Diego Rivera and the Construction of Modern Art in Mexico in the 20th Century

Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Caffarelli

June 9 – December 13, 2026

This exhibition is the largest showcase of Mexican art in Europe in recent decades and the first ever held in Italy dedicated to Diego Rivera. A journey through the colors of Mexico set against the magnificent backdrop of the Capitoline Museums—Villa Caffarelli—this intense retrospective is dedicated to the renowned Mexican painter and muralist. His work serves as a bridge between tradition and the future, creating a distinctive, autonomous visual language for modern Mexican art.

Alongside works by Diego Rivera, the exhibition presents masterpieces by extraordinary artists such as Frida Kahlo, José María Velasco, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, María Izquierdo, Tamayo, Lozano, Montenegro, Ruiz, Dr. Atl, Saturnino Herrán, and many others. The exhibition is further enriched by evocative videos and photographs, including images of Rivera captured by Tina Modotti.

This group of artists successfully wove together tradition, the avant-garde, and a plurality of aesthetic languages. The exhibition traces the genealogy of Mexican modernity, positioning Rivera at the heart of a visual and conceptual tapestry where academic training engages in dialogue with experimentation and a profound focus on the social realities of the time.

Through an extraordinary selection of over 140 works—thirty of which are by Diego Rivera—the exhibition reveals the complexity of a process rooted in the birth of independent Mexico in 1821. That era saw the emergence of a need for a cultural identity capable of representing a new, diverse, and constantly evolving nation. In this context, art becomes a privileged tool for visually shaping the face of Mexico, as well as a vehicle for cultural transformation projects that blend tradition and modernity, projecting a diverse and constantly evolving image onto the international stage.

During the first half of the 20th century, Mexican art redefined itself by creating a distinctly national language and iconography. