binghamton and Hammer Galleries, 1980, p. 29). This picture might have been among those that passed between the brothers. The painting was for sale when exhibited in Frankfurt in 1906.
[2] According to Daniel Wildenstein, _Gauguin: Premier itinéraire d'un sauvage_, 2001: no. 258, the painting had left the sitter's possession c. 1904. It is for sale when exhibited in Munich in 1906.
[3] Date of Chester Dale's acquisition from his papers in NGA curatorial records.
Accession Number
1963.10.27
Medium
oil on linen
Dimensions
overall: 46.3 x 38 cm (18 1/4 x 14 15/16 in.) | framed: 61.6 x 52.7 cm (24 1/4 x 20 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Chester Dale Collection
Tags
Color: Orange Color: Yellow