Three outstanding paintings from an important private collection including one of
Claude Monet
's iconic Nymphéas series will lead the
Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
in London on 19 June.
"As far as method of
colouring is concerned, [the Impressionists] have made a real discovery,
whose origin cannot be found elsewhere - neither with the Dutch, nor in
the pale tones of fresco painting, nor in the light tonalities of the
eighteenth century. […] Their discovery actually consists in having
recognised that full light de-colours tones, that the sun reflected by
objects tends (because of its brightness) to bring them back to that
luminous unity which melts its seven prismatic rays into a single
colourless radiance: light."
This is how the French writer and art critic Edmond Duranty articulated the approach of a new group of painters in his essay titled La Nouvelle Peinture, written at the time of the Second Impressionist exhibition in 1876. This group of avant-garde artists, now known as the Impressionists, held the first of their eight group exhibitions in 1874, in opposition to the official, government-sponsored Salon.
The upcoming London Evening sale of Impressionist & Modern Art is
also led by a stunning portrait of a youth by Modigliani Jeune homme assis, les mains croisees sur les genoux, by Amedeo Modigliani painted whilst the artist was living on the French Riviera.
Amedeo Modigliani, Jeune homme assis , les mains croisées sur less genoux , 1918, oil on canvas (est. £16,000,000 - 24,000,000 / $ 20, 400,000 - 30,600,000 )
James Mackie, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department in London , said: “A tender and transfixing image of a youth, this intimate portrait presents an unidentified young model with a sense of empathy, poignancy and serene beauty characteristic of the artist’s most accomplished paintings. The work was bought directly from the artist’s dealer Léopold Zborowski in 1927, and has been in the same family collection since then. For decades it has only been published as a black and white image, and will now emerge in its full splendour at auction this month. ”
Modigliani’s transcendent portraits of anonymous youths are among the rarest in his oeuvre , with just a handful of depictions of such male sitters known – many of which are housed in museums across the world. Towards the end of the First World War , as his health worsened, Modigliani sought safety and solace in the French Riviera. During his time in Provence, the artist felt a close connection to Cézanne and the legacy of his great portraits, an influence that is felt in these works. Having spent years immersed in the bohemian circles of Paris, in Nice and Cagnes Modigliani turned to painting anonymous sitters, execut ing a number of sublime portraits of pe a sants, servants, shop girls and children. The figures are ennobled with Modigliani’s elegance, but not at the cost of their innate character and humanity. With his mannerist elongated features and almond - shaped, vacant eyes , the model presents a powerful synthesis of all the characteristic traits t hat make Modigliani’s p ortraits so immediate and universal. mannerist elongated features and almond - shaped, vacant eyes , the model presents a powerful synthesis of all the characteristic traits t hat make Modigliani’s p ortraits so immediate and universal.
Pablo Picasso, Homme à la pipe , 1968, oil on canvas (est. £5,500,000 - 7,500,000 / $7,012,500 - 9,562,500)
Conceived on a grand scale and painted with seemingly limitless energy and invention in the autumn of 1968 , Homme à la pipe is a striking example of Picasso’s ultimate burst of creativity . The emphatic swirls of paint that fill the background contrast with the strong verticals of the pipe and chair, creating a powerful dynamic within the composition. Having been acquire d by the present owner in 1984, the monumental work has never previously been offered at auction. The musketeer was a key figure, signalling an allusion to the Old Masters, and through that, the artist’s desire to paint himself into the European artistic canon . In these final years, Picasso immersed himself in masterpieces by the likes of Velásquez , Rembrandt , El Greco and Goya – projecting slides b lown up to a gigantic scale onto his studio wall . He then incorporated the subjects and motifs of art historic tradition into works that are profoundly modern in their spirit and style. Demand for the artist’s late works is now particularly strong , with a new world record for a 1960s work achieved in May at Sotheby’s New York, when a portrait of his wife Jacqueline Roque and their beloved Afghan hound sold for $54.9 million
Camille Pissarro, Le Boulevard Montmartre, fin de journée , 1897, oil on canvas (est. £3,500,000 - 5,000,000 / $ 4,462,500 - 6,375,000 )
An outstanding work from one of the most important series of Pissarro’s urban views , Le Boulevard Montmartre, fin de journée brilliantly evokes the excitement and spectacle of the city at the fin -de -siècle – depicting the busy Parisian street with its pavement, buildings and trees bathed in a warm glow of the setting sun. Pissar ro’s series paintings of Paris in the late 1890s are amongst the supreme achievements of Impressionism, taking their place alongsid e Monet’s series of Rouen Cathedral, poplars and haystacks and the later waterlilies. The artist focuse d upon a single compositional device – the magnificent procession of the Boulevard Montmartre – working methodically for over two months at the window of his hotel room from dawn to dusk to depict the different combinations of light, weather and seasonal change.
