Bliss purchased Port-en-Bessin, her only painting by Seurat, in 1927, after having seen it at a gallery in London. Seurat juxtaposed small dabs of color, which were meant to blend in the eye of the viewer, to evoke the luminous qualities of water and light. MoMA’s director, Alfred H. Barr Jr., compared this painting to music, describing the clouds’ shadows and white sails as multiple, independent melodies that combine into a harmonious blend. Bliss went on to acquire several drawings by the artist. Barr called them “unrivaled in America and one of Miss Bliss’s most remarkable achievements as a collector.”
[Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of the Modern](/calendar/exhibitions/5737), November 17, 2024–March 29, 2025
Provenance Research Project
This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.
Ernestine Seurat (the artist's mother), Paris, 1891 [1]; by inheritance to Léon Appert (the artist's brother in law), Paris, 1899 [2]; by inheritance to his son Maurice Appert, Paris, 1925 [3]; to Etienne Bignou, Paris [4]; to Alexandre Reid & Lefevre, Ltd., London, 1926 [5]; owned jointly by Reid & Lefevre, Ltd./Knoedler & Co., New York, December 1926 [6]; sold by Knoedler & Co., New York to Lillie P. Bliss, New York, 1927 [7]; acquired by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1934 (The Lillie P. Bliss Collection).
[1] C. M. de Hauke, Seurat et son oeuvre, Paris: Gründ, 1961, no. 192. See Salon des Indépendants, Paris, 1892 (no. 1100): "Port-en-Bessin, L'avant-port, marée haute [title erroneous]; prêté par Mme Seurat;" and Les XX, Brussels, 1892 (no. 12): "Port-en-Bessin; L'avant-port, marée haute [title erroneous], appartient à Mme Seurat."
[2] C. M. de Hauke, Seurat et son oeuvre, Paris: Gründ, 1961, no. 192. Henri Dorra and John Rewald, eds. Seurat, Paris: Les Beaux Arts, 1959, no. 186: "Appert, Paris."
[3] The Lillie P. Bliss Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1934 (no. 56). Not in de Hauke 1961.
[4] C. M. de Hauke, Seurat et son oeuvre, Paris: Gründ, 1961, no. 192.
[5] Ibid. See Robert L. Herbert et al., Georges Seurat: 1859-1891, exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991, p. 322, no. 207. Included in the exhibition Pictures and Drawings by Georges Seurat, Lefevre Galleries, London, April-May 1926 (no. 5).
[6] See Robert L. Herbert et al., Georges Seurat: 1859-1891, exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991, p. 322, no. 207. Knoedler stock no. 16654. Included in the exhibition French Art of the Last Fifty Years, Knoedler & Co., New York, January 17-January 29, 1927 (no. 17).
[7] Ibid.
[1] C. M. de Hauke, Seurat et son oeuvre, Paris: Gründ, 1961, no. 192. See Salon des Indépendants, Paris, 1892 (no. 1100): "Port-en-Bessin, L'avant-port, marée haute [title erroneous]; prêté par Mme Seurat;" and Les XX, Brussels, 1892 (no. 12): "Port-en-Bessin; L'avant-port, marée haute [title erroneous], appartient à Mme Seurat."
[2] The Lillie P. Bliss Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1934 (no. 56). Henri Dorra and John Rewald, eds. Seurat, Paris: Les Beaux Arts, 1959, no. 186: "Appert, Paris." Not in de Hauke 1961.
[3] C. M. de Hauke, Seurat et son oeuvre, Paris: Gründ, 1961, no. 192.
[4] Ibid. Dorra and Rewald 1959.
[5] Ibid. Dorra and Rewald 1959. Included in the exhibition Pictures and Drawings by Georges Seurat, Lefevre Galleries, London, April-May 1926 (no. 5).
[6] Ibid. Dorra and Rewald 1959. Included in the exhibition French Art of the Last Fifty Years, Knoedler & Co., New York, January 17-January 29, 1927 (no. 17).
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Georges-Pierre Seurat
French, 1859–1891 9 works onlineIn a career that lasted only a decade, Georges-Pierre Seurat developed a new painting technique, which became known as pointillism .
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