Girls Dancing|Maurice Denis |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 19 June 2025

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On Display

Permanent collection

Maurice Denis

Granville, 1870 - Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1943

Girls Dancing

Date	1905
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	147.7 x 78.1
Inscriptions	Signed lower right: MAVRICE DENIS
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	M385
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0069

In 1905, Denis worked on the now lost decorations for the music pavilion of Baron Mutzenbecker at Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt. The decorative cycle was entitled "Eternal Summer" and consisted of five paintings, Organ, Vocal Music, Instrumental Quartet, Dance, and Oratory. Girls Dancing is thought to represent a study work for, or a replica, Dance. The hills of Fiesole near Florence rise behind young virgins dressed in the white robes of antiquity and crowned with flowers. Denis loved the land of central Italy with its natural beauty and artistic heritage stretching from antiquity to the Renaissance, and he lived in the region during several periods of his life. Denis exhibited an enduring enthusiasm for decorative arts throughout his life. From the relatively simple techniques employed for such projects as illustrations for poetry anthologies during the 1880s and 1890s , Denis turned to the creation of art for monumental architectural spaces such as churches and mansions, including the decoration for the Church of Sainte Marguerite at Le Vésinet in 1901-03 and the "Golden Age" decoration of the residence of the Prince of Wagram in Paris in 1911-12. He was not always successful at these large-scale projects which gradually led to a ruined palette and form. However, as can be seen in this work, Denis was adept at the depiction of the world of western Europe's original classical and humanist traditions spread out amidst a superbly familiar landscape. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.108)

Provenance

Sold by the artist to Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1907, as “2 répliques de Wiesbaden” (Fr. 4,000) [see records in the Archives Catalogue raisonné Maurice Denis, Saint-Germain-en-Laye]; purchased from Galerie Bernheim Jeune by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, 1921, stock no. 15216 (Fr. 10,000) [see letter from Galerie Bernheim Jeune to Léonce Bénédite, dated 9 September 1921, in the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, Paris (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1907: Exposition Maurice Denis, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 8 April 1907 - 20 April 1907, no. 44
1908: Fünfzehnte Ausstellung der Berliner Secession, Berlin, 0 1908 - 0 1908, no. 45 («Tänzerinnen»)
1908: Eighth Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, London, 0 January 1908 - 0 February 1908, no. 215 («La Danse»)
1911: Internationale Kunstausstellung der Münchener Secession, Kgl. Kunstausstellungsgebäude am Königsplatz, München, 16 March 1911 - 31 October 1911, no. 37 («Der Tanz»)
1912: Internationale Tentoonstelling van Hedendaagsche Kunst, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 13 April 1912 - 0 July 1912, no. 369 («De dans»)
1912: Exposition d'Art contemporain, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, 12 October 1912 - 31 October 1912, no. 45 («Danseuses»)
1913: Ausstellung französischer Kunst, Zürcher Kunsthaus, 16 February 1913 - 26 March 1913, no. 91 («Tanz»)
1914: Exposition générale des Beaux-Arts (Salon triennal), Palais du Cinquantenaire, Bruxelles, 9 May 1914 - 2 November 1914, (Exposition des arts décoratifs, from 20 June), no. 275 («Danseuses, panneau décoratif») (probably)
1981: Maurice Denis, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 1 September 1981 - 18 October 1981, cat. no. 61
1986: Western Painting and Modern Western Style Painting in Japan: One Century from Imagination to Creation, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, 15 August 1986 - 26 September 1986
1988: Paintings by French Artists from the Late 19th to Early 20th Century in Japanese Collections, The State Puskin Museum, Moscow, 12 January 1988 - 10 February 1988, The State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, 16 February-24 March, cat. no. 19
1989: The Old Matsukata Collection, Kobe City Museum, 14 September 1989 - 23 November 1989, cat. no. 54, col. repr.
1995: Modern Japanese Art-Between the East and the West, Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, 1 November 1995 - 30 November 1995, cat. 36, col. repr.
1996: The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 46
2000: 1900, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 14 March 2000 - 26 June 2000, cat. no. 79, col. repr.
2013: Monet, An Eye for Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings, Pola Museum of Art, 13 July 2013 - 24 November 2013, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 December 2013-9 March 2014, cat. no. 61, col. repr.
2014: The Rings from The Hashimoto Collection of The National Museum of Western Art, The National Museum of Western Art, 8 July 2014 - 15 September 2014, cat. no. 302
2015: Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 8 October 2015 - 21 February 2016, cat. no. 108, col. repr.
2017: Life: In Search of a Paradise, Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design, 26 August 2017 - 5 November 2017, cat. no. 8-12
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus, Museum Folkwang, 6 February 2022 - 15 May 2022
2022: In Dialogue with Nature - from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 4 June 2022 - 11 September 2022, cat. no. 78

Bibliography

1961: Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-98.
1971: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 23, repr.
1975: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 67, repr.
1978: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 72, repr.
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 87, repr.
1986: Western Painting and Modern Western Style Painting in Japan: One Sentury from Imitaition to Creation (exh. cat.). Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, ed. Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, 1986, p. 115, cat. no. 70, repr.
1988: Paintings by French Artists from the Late 19th to Early 20th Century in Japanese Collections (exh. cat.). The State Pushkin Museum; The State Hermitage State Museum, [n.p.], 1988, cat. no. 19, repr.
1989: The Old Matsukata Collection (exh. cat.). Kobe City Museum, ed. [Kobe], "Matsukata Collection Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1989, pp. 44, 171, cat. no. 54, col. repr.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 548.
1995: Modern Japanese Art: Between the East and the West (exh. cat.). National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed. [Nagasaki], Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, 1995, pp. 51, 139, cat. no. 36, col. repr.
2000: 1900 (exh. cat.). Réunion des musées nationaux; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais; Musée d'Orsay. Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 2000, pp. 116-119, cat. no. 79, repr.
2006: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 108, col. repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 108, col. repr.
2013: MONET, An Eye For Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings(exh. cat.). Tokyo, TBS, c2013, cat. no. 61, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 111, col. repr.
2014: The Rings: from the Hashimoto Collection of the National Museum of Western Art (exh. cat.). Iizuka, Takashi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2014, p. 265, cat. no. 302, col. repr.
2015: Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir (exh. cat.). Marks-Hanssen, Beate, ed. Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, 2015, pp. 179, 247, cat. no. 108, col. repr.
2017: Life: In Search of a Paradise (exh. cat.). Ito, Masatoshi, ed. Tokyo, My Book Service Inc., 2017, pp. 242-243, 321, cat. no. 8-12, col. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 385, col. repr.
2022: In Dialogue with Nature: from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi; Shinfuji, Atsushi; Yomiuri Shimbun, Museum Exhibition Department, eds. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2022, pp. 157, 261, cat. no. 78, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus (exh.cat.). Engel, Nadine; Herlemann, Rebecca, eds. Berlin, Hatje Cantz, [2022], pp. 247, 364, col. repr.

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