Dutch Modernism: Jan Sluijters:
Café de nuit (Bal Tabarin), 1906
Oil on canvas
40.5 x 32.5 cm
Auctioned at Christie’s in 2026 for € 397,500

Jan Sluijters painted this nightlife scene during his stay in Paris, where he lived on a scholarship after winning the Prix de Rome in 1904. The small canvas shows a shift away from his academic training under the influence of the French avant-garde and the emergence of electric lighting in Montmartre. The auction notes from Christie’s document the history of the object, tracking its creation inside the dancehall and its journey through private Dutch collections.

Electric Lighting and the Price Penalty

Sluijters rented a room at the Hotel Chaptal, placing him near venues like the Rat Mort, the Moulin Rouge, and the Bal Tabarin. During the Salon des Indépendants of 1906, depictions of contemporary nightlife under new electric lighting became popular among artists like Kees van Dongen. Sluijters drew direct inspiration from these experiments, blending his academic background with his previous techniques as an illustrator and caricaturist. According to a friend’s contemporary account, Sluijters started this specific canvas inside the Bal Tabarin during a festive evening and finished the work later in Amsterdam.

The paint layer features thickly applied dots and stripes that capture the crowd and the movement of the dancers. Sluijters created a deliberate contrast by using a more precise style for the two figures in the close foreground. This experimental study served as a precursor to his monumental 1907 canvas Bal Tabarin, which now resides in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and focused heavily on the bright yellow lighting of the dancehall.

This change in style carried immediate financial consequences for the artist. When Sluijters presented his new French-inspired paintings to the conservative committee of the Dutch Prix de Rome, they rejected his methods. The committee members stated that this new approach was everything painting should not be, leading them to cancel his prize and stop his financial allowance.

Provenance and the Lohmanstraat Studio

The ownership records trace a long relationship between Sluijters and the first buyers of the canvas, Ger Hoogerhoud and his wife. The artist and the Hoogerhoud family lived in the same building at Lohmanstraat 99 in Amsterdam, where Sluijters maintained his studio from 1913 until 1930. Hoogerhoud bought paintings by Sluijters at public auctions to pay the fair market value and support his friend. The painting remained with the family from its purchase in March 1947 until it went on loan to the Singer Museum in Laren from 2006 until 2016. The work is registered within the digital catalogue raisonné maintained by the RKD.