GAUGUIN PURCHASES A PAINTING FROM PISARRO.
Gauguin, Paul (1848-1903) Exceedingly rare Autograph Letter Signed, Paris, 8 July 1879. Folding wove bifolium on A. Bourdon engraved letterhead, with date supplied by hand, inscribed over the single outer leaf recto, formerly folded along the central vertical line, to Camille Pissarro, asking to purchase a painting, a size ten canvas, for 150 Francs, 8 1/4 x 5 1/4 in. Gauguin adds that, besides the painting [of Pissarro] he has already acquired –apparently at Mme. Latouche’s –he could spare 150 francs for still another. This would, however, have to be size 10 (46 x 55 cm) so as to fit into a frame of that size that he happens to have at hand. He regrets that for the moment he is not able to offer a better price, but hopes that this may be the case later on. What picture it is to be, he apparently altogether leaves to Pissarro, provided only that it is size 10. In a subsequent letter he adds that there is no hurry about this picture -he knows that there are plenty of exquisite ones to choose from.” Absolutely amazing content associating the two great impressionists and their love for each others art!
(Quoted from “Gauguin, the Collector,” by Merete Bodelsen, published in The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 112, No. 810, Sep., 1970, a copy of the magazine included with the lot).
