Tulip Fields at Sassenheim

In 1886, Monet was invited by a French diplomat to visit Holland’s famous tulip fields. The artist was concerned that the “poor colors” of modern oil paint might not effectively convey the fields’ vibrant hues. In the foreground of this view, the flowers are painted with thick, parallel strokes of bright red, yellow, violet, and cream, the colors glowing in the sunlight beneath a brilliant blue sky. Sterling Clark bought the work directly from the private collection of Monet’s dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, in 1933.

Image Caption

Claude Monet, Tulip Fields at Sassenheim, 1886, Oil on canvas. The Clark Art Institute, 1955.615.

Bibliography

Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.

Provenance

The artist, sold to Clapisson, 1886; Léon Clapisson, Paris (1886–91, sold to Durand-Ruel, 19 May 1891, as Champ de tulipes, Harlem); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, from 1891]; Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris (by 1901–d. 1922); estate of Paul Durand-Ruel (1922–33, transferred to Durand-Ruel, New York, 1 May 1933);¹ [Durand-Ruel, New York, May 1933, sold to Clark, 22 May 1933, as Champ de tulipes à Sassenheim près Haarlem]; Robert Sterling Clark (1933–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.

1. Information from Durand-Ruel Archives, New York. See correspondence of 24 Apr. 2001, in the Clark’s curatorial file.