CHRISTIE’S 20TH CENTURY EVENING SALE NEW YORK | 9 NOVEMBER 2023

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
MARK ROTHKO (1903-1970)
Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange)
signed and dated 'MARK ROTHKO 1955' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
81½ x 60 in. (207 x 152.5 cm.)
Painted in 1955.
Estimate on request

Christie’s has announced Mark Rothko’s Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange), 1955 will be a leading highlight of the 20th Century Evening Sale taking place live at Rockefeller Center on November 9, 2023 during the Marquee Week of sales. The near seven-foot tall canvas envelops the viewer in a dramatic golden glow. Filled with rich, dynamic fields of color, Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange) exemplifies the boldness and complexity of Rothko’s most successful work. The painting was in the artist’s personal collection until he passed away. It subsequently belonged to legendary 20th century collectors and art patrons, Paul and Bunny Mellon and remained in their possession for half a century. The work is estimated to achieve in the region of $45 million.

Alex Rotter, Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art of Christie's, remarks: “Rothko stands among the giants of 20th century art. He was deliberate in his process, with a singular intention of taking the practice of painting to new heights—achieving a psychological impact with his work that no other artist had previously. His work continues to awe viewers of all generations, creating a deep emotional impact—a religious-like experience for those who stand before it. The painting we are offering is a best-in-class example, it is all-encompassing, radiating with an indescribable heat and intensity. We could not be more thrilled to have this masterpiece as a leading highlight this season at Christie’s—notably alongside the artist’s international retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.”

Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange) was painted in the same year of Rothko’s first solo exhibition at the legendary Sidney Janis gallery in New York, and of the 22 paintings the artist completed that year, over half are now in major museum collections. Inspired by the Old Masters he’d seen on recent trips to Europe, Rothko refined his revolutionary painting technique to evoke the same emotion and drama that he’d experienced standing in front of the masterpieces of the Western canon. The play of light that emanates from the surface of the present work represents Rothko at his most successful, a quality highlighted by David Anfam in his discussion of the dynamic surface of this painting in his introductory essay to the artist’s catalogue raisonné.

The alchemy that takes place within Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange) also owes its existence, in part, to a chance encounter the artist had with the work of one of the greater masters of 20th-century painting, Henri Matisse, when he saw The Red Studio (1911, Museum of Modern Art) upon its arrival at MoMA in 1949. Following this experience, Rothko’s subsequent works would come to be richly infused with color and rich saturation of hues would forever become inextricable from the iconic artist’s identity.

FRANCIS BACON (1909-1992)
Figure in Movement
oil and dye transfer lettering on canvas
Executed in 1976.
Estimate on request

 Christie’s has announced Figure in Movement, a masterwork by Francis Bacon, will be a leading highlight in the 20th Century Evening Sale taking place on November 9, 2023 at Rockefeller Center. Standing among the great icons of Francis Bacon’s oeuvre, Figure in Movement is an extraordinary meditation on love, loss and the transience of the human condition. Painted in 1976, it takes its place within the canon of masterworks that followed the tragic death of his beloved George Dyer in 1971. In Figure in Movement Bacon bids farewell to his lover. It is a powerful image of the traces life leaves behind, and of the forces that animate them in memory. Never before seen at auction, the painting has remained in the collection of a single private family for nearly half a century. It is estimated in the region of $50 million.

Alex Rotter, Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art at Christie’s, remarks, “Figure in Movement is brilliantly expressive, uniquely capturing the emotional turmoil Francis Bacon was experiencing in the critical years following the death of George Dyer. The painting radiates deep pain, passion, and sensuality. Bacon’s ability to capture the rawness of the human condition was unmatched and Figure in Movement is a singular example. It represents Bacon at his absolute finest and is an unequivocal masterpiece of 20th century painting. We are thrilled to offer it as a leading highlight this season in our New York Marquee Week of Sales.”

