Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Phillips Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York 17 November



Monet and Mitchell: Alike in Difference

Claude Monet’s swan song, Joan Mitchell’s pivot, and the shared insights of two crucial masterworks.

Right: CLAUDE MONET, La Maison dans les roses, 1925. Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, New York.
Left: JOAN MITCHELL, Composition, 1965. Modern & Contemporary Art: Morning Session, New York.

Offered across Phillips’ upcoming Evening Sale and Morning Session in New York, works by Claude Monet and Joan Mitchell present a familiar area for comparison and consideration. These two artists — different in nationality, generation, and approach — shared a love for the same geography and a relentless pursuit of the boundaries of painting as an art form. This intriguing paradox has long been part of art world discourse, and in 2023 reached new heights in the exhibition Monet – Mitchell at Fondation Louis Vuitton. By hanging Claude Monet’s late Giverny works alongside Mitchell’s grand-scale canvases created in France, the exhibition foregrounded a historical continuity that critics and fellow artists had begun discussing as early as the 1950s. Then, as Monet’s critical revival was at its apex, Mitchell took part in exhibitions that compared the late artist’s work to the Abstract Expressionist movement of which Mitchell was a defining figure. Such comparisons deepened upon Mitchell’s relocation to France in 1959, and her later move to Vétheuil, near the home Monet once occupied. The exhibition didn’t treat Mitchell as a grand heir to Impressionism, nor did it argue Monet to be a progenitor of Abstract Expressionism, but it illuminated how both painters used their experience of landscape as a catalyst for profound invention — for Monet, the sensation of his beloved garden, and for Mitchell, the nuanced feeling of memory.

Claude Monet in his rose garden at Giverny, 1921.
Paris, Musée d'Orsay. Image: © Musée d'Orsay, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Alexis Brandt

Comparing Monet’s La Maison dans les roses (1925) and Mitchell’s Composition (1965) reveals the oblique structural resonance between the two. It also exemplifies the decisive conceptual rupture within what Clement Greenberg described as a lineage of “all-over” painting. Greenberg — observing that traditional Western easel painting was uniquely defined by its social function to hang on a wall, subordinating the decorative to the dramatic — argued that modernism in each art form advanced itself by self-critically isolating what was most unique and inherent to its respective medium. For him, the reduction of painting to a decentralized, flat, and polyphonic surface finds no greater early example than Monet’s final decade. Greenberg’s argument that Monet lays the groundwork for postwar abstraction does echo Mitchell’s own sentiments on the artist — she once explained, “I like late Monet, but not early” — though she later resisted the comparison, objecting less to its logic than to what she saw as the gendered implication that her work was somehow derivative.

Joan Mitchell © Marion Kalter. All rights reserved 2026 / Bridgeman Images

“I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me—and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves me with.”

—Joan Mitchell

CLAUDE MONET, La Maison dans les roses, 1925. Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, New York.

Nonetheless, Greenberg’s concept of an “all-over” painting is perhaps fully realized in this late Monet work, which art historian Daniel Wildenstein termed Monet’s “swan song” and a farewell to his beloved home and rose garden. Painted at Giverny during the summer of 1925, La Maison dans les roses stands among the final canvases Monet completed before his death in 1926. As the first and largest work of his second Maisons series, the work carries immense art historical importance, echoed by its cousins from the broader series being held in such notable collections as the Albertina, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Stedelijk, and Marmottan. The painting traces the fortunes of Monet’s failing and recovering vision following cataract surgeries, pushing the motif of his house framed by rich flora to the brink of the visible and redefining the art of painting along the way. As easy as it is to see how the central, expressive brushstrokes of Mitchell’s Composition can be seen to relate to the dense, interwoven brushstrokes saturating every square inch of La Maison dans les roses’ surface, it is just as important to understand that Mitchell arrived there through her own path.

JOAN MITCHELL, Composition, 1965. Modern & Contemporary Art: Morning Session, New York.

Exemplifying her landmark “Black Paintings” of the early 1960s, which marked a deliberate departure from the seamless fields of paint in her earlier works toward central masses of heavy, impasto paint, Composition sees Mitchell move beyond lyrical colorism to grapple with raw emotional states and heavy materiality. Yet the senses of both Monet and Mitchell were flooded with visions of a changing France when each artist executed their respective work forty years apart. Like Monet near the end of his life, Mitchell produced this work during a transformative period: in her case, following her permanent relocation to France in 1959, but predating her move to Vétheuil near the house where Monet once lived. And like the Monet, Composition is also significant within the context of her body of work, having been featured in her crucial posthumous solo exhibition at Robert Miller Gallery in 2002. It draws us in with tactile strokes of crimson, deep olive, and saturated blue clustered at the center of the canvas against an atmospheric misty white ground, which can almost be seen as intentionally defying Greenberg’s rhetoric of “all-over” painting. Yet still, the canvas eliminates illusionistic depth and rejects any narrative hierarchy. Seeing these two works together, we come to understand that such a modern decentralization in painting can accommodate both Monet’s immersive color fields and Mitchell’s own physical and emotional immediacy. It’s not that one follows the other — it’s that each lifts the other in historical context. 

