Kees van Dongen was at the heart of 20th century Parisian avant-garde. Having exhibited at the 1905 Salon d’Automne in Paris, where the term ‘Les Fauves’ or ‘Wild Beasts’ was coined, Van Dongen became a dynamic leading light in the movement. Alongside Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck, the Fauves were considered scandalous for not only their ‘wild’ use of colour but often erotic representations.

‘Le Paravent’ encompasses many of the crucial elements of Fauvism within both subject matter and application of colour. Likely depicting a cabaret performer, the artist rejects traditional modelling of the female body though shading and three dimensionality, in favour of distinction through bold colour contrast. The vivid green that sculpts her lower back stands out directly from the fleshy peachy tones and bold red outline of her figure.

Van Dongen’s early paintings are amongst his most prized, not only for their representation of an incredibly influential moment within the canon of art history, but also their scarcity. Examples are now in many museums globally including MoMA, New York (‘Modjesko, Soprano Singer’, 1908), Centre Pompidou, Paris (‘Portrait d’Adèle Besson’, 1909) and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (‘Maria’, 1907-10).

For many years Van Dongen exhibited at the famed Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris. It was at a 1911 solo exhibition that he first presented ‘Le Paravent’ when it was under the direction of art critic Félix Fénéon. Galerie Bernheim-Jeune was renowned for also promoting the work of Cézanne, Modigliani, Matisse, Vuillard, Bonnard and Dufy.