Fred (Frits) KLEIN (1898-1990)

Panoramic view of the French Riviera, circa 1937. Oil on canvas signed lower right. 52 x 219 cm. In 1937, on the occasion of the World's Fair in Paris, Fred Klein and his wife Marie Raymond-Klein were commissioned to execute a fresco for the French Riviera Pavilion. Our Panoramic View is a project for this commission, showing a whimsical view from the Italian border to Saint-Tropez, passing through the "postcard" towns: Èze-village, Cap Ferrat, Nice and its Promenade des Anglais, Cagnes and the bell tower of the Chapel of Protection (adopted village of the couple and their son Yves), Antibes, Cannes, Anthéor and its viaduct, Agay and the Golden Island, the Esterel and its red rocks, Saint-Tropez, its bell tower and its beaches. This painting was presented at the Palais de la Méditerranée the same year during an exhibition of the artist. The definitive fresco of the Pavilion was realized on this principle of a large panoramic view of the Riviera. Our painting, which has remained in a private collection since that time, is unpublished.