Georges-Pierre Seurat The Channel at Gravelines, Evening summer 1890

In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].

This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

Estate of the artist (Madeleine Knobloch), Paris, 1881 [1]; sold to Veuve (Sylvie) Monnom (1836-1921), Brussels, 1892 [2]; to Marie (née Monnom) (1866-1959) and Théo (1862-1926) van Rijsselberghe, Brussels, by 1904 until at least 1909 [3]. [Galerie Druet, Paris, 1913] [4]; [Félix Fénéon, Paris] [5]; [Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Düsseldorf] [6]. Sold through Gösta A. Olson, Stockholm to Rolf de Maré, Stockholm/Paris, 1918 (in de Maré's possession until at least 1936) [7]; sold to Paul Rosenberg, Paris [8]; confiscated during the Nazi occupation by the ERR (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg), 1941 [9]; traded by Hermann Goering's agent Andreas Hofer to Hans Wendland and Theodor Fischer, Lucerne, in exchange for objects acquired for the Goering collection, April 1942 [10]; turned over by Fischer at the request of the Swiss government to the collecting point at the Kunstmuseum Bern, 1945 [11]; returned to Paul Rosenberg, New York, June 1948 [12]; sold to William A. M. Burden, New York, October 1948 [13]; acquired by The Museum of Modern Art, New York (Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William A. M. Burden), 1963.

[1] Included in the 7th Salon des Artistes Indépendants, Pavillon de la Ville de Paris, March 20-April 27, 1891 no. 1106 (see de Hauke 1961, Seurat et son oeuvre, Paris: Gründ, 1961, p. 227).
[2] Henri Dorra and John Rewald, eds., Seurat: L’Oeuvre peint, biographie et catalogue critique, Paris: Les Beaux-Arts, 1959, no. 203: "Monnom, Bruxelles (acquis pour 400 francs en 1892)." Included in the 8th Salon des Artistes Indépendants, Pavillon de la Ville de Paris, March 19-April 27, 1892, no. 1107: "Prêté par M. Monnom." (see de Hauke 1961, p. 228).
[3] See Exposition des peintres Impressionnistes, La Libre Esthétique, Brussels, February 25 – March 29, 1904, no. 150: "appartient à M. Théo van Rysselberghe" (see de Hauke 1961, p. 233); and Georges Seurat, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, December 14, 1908 -January 9, 1909, no. 81: "Le chenal de Gravelines: un soir; à M. T.v.R." (see de Hauke 1961, p. 239).
[4] Per Ellen Wardwell Lee, Seurat at Gravelines: The Last Landscapes, exh. cat. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana University Press, 1990, no. 4: "Galerie Druet, Paris (1913).” Not in Dorra and Rewald 1959. Not in de Hauke 1961.
[5] See Exhibition of Masters of French 19th Century Painting (lender: Rolf de Maré), New Burlington Galleries, London, October 1-31, 1936, no. 123: "Collections: Félix Fénéon; Flechtheim." James Laver, French Painting and the Nineteenth Century, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons/London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1937, no. 137 (repr.): "Former collections: Félix Fénéon, Paris; Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin." Not in Dorra and Rewald 1959. Not in de Hauke 1961.
[6] Ibid. Galerie Alfred Flechtheim is listed as the subsequent owner after Théo van Rijsselberghe and previous owner before Rolf de Maré in Dorra and Rewald 1959 and de Hauke 1961.
[7] Included in the exhibition Fransk Konst organized by Gösta A. Olson, Stockholm, April-May 1918, no. 99: "Aftonstämning, Gravelines (1890)." Reproduced in Karl Asplund, Rolf de Marés Tavelsamling, Stockholm: Gunnar Tisells Tekniska Förlag, 1923, pl. XIX: "Georges Seurat, Aftonstämning, Gravelines, oljemalning, 64 x 80 cm." The painting was in de Maré's possession until at least 1936, since he lent it to the exhibition Masters of French 19th Century Painting, New Burlington Galleries, London, October 1-31, 1936.
[8] Date of acquisition not known. Previously on loan from de Maré to the following exhibitions at Paul Rosenberg Galleries: Oeuvres importantes de Grands Maîtres du Dix-Neuvième Siècle, Paul Rosenberg, Paris, May 18-June 27, 1931 (no. 75: Le Port de Gravelines); Exposition Seurat (1859-1891), Paul Rosenberg, Paris, February 3 to 29, 1936 (no. 51).
[9] One of 162 paintings seized from the Rosenberg collection stored in a bank vault near Bordeaux. ERR inventory card PR 161: Hafen (National Archives RG 260 M1943 Reel 16). See Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume (http://www.errproject.org/jeudepaume/).
[10] One from a group of 23 works sent to Berlin and traded to Hans Wendland and Theodor Fischer, Lucerne for a painting by Rembrandt and two Flemish tapestries for the collection of Hermann Goering. The works were smuggled into Switzerland through the German diplomatic courier service (OSS DIR, Hans Wendland, 18 September 1946, NARA RG260 M1941; OSS CIR #2, The Goering Collection, pp. 134, "Exchange No. 3," no. 20 [Seascape], NARA RG239 M1782).
[11] Douglas Cooper, "Report on Visit of Investigation Into Looted Works of Art and their whereabouts in Switzerland," "Appendix B: Reports on Galerie Fischer / Looted Works of Art at the Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, " March 10, 1945, London Files, NARA RG239 M1944. The painting is no. 7 on the list (Marine avec des ancres). See also memorandum James Plaut to the Economic Counselor, U.S. Legation, Bern, January 5, 1946, p. 4, NARA RG260 M1947.
[12] Rosenberg v. Fischer et al., Swiss Federal Tribunal, June 3, 1948.
[13] Included in the exhibition Seurat. Paintings and Drawings, Knoedler Galleries, New York, April 19-May 7, 1949, no. 20 ("Lent by William A. M. Burden, Esq.").

Provenance research is a work in progress, and is frequently updated with new information. If you have any questions or information to provide about the listed works, please email [email protected] or write to:

Provenance Research Project
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019