At the Racetrack

• Kees van Dongen (1877–1968)
• 1950s
• Oil on canvas
• Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
• (1975.1.229)

Since the nineteenth century, horse racing had become a national pastime in France and continued to appear in major works by artists for decades. The fashions worn by the spectators in the foreground date this painting to the 1950s. The vivid, high-keyed colors convey the tension and anticipation of the race, as well as the excitement of the crowd gathered to watch the parade of jockeys on horseback. Robert Lehman, who collected this work, was himself an enthusiast of horse racing and even hung another Kees van Dongen horse race scene in his Lehman Brothers office.