Focus on La danse, Bacchante and discuss the abstract.
La danse (also known as Bacchante) is an oil painting created circa 1906 by the French artist and theorist Jean Metzinger (1883–1956). Bacchante is a pre-Cubist or Proto-Cubist work executed in a highly personal Divisionist style during the height of the Fauve period. Bacchante was painted in Paris at a time when Metzinger and Robert Delaunay painted portraits of one another, exhibiting together at the Salon d'Automne and the Berthe Weill gallery. Bacchante was exhibited in Paris during the spring of 1907 at the Salon des Indépendants (No. 3460), along with Coucher de soleil and four other works by Metzinger.The painting was purchased by the art historian and collector Wilhelm Uhde and formed part of his collection until it was sequestered by the French government just before World War I. By 30 May 1921 Bacchante was owned by the French painter André Lhote. The painting appeared at the auction house Hôtel Drouot where it was presumably purchased by Kröller-Müller, and published in Catalogue of the paintings in the collection of Helene Kröller-Müller. The painting forms part of the permanent collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum.
Helene Kröller-Müller Coucher de soleil Hôtel Drouot Cubist Salon d'Automne Fauve Kröller-Müller Museum Proto-Cubist Robert Delaunay Berthe Weill Jean Metzinger World War I Divisionist André Lhote Wilhelm Uhde Salon des Indépendants