237 - Georges Rouault (French, 1871–1958)

Georges Rouault (French, 1871–1958) Harlequin (Pink Harmony), c. 1948–1952 Oil on canvas. Studio stamp on the back of the canvas. Height: 40.7, Width: 31.8 cm. Pink frame. Provenance: private collection, Arcachon. Georges Rouault. A painting of Harlequin. Canvas, ca. 1948–1952. Notice of inclusion in the complete catalog of works by Georges Rouault, by Jean-Yves Rouault, president of the Rouault Foundation, dated December 5, 2013. Art Loss Register, London, April 8, 2024, no. S00243384. Bibliography: Olivier Nouaille and Olivier Rouault, *Rouault: The Painted Works*, Paris, Georges Rouault Foundation, 2021, reproduced on p. 299, no. 4427-3185. Created by Georges Rouault during the final phase of his career, between 1948 and 1952, *Arlequin (harmonie rose)* should be viewed as a synthesis of the artist’s reflections, as he continues to explore a theme dear to him while softening his aesthetic vocabulary. ROUAULT’S LAST HARLEQUINS An unclassifiable painter who belonged to no movement, Rouault presented his own reality without transcribing truth, preferring to “turn his back on nature,” as André Suarès noted. In this sense, he differs from his 19th-century predecessors—such as Honoré Daumier, Edgar Degas, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec—who distinguished themselves through their depictions of the circus. With its tight framing, revealing only the upper part of Harlequin’s torso, this work is part of the body of paintings created at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s (see Olivier Nouaille and Olivier Rouault, op. cit., p. 299). The artist plays with variations in the depiction of emotions. Here meditative with a barely sketched smile, Harlequin can also be deeply joyful, as in the 1947 painting (reproduced in Pierre Courthion, *Georges Rouault*, Paris, Flammarion, 1962, p. 281). He does not convey “infinite sadness,” unlike the canvases of the early 20th century, but rather shares his artist’s sense of calm. *Harlequin (Pink Harmony)* reveals a softening of the painter’s tones and features a thick, textured application of paint. It foreshadows the paintings from the twilight of Rouault’s career, in which the boundary between painting and sculpture tends to blur. Georges Rouault worked tirelessly on depicting characters from the circus and the Commedia dell’arte beginning in 1902–1903. This painting is one of the final stages of his exploration of Harlequin, following his numerous depictions of the figure, notably in *Divertissement*, published in 1943. “I saw clearly that the ‘Pitre’ was me—it was us, almost all of us,” wrote Georges Rouault to the writer and philosopher Edouard Schuré in 1905. These burlesque figures provided the artist with a medium for reflecting on his contemporaries, the world around him, and his own existence. “He is not simply seeking a way to convey artistic or formal concerns about color and movement, but rather the possibility of expressing all the hidden life that may lie behind the makeup, the powder, and the sequins ” (Danielle Molinari, *Georges Rouault: Catalogue Raisonné*, Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, 1983, p. 31). Harlequin thus serves as a vehicle for introspection. Brice Langlois