Maurice DENIS (1870-1943) Lake Annecy, 1933 Oil... Lot 90

Maurice DENIS (1870-1943) Lake Annecy, 1933 Oil on canvas pasted on cardboard. Signed and dated lower left. Titled on the back Annecy. 27.5 x 42.8 cm PROVENANCE: artist's family EXHIBITIONS : - Paris, Galerie Carré, Maurice Denis, 1941, no. 23 ; - Honfleur, Maurice Denis, 1975; - Thonon-les-Bains, Maurice Denis et la Savoie, 2012, no. 6 - La Roche-Jagu, Maurice Denis et les chemins de la Nature, May 6-October 1, 2023, illustrated in catalog, p. 30. The mountain, which used to crush me, now pleases and exhilarates me. (Maurice, Denis, Diary, 1942) Maurice Denis discovered Savoie when his son married in Switzerland in 1933. Although he disliked the mountains and had established himself as a seaside painter, he returned to the region several times in the last ten years of his life. In Sallanches, near Chambéry, he visited his former pupil and friend Père Couturier. In Thonon, he met the architect François Dupupet, who introduced him to the Haute-Savoie region, particularly Annecy. Maurice Denis was no ordinary tourist. He captured moments of his travels in his sketchbooks and paintings, depicting, as in our picture, the power of the mountain and the sacred dimension that permeates his work. [Commentary inspired by the press kit for the exhibition "Maurice Denis et la Savoie", Musée de Chablais, Thonon-les-Bains, 31/03 to 10/11/2012]