3436 - SOUTINE, CHAÏM (Smilovitchi 1894 – 1943 Paris) *: Landscape with Trees

SOUTINE, CHAÏM (Smilovitchi 1894 – 1943 Paris) *: Landscape with Trees Oil on wood Signed lower right 32.5 x 24.5 cm, framed * The hammer price is also subject to VAT. - Provenance: Private collection, Spain; Private collection, France; Private collection, Switzerland. Expert opinion: Esti Dunow, Chaim Soutine Catalogue Raisonné, New York, June 2, 2025. Chaim Soutine, a French artist of Belarusian-Jewish descent, is considered one of the leading figures of Expressionism. With his wild brushstrokes and intense use of color, he developed a deeply personal visual language in which external reality and inner emotional life merge to create pictorial moods. Soutine’s landscapes, in particular, are among the most powerful testaments to this new artistic movement, which was perceived as extremely radical at the time. This work was created in the early 1920s, at a decisive turning point in the French artist’s life. Traveling between Paris and the south of France, he redefined the painterly style of his landscapes during that period. From then on, the focus of his work was no longer the faithful depiction of a location, but rather the emotional experience of his surroundings. The tree thus became the central and frequently recurring motif in Soutine’s compositions. In this work, the seemingly unstable trunk and the wind-swept canopy appear menacingly large, while the sky shrinks to a narrow, luminous strip. The stone buildings in the background take on a pictorial fragility that contrasts with the actual conditions. Soutine’s pastel-like application of paint makes the landscape appear to be in constant motion. Deep shades of green, ochre, and glowing browns enliven the atmosphere. As in his major paintings “Les Maisons,” “Arbre couché,” and “Le Village,” nature here serves not as a backdrop but as an animated counterpart to humanity. Auction date: November 6, 2026, 2:15 p.m.