61 - The Children’s Room [the two cribs], c. 1900

The Children’s Room [the two cribs], c. 1900 Original oil on canvas 44 x 50 cm Signed lower left: MAUD Bears the original exhibition labels on the back In Noële and Bernadette’s bedroom, at 59 Rue de Mareil, the Priory Chapel is visible through the window. On the wall is part of the frieze now in the Maurice Denis Museum (panels “The Birth” and “Childhood,” nos. 118 and 119 in the museum’s 1980 catalog). It is evident that the left side of the panel “Childhood” differs from its current state (the tree is noticeably offset from the group of the mother and children) and must have been repainted later by Denis, as was the case with other panels (e.g., to include Lisbeth in 1922). This painting appears in the background of Vuillard’s painting “Interior at Maurice Denis’s” (which also features Gauguin’s self-portrait as the “Yellow Christ”) Provenance: Maurice Denis Collection Noële Boulet Collection François Denis Collection Private collection Exhibitions: Toulouse-Lautrec and the Nabis, Bern Kunsthalle, 1951; *La Revue Blanche*, No. 8 Bonnard, Vuillard, and the Nabis, 1888–1903; Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris; 1955; no. 102 Exhibition: Maurice Denis and the Nabis, Angers, 1967; no. 13 Exhibition: Maurice Denis, 1870–1943, 100 Years Later, Alençon, Museum of Fine Arts and Lace, 1985; no. 16, reproduced in color on p. 21 Maurice Denis (1870–1943), Paris, Musée d’Orsay; Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts; Rovereto, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, 2006–2007; Cat. 98, reproduced on page 241. “Enfances” Exhibition, 2009, Rodez Museum, reproduced on page 14 “Maurice Denis: The Dream of Happiness” Exhibition, Saint-Germain-en-Laye Priory Museum, 2021, cat. no. 35, reproduced on page 90 Bibliography: Jean Paul Bouillon, *Denis, Matisse, Kandinsky*, 1996, reproduced in black and white on p. 266 A certificate confirming inclusion in the catalog raisonné of Maurice Denis’s work may be issued to the purchaser upon request to the Maurice Denis Committee. “In 1895, the art dealer Siegfried Bing, owner of a major Parisian art gallery, L’Art nouveau, undertook the redesign of his store and commissioned young avant-garde artists to design several complete decorative ensembles. Paul Ranson was commissioned to paint a dining room, while the furniture and woodwork were entrusted to Van de Velde. Vuillard was commissioned to design a small parlor, and Maurice Denis was commissioned to create a “frieze for a bedroom.” [...] The collaboration between the painter and his dealer was not without its tensions, but Denis remained particularly attached to this work throughout his life. After several of the panels from the initial series were sold, he set out to create a new version of the frieze for the bedroom of his wife, Marthe. It is this second version that can be seen, framing the top of the window, in the Children’s Room. [...] The title chosen by the artist refers to a cycle of Schumann lieder set to a 1830 poem by Adalbert von Chamisso. It is primarily devoted to the delicate evocation of the feelings of a young girl as she transitions from childhood to marriage and motherhood. It is a clear allusion to the story of Marthe Meurier, the painter’s fiancée and later wife, for whom Maurice Denis felt deep love. Moved by her youth, purity, and fragility, he dedicated a long series of portraits and various works to her that bear witness to his deep affection for her. It is therefore not surprising that he chose this theme, so dear to his heart, for the panels of the Bing series, whose layout—in the form of a frieze—lent itself particularly well to this kind of narrative. [...] The series, executed in shades of gray, pink, and blue, is designed with great simplicity, without any effects of light or perspective. The aim is not to “decorate” in an ornamental manner, but to accompany the mind and provide the slumbering spirit with images of peace and happiness. Thus, the painter’s life experience and his spiritual and artistic journey converge to create a series representative of the Nabi school’s approach to mural decoration. [...] Yet there is nothing contrived or forced about it. It is the harmony of life that inspires the Symbolist coherence of the cycle; it is a serene peace that spreads from one scene to the next and offers us this exceptional depiction of true happiness, free from insipidity. ” Agnès Delannoy in Jean-Paul Bouillon (ed.), Maurice Denis: [exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay, October 31, 2006 – January 21, 2007], Paris, Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2006, pp. 241–245.