Carlos SCHWABE (Altona, 1866 - Paris, 1926) Spleen and Ideal, after Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire Watercolour and gouache on pencil lines and scraped paper Signed 'CARLOS SCHWAB' lower left Bears numerous labels on the reverse relating to various exhibitions (Oxidation with white gouache, small tear restored lower right) In its original frame chosen by the art critic Gabriel Séailles Spleen and Ideal, illustration for 'The Flowers of Evil', signed, by Charles Baudelaire, watercolour gouache on pencil and scraped paper strokes, by C. Schwabe 10.63 x 7.87 in. 27.0 x 20.0 cm Provenance: 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: Carlos Schwab exhibition, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 19-30 April 1927, cat. no. 86 p. 15: "Spleen et Idéal - belongs to Mme Gabriel Séailles". L'Art et la Vie en France à la Belle Époque, Île de Bendor, Fondation Paul Ricard, September - October 1971, cat. no. 282: "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. 313 : "Spleen et Ideal", 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. 252: "Esplin E Ideal", p. 108 [label on reverse] Symbolisme et naturalisme : Carlos Schwabe, illustrateur du Rêve de Zola, Paris, Musée d'Orsay, 28 June - 25 September 1994, "Spleen et Ideal" [label overleaf]. Symbolism in Europe, Takamatsu (Japan), Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, 1 November - 8 December 1996, Tokyo (Japan), Bunkamura Museum of Fine Arts, 14 December 1996 - 9 February 1997, Himeji (Japan), Municipal Museum, 15 February - 30 March 1997, cat. no. 107: "Spleen and Ideal" reproduced on p. 153 [Japanese version] ; p. 157 [French version] [back label]. 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. 98: "Spleen e Ideale", reproduced p. 273 [label on reverse] Divine Decadence, Gaasbeek (Belgium), Kastel van Gasbeek, 27 March - 23 June 2016, reproduced p. 86 : "Spleen et Ideal". Bibliography: Schurr, Gérald, "Les peintres symbolistes", L'Estampille, no. 19, March 1971, reproduced on p. 61: "Spleen et Idéal". Man & Woman, Vol. 2, part 25, January 1971, reproduced p. 673 Jumeau-Lafond, Jean-David, Carlos Schwabe, Symboliste et visionnaire, ACR Edition, 1994, reproduced p. 94: "Spleen et Idéal". Baudelaire, Charles, Les Fleurs du Mal illustrées par la peinture symboliste et décadente, Éditions Diane de Selliers, 2005, reproduced on p. 441: "Spleen et Idéal". Painted in 1907, our spectacular gouache watercolour relates to the earlier illustration of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal, commissioned in 1896 by the publisher and bookbinder Charles Meunier. It took four years to complete, and the book was published in 1900. For this precious book, Schwabe produced a total of ten main compositions, outside the text, and thirteen vignettes used as culs-de-lampe or chapter headings. The hauntingly beautiful Spleen et Ideal is one of the most seductive of the set. In an ascending composition favoured by the author, the celestial angel opposes the sea monster, symbolising the eternal struggle between spirit and matter. The spiritual battle is embodied here in a strange and violent embrace, in which we see the superior character trying to extricate himself from the evil force that is dragging him to his doom. Adhering to this bipolar vision of conflict, Schwabe seems to have found his full Baudelairean translation in the poem L'Irrémédiable : "An Idea, a Form, a Being Gone from the blue and fallen Into a muddy, leaden Styx Where no eye of Heaven can penetrate; An angel, unwary traveller Tempted by the love of the deformed, At the bottom of an enormous nightmare Struggling like a swimmer, And struggling, funeral anguish! Against a gigantic upheaval Singing like mad And pirouetting through the darkness<a href="#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><i>[1]</i></strong></a>." Carlos Schwabe attached great importance to this singular iconography because in 1907, several years after illustrating Baudelaire's collection, he insisted on producing the watercolour we are presenting, as well as two large oil paintings, one of which, which also formed part of the Gérard Lévy collection after having belonged to Gabriel Séailles and his descendants, is also being offered for sale. Although the watercolour and oil don't feature the winged harp present in the original illustration, they do depict the same convulsion of the waves, the same fierce struggle between slimy monster and winged woman, the same interminable conflict, body and soul, between Spleen and Ideal. <a href="#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Charles Baudelaire, "L'Irrémédiable", in Les Fleurs du mal, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, p. 242. 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) 27.0 x 20.0 cm Painted in 1907, our spectacular gouache watercolour relates to the earlier illustration of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal, commissioned in 1896 by the publisher and bookbinder Charles Meunier. It took four years to complete, and the book was published in 1900. For this precious book, Schwabe produced a total of ten main compositions, outside the text, and thirteen vignettes serving as culs-de-lampe or chapter headings. The hauntingly beautiful Spleen et Ideal is one of the most seductive of the set. In an ascending composition favoured by the author, the celestial angel opposes the sea monster, symbolising the eternal struggle between spirit and matter. The spiritual battle is embodied here in a strange and violent embrace, in which we see the superior character trying to extricate himself from the evil force that is dragging him to his doom. Adhering to this bipolar vision of conflict, Schwabe seems to have found his full Baudelairean translation in the poem L'Irrémédiable : "An Idea, a Form, a Being Gone from the blue and fallen Into a muddy, leaden Styx Where no eye of Heaven penetrates; An Angel, unwary traveller Tempted by the love of the deformed, In the depths of an enormous nightmare Struggling like a swimmer, And struggling, funeral anguish! Against a gigantic eddy That goes singing like mad And pirouetting through the darkness<a href="#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>[1]</em></strong></a>." Carlos Schwabe attached great importance to this singular iconography because in 1907, several years after illustrating Baudelaire's collection, he insisted on producing the watercolour we are presenting, as well as two large oil paintings, one of which, which also formed part of the Gérard Lévy collection after having belonged to Gabriel Séailles and his descendants, is also being presented at the sale. Although the watercolour and oil don't feature the winged harp present in the original illustration, they do depict the same convulsive waves, the same fierce struggle between slimy monster and winged woman, the same interminable conflict, body and soul, between Spleen and Ideal. <a href="#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Charles Baudelaire, "L'Irrémédiable", in Les Fleurs du mal, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, p. 242. 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.