39 - Pierre Auguste RENOIR (Limoges 1841–Cagnes-sur-Mer 1919)

Pierre Auguste RENOIR (Limoges 1841–Cagnes-sur-Mer 1919) The Trout – Fragment, 1918 Oil on re-stretched canvas 9.3 x 29.7 cm Monogrammed “R” in the lower right corner. A certificate by André Schoeller, dated November 22, 1949, will be provided to the buyer. This work is now included in the Wildenstein Plattner Institute’s Digital Catalogue Raisonné. Provenance: Ambroise Vollard, Paris, acquired from the artist (before 1919) Private collection, France Bibliography: Ambroise Vollard, Tableaux, pastels & dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, vol. 2 (1918) (ill. p. 189, first version) Ambroise Vollard, Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Paintings, Pastels, and Drawings / Paintings, Pastels, and Drawings, Rev. (Paris: Ambroise Vollard, 1918; San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1989), no. 1730 (ill. p. 357, first version) The provenance of a work sometimes tells a story as remarkable as that of its creation. This is particularly true of *The Trout* (fragment), painted in 1918, which belonged to Ambroise Vollard, a key figure in the modern art market and one of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s most important dealers. Acquired directly from the artist before 1919, this work bears witness to a special bond between two men whose encounter would leave a lasting mark on the history of painting from the late 19th to the early 20th century. From the turn of the 20th century onward, Vollard became one of Renoir’s principal dealers, championing and promoting his work among collectors. Far beyond a mere business relationship, a genuine mutual respect united the two men, fueled by artistic admiration and a friendship that would endure until the painter’s death. Renoir also painted several portraits of his art dealer, including the 1908 portrait now housed at the Courtauld Gallery in London. Vollard would discuss their relationship at length in his *Memoirs of an Art Dealer*, published in 1937, a valuable account of the life and artistic figures of that era. Painted toward the end of Renoir’s life, *La Truite* belongs to a period of great pictorial freedom. As the artist continued his exploration of form, color, and light, his compositions reflected an increasingly free approach to the subject. Far from being a minor work, this fragment precisely reveals this modernity: Renoir focuses on the essential, allowing the brushstrokes, contours, and color relationships to give the subject its full presence. Through its prestigious provenance—directly linked to one of the greatest art dealers of his time—and its place within the painter’s final creative years, *La Truite* offers a particularly fascinating insight into the artistic history that connects Renoir to Ambroise Vollard.