René Magritte, La magie noire , 1946, (detail) oil on canvas (est. £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 / $3,187,500 - 4,462,500)
La magie noire stands as one of the most elegant examples of the theme that preoccupied Magritte in the 1940s, that of a female nude in an unidentified landscape. Here, the artist transforms his wife Georgette Berger into a modern - day Venus. Depicting her image in a classical manner, abiding by the laws of conventional beauty and proportion, she resembles a marble sculpture or mythical figure as much as a live model. This traditional representation is juxtaposed with the unexpected colouration of the figure, as her upper body gradually acquires the tone of the sky behind. The painting’s first owner was the artist’s brother Raymond Magritte, a successful businessman, who often supported the artist by buying his pictures, particularly in the early stages of his career. Frit representation is juxtaposed with the unexpected colouration of the figure, as her upper body gradually acquires the tone of the sky behind. The painting’s first owner was the artist’s brother Raymond Magritte, a successful businessman, who often supported the artist by buying his pictures, particularly in the early stages of his career.
This is how the French writer and art critic Edmond Duranty articulated the approach of a new group of painters in his essay titled La Nouvelle Peinture, written at the time of the Second Impressionist exhibition in 1876. This group of avant-garde artists, now known as the Impressionists, held the first of their eight group exhibitions in 1874, in opposition to the official, government-sponsored Salon.
Claude
Monet, Nymphéas , 1908, oil on canvas (est. £25,000 ,000 - 35,000,000 /
$31,880,000 - 44,630,000)
Thomas Boyd - Bowman, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist
& Modern Art Evening Sales in London, said: “This beautifully lyrical and
softly ephemeral Nymphéas painted in 1908 is a timeless reflection of Monet’s vision
and innovation. Acquired in 1932, it has remained a hidden treasure in the same
family collection for decades and will now make its very first appearance at
auction.”
Monet’s iconic series paintings – long considered the apogee of
Impressionism – have in the past year reached new heights in the market. Most
recently, at Sotheby’s in New York, his glowing haystacks from 1890 became the first
work of impressionist art to exceed $100 million at auction, mere months after
a record for a Venetian view wa s set at Sotheby’s in London. The most famous
images of all remain those of Monet’s beloved waterlilies, which have left an
indelible mark on the history of art and become entrenched in the public
consciousness.
The artist’s first steps towards true abstr action, this ground -
breaking series is widely considered his greatest achievement. Monet’s
meticulously designed water garden in Giverny verged on an all - consuming
obsession, as the artist diverted the course of the river near his home and
waded out into t he waters daily to preserve the pristine beauty of the
waterlilies. The result was a kaleidoscope of colour on his doorstep, forever
changing with an unending variety of tones and forms. Amongst Monet’s most desirable
waterlilies are those from the period between 1904 – 1909 , when Monet stripped
away the banks of the pond, eliminated the horizon line and transformed the water
into a mirror for the sky. With its decidedly free brushwork, this painting
represents the most sophisticated qualities of his earlier, precise
explorations whilst anticipating the innovations that were to follow in the Grande
s Décorations housed in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris .
This stunning example
of the Nymphéas series comes to auction along with two other works from the
same collection – one an earlier work by Monet , depicting the astonishingly
rich fields around Giverny in the spring of 1885; the other a dazzling
pointillist depiction of the landscape s urrounding Pissarro's home in a
bucolic neighbouring village of Eragny, which he had purchased with financial
aid from Monet.
The
most famous images of all remain those of Monet’s beloved waterlilies, which
have left an indelible mark on the history of art and become entrenched in the
public consciousness. The artist’s first steps towards true abstr action, this
ground - breaking series is widely considered his greatest achievement. Monet’s
meticulously designed water garden in Giverny verged on an all - consuming
obsession, as the artist diverted the course of the river near his home and
waded out into t he waters daily to preserve the pristine beauty of the
waterlilies. The result was a kaleidoscope of colour on his doorstep, forever changing
with an unending variety of tones and forms. Amongst Monet’s most desirable waterlilies
are those from the period between 1904 – 1909 , when Monet stripped away the banks
of the pond, eliminated the horizon line and transformed the water into a mirror
for the sky. With its decidedly free brushwork, this painting represents the
most sophisticated qualities of his earlier, precise explorations whilst
anticipating the innovations that were to follow in the Grandes Décorations housed
in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris .
