The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 5, 2024

Drying the Linen, or Moonrise at the Priory

Drying the Linen, or Moonrise at the Priory

1894
(French, 1870–1943)
France, 19th century
oil on canvas glued to cardboard
Unframed: 34.9 x 31.4 x 0.6 cm (13 3/4 x 12 3/8 x 1/4 in.)
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.109
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Denis began creating religious art in 1894, the year this painting was completed. A priory, as described in the title, is a religious building where monks and nuns live under the leadership of a prior.

Description

This painting depicts the enclosed backyard garden of a former priory—a religious building where monks and nuns live under the leadership of a prior—that Maurice Denis purchased in 1914. He transformed the building into a home for his large family and lived there for the last 30 years of his life. A woman dressed in black hangs linens to dry, so that—according to custom—they will be bleached by moonlight. The full moon casts a golden glow over the entire nighttime scene.




[SF1]Thanks for including this! [HL2]I’m learning! 😉
  • 1941–at least 1945
    Pierre Guéguen [1889-1965] Paris, France, by gift from the artist
    after 1945–1987
    Claude R. Cueto, Paris, France
    1987
    Claude R. Cueto, December 22, 1987, sold to the Sam Josefowitz Family
    1987–2010
    The Sam Josefowitz Family, New York, NY, April 2010, sold to Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley
    2010–2020
    Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2020–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 [1] According to Maurice Denis, 1870-1943 (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1994), p. 182, cat. no. 56, Guéguen received this painting as a gift from the artist while it was exhibited at the Galerie Carré – CDV no. 1640. It remained in Guéguen’s collection until at least 1945.
    2 [2] According to documents in the curatorial file.
  • Maurice Denis, 1870-1943: Lyon, Musée Des Beaux-Arts, 29 September-18 December 1994 : Cologne, Wallraf-Richarts Museum, 22 January-2 April 1995 : Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 21 April-18 June 1995 : Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, 7 July-17 September 1995. Ghent: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon, 1994. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 182, no.56
    Heilbrun, Françoise, Saskia Ooms, and Nathalie Bondil. Maurice Denis. Paris: Musée d'Orsay, 2006. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 125-126, no. 11
    Sanchez, Pierre, and Dominique Lobstein. Les Expositions de la Galerie Le Barc de Boutteville (1891-1899) et du Salon des Cent (1894-1903): Répertoire des Artistes et de Leurs Oeuvres. 2012. Mentioned: P. 235, no. 37
    Brown, Heather Lemonedes. “In the Garden.” In Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889-1900. Mary Weaver Chapin and Heather Lemonedes Brown, 194-217. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021. Mentioned: P. 201; Reproduced: P. 214, no. 143
  • Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
    Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889–1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (July 1-September 19, 2021); Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (co-organizer) (October 23, 2021-January 23, 2022).
    Maurice Denis. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France (October 31, 2006-January 21, 2007); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec (February 22-May 20, 2007).
    (June 22-September 17, 1995).
    Maurice Denis. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, France (September 29-December 18, 1994); Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, Germany (January 10-March 25, 1995); Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom (April 21-June 18, 1995); Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    9è exposition.Le Barc de Boutteville, Paris, France (1895).
    La Libre Esthétique. Brussels,Belgium (1896).
    Maurice Denis. Musée d' Art Moderne, Paris, France (1945).
    Galerie Louis Carré, Paris, France (1941).
    Rétrospective Maurice Denis Union Centrale des Arts décoratifs 1888-1924. Pavillon de Marsan, Paris, France (1924).
  • {{cite web|title=Drying the Linen, or Moonrise at the Priory|url=false|author=Maurice Denis|year=1894|access-date=05 July 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.109