Figure in Movement is among the best works from the all-important series the artist produced following the death of his love, George Dyer. Martin Harrison, editor of Francis Bacon’s catalogue raisonne, called the work “one of Bacon’s quintessential images of entropy, a boldly-coloured masterpiece of disorder and inquietude.” Esteemed critic David Sylvester said, “of the single large canvases painted in [1970-1976] the present work seems to be the greatest. A further monument… to George Dyer’s tragic fall, it is a painting in which a whole range of Baconian devices are brought together with a compelling mastery.” The figure’s face fuses Dyer’s likeness with hints of Bacon’s own. With its dark backdrop, the work is conversant with the celebrated ‘black triptychs’ Bacon produced in the immediate aftermath of Dyer’s death. The work is simultaneously a farewell to love lost and an acknowledgement of the undeniable power of living memory.

Bacon first met George Dyer at a pub in 1963 and the pair’s relationship developed quickly. Dyer became the artist’s muse and is the subject of some of Bacon’s most extraordinary portraits. In 1971, just days before the opening of Bacon’s retrospective at the Grand Palais in Paris, Dyer was found in the couple’s hotel room. Devastated, Bacon turned to art and the subsequent years were pivotal in his career, as he formally processed grief and loss through painting.

Shortly after its creation, Figure in Movement was unveiled alongside the black triptychs in Bacon’s solo exhibition at the Musée Cantini in Marseille. The show marks his first French museum exhibition outside of Paris; it exhibited paintings made from 1969 to 1976 and captured the full range of his grief of the time. With an outstanding exhibition history that includes landmark retrospectives at the Tate Gallery, London, the Museo Correr, Venice and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Figure in Movement has been widely celebrated in scholarship. Most recently, it was included in the 2018 Beyeler Foundation exhibition Bacon – Giacometti.

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF DAVID GEFFEN
ARSHILE GORKY (1904-1948)
Charred Beloved I
oil on canvas
Painted in 1946
Estimate on request

Christie’s New York has announced that Arshile Gorky’s Charred Beloved I (1946) will highlight this fall’s 20th Century Evening Sale. A seminal painting by one of the most important, influential and tragic figures in the history of 20th century art, and estimated in excess of $20 million, it is expected to reset the market for the artist at auction.

Max Carter, Christie’s Vice Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art, remarks, “Charred Beloved I rose from and immortalized one of mid-century New York’s legendary tragedies: the devastating fire that consumed Gorky’s studio. It heralded the future of post-war art in America. And, formerly owned by S.I. Newhouse, it has belonged for thirty years to David Geffen, whose career, collecting and philanthropy have no parallel. Offering this masterpiece, the finest Gorky ever to appear at auction, represents everything we aspire to at Christie’s.”

Charred Beloved I was Gorky’s Phoenix-like response to the January 1946 studio fire in which some 20 paintings, along with his books and drawings, were completely destroyed. Within several weeks of the fire, Gorky began his “ballroom series” on the 17th floor at 1200 Fifth Avenue in New York City. The resulting four canvases, including Charred Beloved I, were among his greatest achievements. A strictly literal visual interpretation would place Charred Beloved I in the midst of the blaze, and the further pair of Charred Beloveds in its dying embers.

The 1946 fire might have been shattering, however it was not the first time Gorky was forced to start anew. The artist survived the Armenian genocide of 1915, emigrating to the United States at around age 16 in 1920. Despite the brevity of his life—cut short by suicide in 1948—his artistic legacy was immediate and instrumental. Gorky remains one of the critical figures of 20th century art: the last Surrealist whom André Breton claimed and the first of the Abstract Expressionists.

Charred Beloved I has an equally extraordinary history. It was exhibited for the first time in 1953 at the Sidney Janis Gallery and has since appeared in major museum shows at the Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. One of the two related grisaille canvases, Charred Beloved II, is held in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. This November, it is being sold from the collection of David Geffen.

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)
Le bassin aux nymphéas
oil on canvas
Painted circa 1917-1919
Estimate on request

Christie’s is proud to present Le bassin aux nymphéas, one of the artist’s monumental canvases from his celebrated water lily series, as the leading highlight of the 20th Century Evening Sale on November 9, 2023. Modern and timeless, Le bassin aux nymphéas captures the dynamism and beauty of nature’s transience, exploring the ephemeral atmosphere, seasonal blooms, watery depths, and glimmering reflections of light of Monet’s famed lily pond in Giverny. This superb example has been held in the same family collection for over fifty years. It is estimated to realize in excess of $65 million.

Max Carter, Christie’s Vice Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art, remarks: “With Monet, seemingly everything has already been seen or said. Le bassin aux nymphéas, which has never been exhibited or offered at auction, is, however, that rarest thing: A masterpiece rediscovered. Thickly worked, impeccably preserved and hidden away in the same private collection since 1972, Le bassin aux nymphéas remains as astonishing today as it was 100 years ago. We are thrilled to unveil it publicly for the first time on October 4th in Hong Kong.”

Landmarks of late Impressionism, the paintings Monet made of his Giverny gardens are some of the most innovative and influential works of his oeuvre. In the final 25 years of his life, Monet became devoted to capturing the scenic grounds of his home, producing a richly complex and diverse body of work. Le bassin aux nymphéas is a key example from this famed series of works dedicated to the waterlilies, measuring more than two meters wide. A Monet Nymphéas of this scale and quality has not come to auction since a canvas in the historic May 2018 sale of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller achieved a price of $84.7 million.

Le bassin aux nymphéas dates from 1917-1919, an all-important period of experimentation in Monet’s practice during which he achieved a new painterly vision of the lily-pond, sparked by his desire to create mural size images of the motif rather than the smaller water landscapes he had been creating prior. These grand, monumental depictions were filled with gestural, vigorous bolts of color that coalesce to form the watery landscape, the vibrancy and gestural quality of the brushwork revealing the impressive energy that lay behind the artist’s paintings, even at this late stage of his career. These revolutionary compositions were initially met with mixed reactions from Monet’s contemporaries, but later found favor among a younger generation of artists and collectors in the later decades of the 20th century, notably with the painters of the burgeoning Abstract Expressionist movement. Monet’s paintings of the water lilies are now among the most highly coveted and celebrated Impressionist masterpieces of his oeuvre, with examples held in the most esteemed private and institutional collections around the world.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Femme endormie
Oil on canvas, 28 x 21 in (72.4 x 54 cm)
Painted in Boisgeloup on 17 July 1934
Estimate: $25 – 35 million

Christie’s has announced that the Ivan & Genevieve Reitman: A Life in Pictures, a vibrant and joyful art collection that will be offered during the Marquee Week of Sales this November, led by Picasso’s portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, Femme endormie. The collection comes to Christie’s New York from the California home of Ivan Reitman, the legendary filmmaker behind iconic movies from the 20th century that enraptured audiences across the globe —including Ghostbusters, Dave, Kindergarten Cop, Animal House, Space Jam, Old School, and dozens more. A director, producer, and storyteller to his core, Ivan Reitman spent his life celebrating the magic of creativity in all its forms. Insightful and inventive, Reitman seamlessly coalesced his love for filmmaking and visual art, creating a comprehensive and cohesive collection that evoked the same optimism and joy of his movies.

Ten works from Reitman’s art collection will be sold as a dedicated group of highlights in the 20th Century Evening Sale taking place on November 9, 2023. The selection is foregrounded by top lot, Picasso’s Femme endormie, a brilliant and colorful portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, which was with the Picasso family for nearly sixty years before its acquisition in 1993 and is expected to achieve $25 million – 35 million. This October, Femme endormie will make its debut appearance in Asia at Christie’s Hong Kong. The additional nine works come from giants of the European avant-garde, Abstract Expressionism, and contemporary classics—with examples by Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Jean Dubuffet, Loie Hollowell, Brice Marden, Richard Diebenkorn, Agnes Martin, Joan Snyder, and Saul Steinberg. Additional works will being sold across the week’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale and future sales. In total, the collection is expected to achieve in excess of $60 million.

