The Artist's Son, Paul

The transaction is documented in a letter from Étienne Bignou to Mary Bullard dated 8 January 1929, held in the NGA curatorial file.

The painting was created in 1886 by Paul Cézanne as a portrait of his son, Paul. It descended by inheritance to the artist’s wife, Mme Paul Cézanne, at Jas de Bouffan. In 1918 the work was sold in Monaco to Parisian dealer Georges Bernheim, who resold it to Dr. Jacques Soubies.

Soubies’s estate offered the painting at the Hôtel Drouot sale in Paris on 14 June 1928 (lot 30), where it was purchased by the Galerie Étienne Bignou for Chester Dale in New York. Dale later bequeathed it to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 1963.

The painting has been held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., since 1963, when it entered the collection as part of the bequest of Chester Dale. Its provenance traces from the artist Paul Cézanne to his wife, Mme Paul Cézanne, at Jas de Bouffan, by inheritance. It was sold in 1918 in Monaco to Georges Bernheim of Paris, who in turn sold it to Dr. Jacques Soubies in Paris.

The work appeared at Soubies's sale at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris, on 14 June 1928 (lot no. 30), where Galerie Étienne Bignou of Paris purchased it on behalf of Chester Dale, New York. The transaction is documented in a letter from Étienne Bignou to Mary Bullard dated 8 January 1929, held in the NGA curatorial file.