Avenue du Bois, 1925

Cornelis Theodorus Maria van Dongen (aka Kees van Dongen) was born on the 26th of January 1877 in Delfshaven (nowadays part of Rotterdam). He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam where he learned to draw in 1892. 3 years later he was able to make a living as a drawer. During this period he painted sailors and prostitutes at the seaport and did work for newspapers. In 1897 he moved to Paris to paint there for a few months and was heavily inspired by fauvism. In December 1899 he moved again to Paris to to start his career as a painter. He was part of the group of painters called Fauves (wild beasts) and also the German Expressionistic group "Die Brücke". In Paris he became friends with Pablo Picasso. 

Self portrait, 1909
Le doigt sur la joue, 1910
Quitétude, 1918
Landscape In Moonlight, 1912
Femme au grand chapeau, 1907-1910

His work included mainly naked women and later after 1918 he painted the french society including celebrities like Brigitte Bardot. The colors of his Fauvist style are what earned him a solid reputation with the French bourgeoisie and upper class. In addition to selling his paintings, Van Dongen also gained an income by selling satirical sketches to the newspaper Revue Blanche (which during its early years was associated with Marcel Proust) and journal L’Assiette au beurre.

La Matchiche, 1905-1906
At the racetrack, 1950's

Brigitte Bardot, 1964

Since 1959 he lived in Monaco where he died at his home in Monte Carlo in 1968.