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Brancusi: The Legacy, on November 18 at Bonhams

 

A collection of five bronzes by Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957), one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century, will be offered from a private collection in a dedicated single-owner sale, Brancusi: The Legacy, on November 18 at Bonhams U.S. flagship galleries at 111 West 57th Street, a museum-quality setting ideally suited to showcasing major works of modern and contemporary art. The sale will precede the auction house's 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale later that day.

Acquired directly from the artist's estate in the 1980s and 1990s, the five works have remained in the same private collection ever since and are now offered at auction for the first time. Spanning works Brancusi first conceived between 1917 and 1937, the collection brings together several of the artist's defining motifs, including the sleeping or disembodied head, the abstracted portrait, the fragmented torso and the animal form.

The bronzes were cast posthumously by the Susse Foundry between 1973 and 1991, from duplicates of Brancusi's original plasters, in numbered editions authorised by Alexandre Istrati (1915–1991) and Natalia Dumitresco (1915–1997). Appointed as Brancusi's sole universal legatees, the Romanian-born couple held the reproduction rights to his work, ensuring a clear and continuous line of authorization for these casts. They worked from a studio adjacent to Brancusi's own in Paris and remained his close companions in his final years.

Overall, the collection is expected to fetch $25 million.

"This collection offers an exceptionally eloquent survey of Brancusi's relentless pursuit of formal distillation," commented Ralph Taylor, Global Head of 20th and 21st Century Art at Bonhams. "Spanning two decades of his career, the group reveals a chronological breadth matched by its conceptual coherence. To present five works of this calibre together, offered at auction for the first time, is a rare opportunity for collectors, and a remarkable addition to what is already shaping up to be an exceptional season for Bonhams in New York."

Andrew Huber, U.S. Head of 20th and 21st Century Art, Bonhams added: "With MoMA's major Brancusi exhibition on view, there could not be a more fitting moment to bring this collection to market. Our flagship galleries offer an ideal setting for sculpture, allowing visitors to experience Brancusi's work just as the artist intended. Fittingly, our Post-War & Contemporary Art sale will also include paintings by Natalia Dumitresco and Alexandre Istrati, the artist's legatees, bringing their story full circle."

Leading the collection is Torse de jeune homme, conceived in plaster in 1922 and in bronze in 1924, offered with an estimate on request. One of Brancusi's few treatments of the male figure, the work reduces a youthful torso and legs to a set of simple, geometric volumes. The composition derives from Brancusi's earlier carving in the fork of a maple tree, its form translated into polished bronze.

Further works from the collection include:

• La jeune fille sophistiquée (Portrait de Nancy Cunard), conceived in plaster in 1928 and in bronze in 1932, estimated at $3,500,000 – 5,500,000. The work is a portrait of the British poet and publisher Nancy Cunard (1896–1965), whom Brancusi met in Paris in 1923.

• La Muse endormie II, conceived in alabaster in 1917 and in bronze in 1922, estimated at $3,000,000 – 5,000,000. The work is a later iteration of one of Brancusi's best-known subjects, the sleeping head, which he first developed from his 1908 portrait of Baroness Renée Frachon.

• Tête abstraite (Tête de femme), conceived in plaster in 1922, estimated at $3,000,000 – 5,000,000. The work is among the rarer subjects in the artist's oeuvre, with only one marble and one plaster version created during his lifetime.

• Tortue, conceived in wood in 1937 and in plaster circa 1943, estimated at $2,000,000 – 4,000,000. Depicting an abstracted turtle, the present work is considered among the last original designs of Brancusi's career.

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Monday, November 9, 2026

Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen

 Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) 

October 29, 2026 –February 28, 2027

The landmark exhibition brings together nearly 100 works from the Museum Berggruen and the Berggruen family collection, alongside select works from PAMM’s permanent collection, to present one of the most important European collections of twentieth-century Modern art ever assembled. It is among the first museum exhibitions in Miami centered on canonical European Modernism at this scale, and PAMM’s first exhibition devoted exclusively to Modern masterpieces.

