Sails at Chato

• Maurice de Vlaminck (1876–1958)
• 1906
• Oil on canvas
• Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
• (1975.1.218)

Maurice de Vlaminck established a studio in Chatou, a village on the Seine northwest of Paris, which he shared with fellow Fauve André Derain. Behind the trees rises the local inn, while the railway bridge appears at the upper right. The wind blows in from the right, filling the white sail of a yacht and lifting the French tricolor above the inn. Covering most of the canvas, the blue waters of the Seine are animated with short strokes of orange, red, white, and green, suggesting shimmering reflections and giving the scene a lively rhythm.