Amedeo Modigliani, Jeune homme assis , les mains croisées sur less genoux , 1918, oil on canvas (est. £16,000,000 - 24,000,000 / $ 20, 400,000 - 30,600,000 )
James Mackie, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department in London , said: “A tender and transfixing image of a youth, this intimate portrait presents an unidentified young model with a sense of empathy, poignancy and serene beauty characteristic of the artist’s most accomplished paintings. The work was bought directly from the artist’s dealer Léopold Zborowski in 1927, and has been in the same family collection since then. For decades it has only been published as a black and white image, and will now emerge in its full splendour at auction this month. ”
Modigliani’s transcendent portraits of anonymous youths are among the rarest in his oeuvre , with just a handful of depictions of such male sitters known – many of which are housed in museums across the world. Towards the end of the First World War , as his health worsened, Modigliani sought safety and solace in the French Riviera. During his time in Provence, the artist felt a close connection to Cézanne and the legacy of his great portraits, an influence that is felt in these works. Having spent years immersed in the bohemian circles of Paris, in Nice and Cagnes Modigliani turned to painting anonymous sitters, execut ing a number of sublime portraits of pe a sants, servants, shop girls and children. The figures are ennobled with Modigliani’s elegance, but not at the cost of their innate character and humanity. With his mannerist elongated features and almond - shaped, vacant eyes , the model presents a powerful synthesis of all the characteristic traits t hat make Modigliani’s p ortraits so immediate and universal. mannerist elongated features and almond - shaped, vacant eyes , the model presents a powerful synthesis of all the characteristic traits t hat make Modigliani’s p ortraits so immediate and universal.
Pablo Picasso, Homme à la pipe , 1968, oil on canvas (est. £5,500,000 - 7,500,000 / $7,012,500 - 9,562,500)
Conceived on a grand scale and painted with seemingly limitless energy and invention in the autumn of 1968 , Homme à la pipe is a striking example of Picasso’s ultimate burst of creativity . The emphatic swirls of paint that fill the background contrast with the strong verticals of the pipe and chair, creating a powerful dynamic within the composition. Having been acquire d by the present owner in 1984, the monumental work has never previously been offered at auction. The musketeer was a key figure, signalling an allusion to the Old Masters, and through that, the artist’s desire to paint himself into the European artistic canon . In these final years, Picasso immersed himself in masterpieces by the likes of Velásquez , Rembrandt , El Greco and Goya – projecting slides b lown up to a gigantic scale onto his studio wall . He then incorporated the subjects and motifs of art historic tradition into works that are profoundly modern in their spirit and style. Demand for the artist’s late works is now particularly strong , with a new world record for a 1960s work achieved in May at Sotheby’s New York, when a portrait of his wife Jacqueline Roque and their beloved Afghan hound sold for $54.9 million
Camille Pissarro, Le Boulevard Montmartre, fin de journée , 1897, oil on canvas (est. £3,500,000 - 5,000,000 / $ 4,462,500 - 6,375,000 )
An outstanding work from one of the most important series of Pissarro’s urban views , Le Boulevard Montmartre, fin de journée brilliantly evokes the excitement and spectacle of the city at the fin -de -siècle – depicting the busy Parisian street with its pavement, buildings and trees bathed in a warm glow of the setting sun. Pissar ro’s series paintings of Paris in the late 1890s are amongst the supreme achievements of Impressionism, taking their place alongsid e Monet’s series of Rouen Cathedral, poplars and haystacks and the later waterlilies. The artist focuse d upon a single compositional device – the magnificent procession of the Boulevard Montmartre – working methodically for over two months at the window of his hotel room from dawn to dusk to depict the different combinations of light, weather and seasonal change.
René Magritte, La magie noire , 1946, (detail) oil on canvas (est. £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 / $3,187,500 - 4,462,500)
La magie noire stands as one of the most elegant examples of the theme that preoccupied Magritte in the 1940s, that of a female nude in an unidentified landscape. Here, the artist transforms his wife Georgette Berger into a modern - day Venus. Depicting her image in a classical manner, abiding by the laws of conventional beauty and proportion, she resembles a marble sculpture or mythical figure as much as a live model. This traditional representation is juxtaposed with the unexpected colouration of the figure, as her upper body gradually acquires the tone of the sky behind. The painting’s first owner was the artist’s brother Raymond Magritte, a successful businessman, who often supported the artist by buying his pictures, particularly in the early stages of his career. Frit representation is juxtaposed with the unexpected colouration of the figure, as her upper body gradually acquires the tone of the sky behind. The painting’s first owner was the artist’s brother Raymond Magritte, a successful businessman, who often supported the artist by buying his pictures, particularly in the early stages of his career.