Jason Reitman remarks, “Growing up as a Reitman was growing up around magic. I got to watch one of the great storytellers make movies and make people laugh.”

Catherine Reitman remarks: “My father had so much hope and his films were positive and optimistic, and I think his art was the same way.”

Bonnie Brennan, President of Christie’s Americas, remarks: “The movies Ivan Reitman created have brought laughter to the lives of millions. This joy and delight is palpable in the fantastic art collection he and his wife assembled and lived with over the course of nearly 40 years. We are so pleased to showcase such a dynamic ensemble of artworks at Christie’s this November as highlights in our Marquee Week of Sales.”

Along with his wife Genevieve, Reitman amassed a truly exceptional art collection over the course of four decades with a range of works that tell the story of abstraction’s evolution throughout the 20th century and the subsequent responses by figurative artists. The couple lived with the art in their spectacular Montecito, California home, which they worked with the legendary architect Robert A.M. Stern to design. The house served as the perfect setting for their collection. From the outdoor sculpture by Jean Dubuffet on the grounds, to the 1934 Picasso–a true masterwork from the icon’s oeuvre hanging on the walls of their living room—the cheerful and optimistic collection inspired and delighted them daily.

Max Carter, Christie’s Vice Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art, remarks, “1934 was among the most fraught years of Picasso's life. His wife, Olga, refused to divorce him; the Great Depression was in its fifth year; political turmoil engulfed France; and his native Spain, which he would visit for the final time that August, teetered on the brink of civil war. Picasso painted less—there are fewer than 45 recorded oils from 1934 and in 1935 he gave up painting altogether—and his imagery was dark and brooding. But on one glorious day in July, he produced three radiant visions of Marie-Thérèse Walter. One portrait is in the Hirshhorn, one is in the Portland Museum of Art and the third, which the artist kept for himself and has been exhibited publicly only once, in 1998, is the Reitman Picasso. In its dazzling color, magical forms and tender repose, this deeply personal image was and remains an oasis.”

Johanna Flaum, Christie’s Vice Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art, remarks: “Ivan Reitman was the ultimate creative. He continually pursued the magic of creation - in all forms - through film, art, and architecture, which could be seen in the beautiful home created partnership with his wife Genevieve and architect Robert A.M. Stern, creating the perfect setting for his collection. From Picasso's colorful dreamscape to the brightness and levity in the post-war abstraction to the nods of humor punctuated throughout, his art reflects the very same sense of optimism and joy as his filmography. A cinematic legend, Reitman has informed our collective living memory. He has made an impact on society that is absolutely pervasive - not only do his films evoke a sense of nostalgia for those who grew up watching them, but they are still very much relevant, influencing our culture of today. We look forward to bringing his collection to Christie's galleries, allowing for his art collection to resonate with audiences around the world in the same way so many of his films have done in the past.”

Ivan and Genevieve’s collecting journey began when Reitman asked the art dealer Arne Glimcher to help him bring some authenticity to Legal Eagles, a 1986 romantic comedy thriller starring Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah and set in the New York art world. Glimcher recommended using original paintings and sculptures borrowed from galleries and private collectors in New York and Los Angeles. During this process, Reitman fell in love with art. He and Genevieve embarked on their collection soon afterwards and continued until the couple acquired their last piece together in 2021.

