Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/robert-brough-819" aria-label="More by Robert Brough" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Robert Brough</a>
Fantaisie en Folie
Bequeathed by the artist 1905
actions: postures and motions
adults
clothing and personal items
contemplation
domestic
Eastern culture - statue
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
eyes closed
figurine
fine arts and music
furnishings
interior - non-specific
interiors
necklace
objects
people
sitting
society
symbols and personifications
table
Western culture - pendant
woman
<p>A woman with a haughty poise and striking profile looks down on a laughing Buddha, touching the statuette with her pendant. The title is best translated as ‘Unbridled Fantasy’. The picture’s misty brushwork and harmonious, neutral palette and the woman’s mysterious gesture suggests mood rather than narrative. The work was praised internationally, and it was widely exhibited. Brough was a successful portrait painter, but died young, aged 34, after a train accident. He seems to have regarded <span>Fantaisie en Folie</span> as his artistic testament, as he left it to the Tate Gallery in his will.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2020</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
3 July 2004 – 11 September 2004
2004-09-11
3 July 2004 – 11 September 2004
2004-09-11
2004-07-03
Aberdeen Art Gallery (Aberdeen, UK)
http://www.aagm.co.uk
2004-07-03
John Singer Sargent and His Scottish Friends
Loan-out
1 March 2013 – 31 May 2013
2013-05-31
1 March 2013 – 31 May 2013
2013-05-31
2013-03-01
Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, USA)
http://ycba.yale.edu/index.asp
2013-03-01
Edwardian Opulence
Loan-out
7 April 2014 – 12 October 2014
2014-10-12
7 April 2014 – 12 October 2014
2014-10-12
2014-04-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-04-07
Forgotten Faces
Collection based display
2 April 2015 – 25 September 2022
2022-09-25
28 March 2015
2015-03-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2015-04-02
Gallery 8
Collection based display
Fantaisie en Folie
support: 1022 × 1257 mm
frame: 1330 × 1585 × 125 mm
Bequeathed by the artist 1905
<div class="text">
<p>A woman with a haughty poise and striking profile looks down on a laughing Buddha, touching the statuette with her pendant. The title is best translated as ‘Unbridled Fantasy’. The picture’s misty brushwork and harmonious, neutral palette and the woman’s mysterious gesture suggests mood rather than narrative. The work was praised internationally, and it was widely exhibited. Brough was a successful portrait painter, but died young, aged 34, after a train accident. He seems to have regarded <i>Fantaisie en Folie</i> as his artistic testament, as he left it to the Tate Gallery in his will.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2020-09-17T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/brough-fantaisie-en-folie-n01956" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01956</span></a> </b>FANTASIE EN FOLIE <i>c.</i> 1897
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 40 1/4×49 1/2 (102×126).
<br/>Bequeathed by the artist 1905.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1897 (138); R.S.A., 1898 (419); <i>Autumn Exhibition</i>, Manchester, 1899 (147); <i>Exposition Internationale Universelie</i>, Paris, 1900 (British Pavilion, 28); (?) St Petersburg, <i>c.</i> 1900 (catalogue not traced); <i>International Exhibition</i>, Glasgow, 1901 (518); <i>Preston Guild Art Exhibition</i>, Preston, 1902 (15).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Edward Pinnington, ‘Robert Brough, Painter’ in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1898, p.148, repr. p.147.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Tate Gallery, <i>Illustrated Catalogue</i>, 1912, p.8.</p>
<p>The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> is close to, and is probably derived from, that of ‘The Present’ by the Belgian artist Alfred Stevens (National Gallery, London, NG3270) which was shown in an exhibition the previous year, <i>Loan Collection of Modern Painters</i>, Grafton Galleries, January–March 1896 (158). Another almost contemporary work by Brough, ‘Sweet Violets’, exhibited at Glasgow in 1897, is also similar in composition but in reverse.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults clothing and personal items contemplation domestic Eastern culture - statue emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas eyes closed figurine fine arts and music furnishings interior - non-specific interiors necklace objects people sitting society symbols and personifications table Western culture - pendant woman