NEW YORK – Christie's New York is delighted to announce In Pursuit of Light: The Collection of Carol and Terry Wall, featuring an exceptional trio of paintings by John Singer Sargent that will highlight the 20th Century Evening Sale during the Fall Marquee Week of sales. The Sargents, alongside other exceptional works from the Walls' collection, will debut at Christie's Paris in tandem with the highly celebrated fall exhibition Sargent. The Paris Years opening at the Musee d'Orsay, following its acclaimed run as Sargent and Paris at The Metropolitan Museum of Art during the spring and summer in New York City. In total the three paintings are expected to achieve $12- 17 million.
Tylee Abbott, Head of Department, American Art, Christie's, comments, “Sargent was a master of Impressionism as reflected within the three stunning paintings featured in this collection. These works represent Sargent at his very best. 2025 marks a century since Sargent's passing, yet these works remain refreshingly modern with their unique perspective and attention to light in representing the iconic Italian destinations of Capri and Venice. This year also marks 100 years since Christie's represented Sargent's estate in our London salerooms in a landmark auction. We are honored and excited that the upcoming sale of the Wall's collection this fall will present collectors with one of the most special opportunities to acquire masterworks by Sargent ever since.”
Two of the works, executed approximately a decade apart, depict luminist views of Venice: Corner of the Church of San Stae, Venice (estimate: $6 – 8 million), and Gondolier's Siesta (estimate: $2 – 3 million). As it has for many great artists throughout history, including Sargent's friend and contemporary Claude Monet, Venice served as a constant source of inspiration for the painter, especially during the mature years of his life. Corner of the Church of San Stae, Venice, once owned by Henry Clay Frick, is a rare oil from this period and epitomizes Sargent's reverence for the city's unique light and architecture. Despite visiting over numerous years, Sargent completed only about a dozen oil paintings of the famous city. Gondolier's Siesta is a marvel of his mastery of the watercolor medium distinguished by Sargent's rare focus on a compelling figural group at the foreground of a Grand Canal vista.
The third work, Capri (estimate: $ 4 – 6 million) was painted in fall of 1878 when the artist was just 22, noteworthy in its dedication to an everyday subject, which Sargent turned to for personal fulfillment following success at the formal Paris Salon. Capri is almost identical to Capri Girl on a Rooftop, a work of the same subject in the Crystal Bridges Museum collection which was featured in The Met exhibition and will subsequently be on view at Musee d'Orsay. The work exemplifies this formative period in the American expatriate's career, as he transitioned from the Paris studio toward a career as an internationally renowned society painter. It depicts Rosina Ferrara, a model who famously became Sargent's muse during his time in Capri, dancing in a pose that anticipates his famed El Jaleo at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
In addition to these Sargent masterworks, the Wall Collection, presented under the title In Pursuit of Light, features several other noteworthy Impressionist paintings by American-born artists such as Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, Frederick Frieseke and William Merritt Chase.
Visuals
christie's new york presents property from the collection of the kawamura memorial dic museum of art
NEW YORK – Christie's is honored to announce Property from the Collection of the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, which will be presented as a highlight of Christie's Fall Marquee Week, taking place November 2025 at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The collection comes from one of the world's most historic private museums and is comprised of singular examples of Impressionist, Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary art by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, and Henry Moore, among many others. Eight masterpiece objects will be showcased as a dedicated group in the 20th Century Evening Sale, with additional works selling in the Impressionist and Modern Day and Post-War and Contemporary Art Day sales.
Consisting of superlative examples that trace the evolution of Modernism, the collection is indicative of the exceptional quality, connoisseurship, and global outlook of the Museum. The selection has underpinned one of Japan's foremost collections of Western art, as well as reflecting the ethos of the DIC Corporation. For decades, the artworks have been housed in the Museum's purpose-built base near Tokyo, bringing wonder and joy to visitors from Japan and around the world. The grouping encompasses the very finest in twentieth century art across an array of mediums and eras, presenting a rare opportunity for the most distinguished collectors.
Sara Friedlander, Christie's Deputy Chairman of Post-War and Contemporary Art, remarks: “It is a privilege for us to showcase this exceptional collection of artworks hailing from the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art in our November Marquee Week. With artwork of only the highest caliber, this esteemed collection is reflective of the Museum's rich and important history as a leading institution both in Japan and internationally. The breadth and scope of masterpieces featured in this collection is unparalleled, spanning the most important movements of art history throughout the 20th century, including best-in-class examples of portraiture, landscape, abstraction, and the avant-garde. We are delighted to offer our clients with this rare opportunity to acquire these works, all fresh-to-market, with truly exceptional provenance.”
Cyanne Chutkow, Christie's Deputy Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art, remarks: “We are deeply honored to present Claude Monet's Nymphéas this November — a flawless demonstration of the artist's unmatched ability to capture the essence of nature's atmospheric beauty. A jewel within the collection, this canvas — saturated with a myriad of colors: blues, greens, pinks, purples, and yellows — stands as a superb example from the Impressionist master's most prized series.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Baigneuse is a celebrated depiction of one of his most favored subjects — the female nude. Painted in 1891 with expressive brushwork and an Impressionist interplay of color and light, this canvas exemplifies the sensual beauty for which the artist is renowned.
The collection also features two arrestingly beautiful canvases by Marc Chagall. In his monumental, vibrantly colored 1966 work
Le songe du Roi David, the artist employs the scale of a grand history painting to enact his multi-figure magnum opus, a dreamscape centered around the pertinent figure of King David, a favored leitmotif of the artist. Painted in 1949,
Le soleil rouge offers a poetic vision of romantic love. We look forward to bringing these works to the market.”