Born in Komárno, Slovakia in 1946, Reitman was raised by his mother, an Auschwitz survivor, and his father, who was part of the Czechoslovak resistance. To escape the post-war communist regime, the family went first to Vienna and eventually settled in Toronto in 1950. In the 1960s, Reitman enrolled at McMaster University in Ontario, initially to study music composition. After joining the student film club, his passion for storytelling and the magic of moviemaking was ignited, and his life was changed forever. From the late 1970s through the early 80s, he developed hit after hit, from National Lampoon’s Animal House to Meatballs to Stripes, culminating with Ghostbusters in 1984—an instant a classic and immediate phenomenon. Always looking to give back, Ivan and Genevieve founded the Reitman Foundation just two years after Ghostbusters was released, parlaying their success into an initiative that generously provided grants to museums, theaters and other arts organizations. Today, Reitman has stars on both Hollywood’s and Canada’s Walk of Fame. The impact he has had on the development of comedy and the entertainment industry at large is unmatched. With blockbuster films that defined an era, Reitman leaves behind a lasting legacy, and continues to delight and inspire cinematographers and moviegoers alike worldwide. On October 4, highlights from Ivan & Genevieve Reitman: A Life in Pictures will make their debut at Christie’s Hong Kong before touring to Los Angeles on October 16 and Paris on October 17. The full art collection will be on view at Christie’s New York Rockefeller Center galleries beginning October 28.

FRIDA KAHLO (1907-1954)
Portrait of Cristina, My Sister
oil on panel
Painted in 1928
Estimate: $8,000,000-12,000,000

Christie’s has announced The Collection of Jerry Moss will be sold this November during the fall Marquee Week of Sales. Widely known as the “M” in A&M Records, Jerry Moss was a music industry giant who played a critical role in establishing careers of the biggest musical acts in history—Sting, Janet Jackson, Peter Frampton, Cat Stevens, Carole King, and countless more.Like the diverse group of musicians who parlayed their passion into worldwide stardom under the guidance of Moss, the artworks comprising his collection are categorically quite different. Highlights in the collection include: Friday Kahlo’s Portrait of Cristina, My Sister (estimate: $8 million – 12 million) and Tamara de Lempicka’s Fillette en rose (estimate: $7 million – 10 million) two deeply personal portraits by women of their immediate family members—the first, of the artist’s sister and the second of the artist’s daughter. The top lot of the group is Picasso’s Nu couché, estimated to achieve $10 million – 15 million.

PROPERTY SOLD TO BENEFIT MUSEUM LANGMATT

PAUL CEZANNE (1839–1906)
Fruits et pot de gingembre
Painted circa 1890-93
Estimate: $35 million – 55 million

Christie’s and the Foundation Langmatt Sidney and Jenny Brown are proud to announce three masterpiece paintings by Paul Cezanne will highlight Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale taking place on November 9, 2023 during New York Fall Marquee Week: Fruits et pot de gingembre, Quatre pommes et un couteau and La mer à L’Estaque. This exceptional trio come to Christie’s from the collection of the Museum Langmatt in Baden, Switzerland, home to one of the most extraordinary collections of Impressionist art in Europe, assembled with care and passion in the early 20th century by famed collectors Sidney and Jenny Brown.

The lead highlight of the trio coming to auction is the exceptional Fruits et pot de gingembre (estimate: $35 million – 55 million). This iconic painting is part of a select group of canvases Cezanne painted in the late 1880s and early 1890s. With this work, Cezanne achieves a new level of sophistication in his treatment of still life, exhibiting a rich complexity in his formal approach to color and space. This painting hails from the coveted and important series of Cezanne’s still-life compositions now celebrated as his signature artistic achievements, alongside his Bathers series and his views of Mont Sainte-Victoire. The subjects within Fruits et pot de gingembre stand in dialogue with one another, assuming almost human-like characteristics. This work was most likely painted in the studio Cezanne kept at his parents’ estate on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence – the same site where he painted his highly celebrated Card Players series.

The second work on offer, Quatre pommes et un couteau ($7 million – 10 million) explores one of Cezanne’s favourite and most famous subjects – the apple. Having been largely absent from his work in the 1860s, the fruit, now inextricably linked to the artist’s identity, began to appear in Cezanne’s compositions with increased frequency in the 1870s, then throughout the rest of his career, in all types of arrangements and settings. In a move away from the spontaneity and broken touch of classic Impressionist technique which had dominated his body of work up to that point, here the artist uses a distinct and tightly “constructed” painting style, embracing a more structured technique and approach to formal rendering.

