Sylvie Descamps Monnom

1900

Sylvie Descamps Monnom, van Rysselberghe’s mother-in-law, ran a publishing house in Brussels that produced art periodicals. In this portrait, her tastes and interests are represented by the accessories surrounding her: an exotic Persian rug, a vase of irises on the mantelpiece, and four paintings on the wall. Van Rysselberghe’s pointillist technique reflects his sitter’s interest in avant-garde art. Small touches of pure color combine to produce a convincing sense of three-dimensional space and solidity, while finer brushstrokes are used to record the features of Madame Monnom’s face and hands.

Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	46 x 35 9/16 in. (116.8 x 90.3 cm) Frame: 53 x 42 9/16 x 2 1/4 in. (134.6 x 108.1 x 5.7 cm)
Object Number	1967.2
Acquisition	Acquired by the Clark, 1967
Status	Off View

Image Caption

Théo van Rysselberghe, Sylvie Descamps Monnom, 1900, Oil on canvas. Acquired by the Clark, 1967. The Clark Art Institute, 1967.2.

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

Henri Cuypers, Brussels (in 1927); [Galerie de l’Institut, Paris]; Guy Pogu, Paris; sale, Christie’s, London, 2 Dec. 1966, no. 37, as Portrait de la Mère du Peintre, sold to Arthur Tooth and Sons, London, as agent for Clark; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1966.