Modern Art Circle - Six Gentleman in Search of an Artist(s)

'The Le Havre collectors visiting an art gallery around 1910'
by Robert Fremond

In 1906, six passionate art collectors from the French city of Le Havre - Olivier Senn, Charles-Auguste Marande, Pieter van der Velde, Georges Dussueil, Oscar Schmitz and Franz-Edouard Luthy - formed an association which they called The Modern Art Circle, with the aim of promoting the work of living artists of their time.

They sought out works by Dufy, Braque, Matisse, Cézanne, Pissarro, Renoir, and others, and organised exhibitions of their works in Le Havre, and in the process made the industrial city into an important centre for avant garde art.

Their collection was later dispersed to art galleries in London, New York, and around Europe, but has now been reunited for an exhibition in Paris at the Musée du Luxembourg, where it will be until 6 January 2013.

L'Anse des pilotes au Havre, haute mer, après-midi, soleil  (1903)
by Camille Pissarro