The final painting of the trio, La mer à l'Estaque ($3 million – 5 million), is a serene landscape view, and the earliest of the three works, painted at the end of the 1870s. The oil on canvas encapsulates the growing boldness of Cezanne’s style during the time he spent looking out onto the vistas of L’Estaque, a picturesque fishing village on the Mediterranean coast that served as the setting for some of the most innovative landscapes of the artist’s career. 

Dirk Boll, Deputy Chairman, 20th/21st Century Art, Christie’s EMEA, remarks, “Museum sales are highly sensitive processes. We were extremely impressed by the thoughtfulness and care with which the foundation and the management selected the works and managed the selection process. Christie’s brings decades of experience in dealing with museum sales, which are part of institutional practice in the Anglo-American cultural area.”

Max Carter, Vice Chairman, 20th/21st Century Art, Christie’s, continues, “Cezanne is the father of modern art, and many of his greatest works were last seen on the market within thirty years of his death in 1906. The trio of Cezannes from the Museum Langmatt was acquired in this vital period and represents two of the artist’s essential motifs and bequests to the generations that followed: his radical approach to still life and the view of the Gulf of Marseille from L’Estaque. We could not be more honored to handle this historic group, above all, Fruits et pot de gingembre, one of the most important and exquisite Cezanne still lifes ever to be sold at auction.”

Support for the Museum Langmatt

Bequeathed to the City of Baden, Switzerland in 1987, the villa Langmatt a historic family home built in 1900-01 was converted into a public museum and cultural institution which opened in 1990. It houses the significant Impressionist art collection of Sidney and Jenny Brown, privately acquired mainly between 1908-1919 with a few additional purchases over the following decades, and also presents regular series of contemporary art exhibitions and public programs. Since its opening, the Museum has required increasing levels of care, to maintain its aging physical facilities, which has substantially depleted the resources of the Langmatt foundation, Sidney and Jenny Brown. In 2017, the foundation launched “Future Langmatt,” a public capital campaign to identify solutions to secure the museum’s future. The city, with the help of the canton and third parties, pledged to contribute to the restoration of the property, and the foundation committed to secure a long-term and financially sustainable basis for the museum’s operations. The project was finalized and adopted on June 18, 2023 by public vote [an unprecedented 80% majority] in Baden. Museum Langmatt will receive substantial funds from the City of Baden and the Canton Aargau towards the museum’s renovation and restoration. The foundation Langmatt must now raise CHF 40 million / circa US$45 million for its endowment fund, providing the necessary interest rates for the long-term future of the museum’s operation.

Lukas Breunig-Hollinger, President of the Foundation Langmatt, Sidney and Jenny Brown: “The collection, which is important far beyond the country's borders, is strongly linked to Baden. Exhibited in the former home of the Brown family of collectors, it has been firmly associated with the town for a century and is also emblematic of the internationality and pioneering spirit that have always characterized the town of Baden. We are happy that we will be able to continue showing the collection in its historical context.”

Markus Stegmann, Director, Museum Langmatt, remarks: “Sidney and Jenny Brown showed an extraordinary flair for the emerging art movement of Impressionism early on, as evidenced by their acquisition of numerous masterpieces in the first two decades of the 20th century. The deaccession of one to three works is not easy for us. However, it is the only way we can save the heart of this unique private collection - some 50 works of French Impressionism - in the long term and keep them publicly accessible. We look forward to welcoming art lovers from near and far back to the renovated museum in 2026.”

A Unique Sale Format

The sale of these three Cezanne masterpieces will be offered in a unique sale format within Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale. They will be offered consecutively until the total amount bid achieves Museum Langmatt’s fundraising target of CHF 40 million / circa US$45 million. Under these special conditions, the Museum has committed to sell only the essential number of lots required to achieve its goal. Once this 40M mark has been reached in the auction, any subsequent lot(s) in the trio will be withdrawn from sale and returned to public display in Switzerland.