Carlos SCHWABE (Altona, 1866 - Paris, 1926) Sketch for Spleen and Ideal, after Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire Oil on canvas (Original canvas) Signed and dedicated 'A mon bien cher Jean Bonnike / CARLOS SCHWAB' lower right Canvas from the house of Paul Foinet (Minor restorations) Study for Spleen and Ideal, oil on canvas, signed, by C. Schwabe 51.18 x 33.27 in. 130.0 x 84.5 cm Provenance: Jean Bonnike Collection in 1907 ; Gabriel Séailles Collection (1852-1923); Collection of his wife Octavie Séailles, née Marie Virginie Octavie Paul (1855-1944) [label on reverse]; Then by descent to his daughter Andrée Séailles (1891-1983); Acquired from her on 4 September 1970 by Gérard Lévy; Gérard Lévy Collection; Then by descent Exhibitions: L'Art et la Vie en France à la Belle Époque, Île de Bendor, Fondation Paul Ricard, September - October 1971, cat. no. 283: "L'esquisse pour Spleen et Idéal" [label on reverse]. French Symbolist Painters, London, Hayward Gallery, 7 June - 23 July 1972, Liverpool, Walker Arts Gallery, 9 August - 17 September 1972, cat. no. 312: "Spleen et Idéal", reproduced p. 142 [label on reverse] El Simbolismo en la Pintura Francesa, Madrid, Museo Espanol de Arte Contemporeano, October - November 1972, Barcelona, Museo de Arte Moderno, December 1972, cat. no. 251: "Esplin E Ideal", p. 108 [label on reverse] Il Simbolismo da Moreau a Gauguin a Klimt, Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, 8 February - 20 May 2007, Roma, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, 7 June - 16 September 2007, cat. no. 97: "Studio per "Spleen e Ideale"", reproduced p. 273 [label on reverse] Bibliography: Jullian, Philippe, The Symbolists, Paris, Phaidon, 1973, cat. no. 118: "Study for "Spleen et Idéal"", reproduced This large monochrome sketch prepares the way for another oil on canvas from 1907, Spleen et Idéal, which came from the Gillion-Crowet collection and is now in the Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. It shows the stages in Schwabe's pictorial work, as he first drew the forms before painting them in colour. It is easier to see the circular organisation of the lines that make this struggle an intertwining, but also a powerful vertical tension. As Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond pointed out in his book on the painter, "the graphic design of the wave and the preciousness of its stylised foam are reminiscent of the famous Hokusai print, and it is not surprising that the breaking of the raging waves is for the artist the moving and troubled place where ecstasy and fear, Eros and Thanatos, that incessant ambivalence of desire and death are experienced<a href="#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><i>[1]</i></strong></a>. " <a href="#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Jumeau-Lafond, Jean-David, Carlos Schwabe, Symboliste et visionnaire, ACR Edition, 1994, pp. 96-97. We would like to thank Mr Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond for confirming the authenticity of this work through a visual examination on 28 November 2024 and for his invaluable assistance in writing this notice. Carlos SCHWABE (Altona, 1866 - Paris, 1926) 130.0 x 84.5 cm This large monochrome sketch is a precursor to the other oil on canvas from 1907, Spleen and Ideal, which came from the Gillion-Crowet collection and is now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels. It shows the stages in Schwabe's pictorial work, as he first drew the forms before painting them in colour. It is easier to see the circular organisation of the lines that make this struggle an intertwining, but also a powerful vertical tension. As Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond pointed out in his book on the painter, "the graphic design of the wave and the preciousness of its stylised foam are reminiscent of the famous Hokusai print, and it is not surprising that the breaking of the raging waves is for the artist the moving and troubled place where ecstasy and fear, Eros and Thanatos, that incessant ambivalence of desire and death are experienced<a href="#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>[1]</em></strong></a>. " <a href="#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Jumeau-Lafond, Jean-David, Carlos Schwabe, Symboliste et visionnaire, ACR Edition, 1994, pp. 96-97. We would like to thank Mr Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond for confirming the authenticity of this work through a visual examination on 28 November 2024 and for his invaluable assistance in writing this notice.