The collection owes its name to the passionate art dealer, collector, and émigré Heinz Berggruen (1914–2007), who spent over four decades assembling masterworks by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque, and Paul Cézanne, among others. Born into a Jewish family in Berlin, Berggruen fled Nazi Germany to the United States in 1936 before eventually returning to Europe, where he developed enduring friendships with many of the twentieth century’s most influential artists. His collection reflects not only exceptional connoisseurship, but also a deeply personal vision shaped by exile, migration, and cultural exchange that defined the postwar period. Seen together, the works illuminate the artistic innovations of the 1900s while offering a powerful lens through which to understand the moments that shaped them.

“Presenting this exhibition at PAMM is both an institutional milestone and an opportunity to broaden access to some of the defining works of twentieth-century art,” said PAMM Associate Curator Maritza M. Lacayo. “By bringing the Museum Berggruen collection into conversation with works from PAMM’s permanent collection, we’ve created a presentation that reflects Miami’s unique cultural position while inviting audiences to experience these familiar masterpieces through new historical and geographic perspectives.”

Henri Matisse, Le cahier bleu (The Blue Portfolio), 1945. Courtesy Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. © 2026 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Jens Ziehe.
Paul Klee. Landschaft in Blau (Landscape in Blue), 1917.
Watercolor, pencil, pen, and ink on primed paper on cardboard. 11 1/5 x 13 x 1 3/4 inches overall. On long-term loan from the Berggruen family. Courtesy Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Photo: Dietmar Katz

This is the first time that PAMM has dedicated its largest galleries entirely to Modern art. Organized thematically around still life, portraiture, interiors, landscape, and the emergence of Cubism, the exhibition brings together painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, collage, and prints to reveal unexpected conversations across artists and movements. Rather than separating works by artist or chronology, the installation highlights shared artistic questions and formal innovations, encouraging visitors to encounter familiar masterpieces in new ways.

Alongside defining works of European Modernism are works from PAMM’s permanent collection of Latin American Modern masters—including Diego Rivera, Joaquín Torres-García, and Wifredo Lam. The presentation draws connections across Europe and the Americas, opening new dialogues around topics like exile and migration, themes that hold particular resonance in Miami and reinforce PAMM’s role as a place where global art histories can be experienced through contemporary perspectives.

Among the exhibition’s highlights are 


Pablo Picasso’s La Lecture (Woman Reading) (1953), which reflects the artist’s lifelong engagement with portraiture and the expressive possibilities of color and form; 


Portrait de Jaume Sabartés (Portrait of Jaume Sabartés) (1904), a celebrated example from Picasso’s Blue Period; 

Paul Klee’s luminous Landschaft in Blau (Landscape in Blue) (1917); (above)


Henri Matisse’s iconic cut-out Éléments végétaux (Vegetal Elements) (1947); 


Intérieur d’Atelier à Nice (In the Studio in Nice) (1929), one of Matisse’s celebrated studio interiors; 


Paul Cézanne’s Portrait de Madame Cézanne (Portrait of Madame Cézanne) (c. 1885); and Alberto Giacometti’s signature elongated sculptures, among many other masterworks spanning nearly a century of artistic innovation.

“One of the great strengths of this international tour is that each presentation is shaped by the context of its host institution. As the works travel in changing constellations and enter into new dialogues, they reveal connections across cultures, institutions, and histories,” said Museum Berggruen Curator Natalie Zimmer. “In this sense, the tour has become a kind of laboratory for seeing modern art differently—challenging established interpretations and opening the collection to new audiences and communities around the world. The interpretation at PAMM expands the conversation beyond European Modernism to broader histories of artistic exchange across the Americas. We are delighted to see Heinz Berggruen’s collection continue to resonate in new ways and to reach audiences in a city whose international character makes it an especially meaningful place for these stories to be told.”

Organization and Support

Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen is organized by the Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, and Pérez Art Museum Miami. The exhibition is co-curated by Natalie Zimmer, Curator, Museum Berggruen, and Maritza M. Lacayo, PAMM Associate Curator, with the support of Naomi Bitton, Curatorial Administrative Assistant.
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Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale November 17 Part II Georgia O'Keeffe Painting

 

Long-Lost Georgia O'Keeffe Painting—Recently Discovered in an East Village Closet—To Be Offered and Exhibited at Christie's New York

O'Keeffe's 1930 painting Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I (Estimate: In the Region of $3 million) will be offered during Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale on November 17 and can be seen by the public for the first time in a free exhibition at 20 Rockefeller Center from November 7-17

Long-Lost Georgia O'Keeffe Painting—Recently Discovered in an East Village Closet—To Be Offered and Exhibited at Christie's New York
Figure 1  Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I by Georgia O'Keeffe

NEW YORK— “Oh, by the way, there's a Georgia O'Keeffe in the closet.”

Those words—casually uttered recently by an “extremely private” and “incredibly accomplished” woman to a relative in her Manhattan apartment—led to the rediscovery of a long-lost Georgia O'Keeffe landscape that will now be seen publicly for the first time in at least three decades.

Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I (in the region of $3 million), a 1930 O'Keeffe painting depicting the New Mexico landscape that would occupy her artistic imagination for the rest of her storied career, will be presented as part of Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale in New York on November 17. The work will be a highlight of Christie's New York Marquee Week, which includes the collections of Clive Davis, Herbert Lust, Antonio Homem Sonnabend, and others.

The public can view the O'Keeffe and all works offered during Marquee Week in a free, public exhibition at Christie's New York at 20 Rockefeller Center from November 7 until November 17.

“This is a wonderful painting, a remarkable story, and extraordinary opportunity for collectors and the general public alike,” said Tylee Abbott, Senior Specialist and International Director of American Art at Christie's. “Rediscoveries are rare in the well-established market for academically researched and highly revered historic American artists. To uncover a seminal work, representative of this 20th Century master's deep personal engagement with the landscape, a pillar of her career, which is exquisitely rendered and well preserved, is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and absolutely thrilling.”

The Discovery

Earlier this year, the owner of the painting invited her niece to her East Village apartment to help go through her belongings and get her affairs in order. Her family—which requested anonymity—described the woman as “worldly,” “sophisticated,” “ultra intelligent,” “brave,” strong” and “independent.” They shared that she had lived an incredible life: graduating from several prestigious academic institutions, achieving the highest-ever score on the Civil Service Exam at the time, travelling widely as part of the Foreign Service with a fluency in at least four languages, and accomplished as a world-ranked bridge master.

Her niece also knew that she collected art, but she was shocked when her aunt casually mentioned that a work by one of the most celebrated artists in American history, Georgia O'Keeffe, was in her front closet.

Her niece dug through the front closet, where, behind dozens of coats, she found an old wooden box. Inside was the 10-inch x 24-inch work Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I, with the artist's “OK” signature on the original backboard.

It turned out the work had been a graduation gift to the owner when she earned her master's degree in the 1960s. Her mother purchased the painting for $3,800 on April 15, 1963, at The Downtown Gallery on 51st Street, O'Keeffe's dealer in Manhattan.

Hidden away and unlocated for decades, the painting only appears in an appendix of O'Keeffe's catalogue raisonné, as its existence was only known through a photograph of the work taken in 1931.

After she received the work as a gift, the woman hung it in her East Village apartment until the mid-1980s, when her family said their fiercely private aunt got nervous that a guest was “eyeing it a bit too closely” during a bridge game. She decided to place it back in its original box and store it safely in the closet, where it sat, in its original packing from the gallery, unknown to the rest of her family until she revealed its existence to her niece earlier this year. The woman passed away shortly afterward. Her niece sent photos of the work to Christie's via email.

After expert evaluation, Christie's will, with great excitement, include the long-lost work in its 20th Century Evening Sale in New York on November 17.  

The work's rediscovery is reminiscent of when the Christie's Online Estimate Tool led a Christie's specialist to discover a previously unknown and extremely rare Michelangelo drawing of a figure for the Sistine Chapel, which sold earlier this year at Christie's for $27.2 million.   

The Painting

Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I is an important early work by Georgia O'Keeffe, and likely the first iteration in a series of three works depicting Lobo Peak in New Mexico, north of Taos Pueblo. The second iteration is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the third is in a private collection and formerly in the collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller.

Like the very similar panorama in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I was painted the year after Georgia O'Keeffe's initial visit to the region in 1929, during which she became immediately enthralled with the distinct atmosphere, spiritual character, and seemingly endless vistas of the Southwestern landscape. From its expansive skies to its rolling hills, New Mexico quickly became one of the artist's favorite and most iconic subjects, which she frequently explored in her modern abstracted style, emphasizing its curving forms, bright sunlight and wide spectrum of color.

The painting is a distinctly modern vision of O'Keeffe's favorite place, which she continued to reimagine throughout her life. A precursor to her masterful late career landscapes and abstractions, the present work reflects an artist entranced,  at her best and most inspired, serially revisiting the peaks around her in reverence and awe. Dominated by undulating lines of earth tones and rich impasto, Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I places the viewer in direct communication with the landscape. The painting is an example of O'Keeffe's interest in New Mexico's captivating qualities of light and air that allow one to see vast distances very clearly when compared to the tight, bustling city of New York.

O'Keeffe was fascinated by this passage of hills, painting them in this series, and extolling this same view in a letter to her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. Transfixed by the scene, she wrote, “This is the Lobo Mountain...I want to paint this mountain—wanted to every year—but it is quite impossible.”

Almost 100 years after O'Keeffe made the impossible possible, the work will be seen by the public for the first time in decades, with an opportunity to give it a new chapter.  

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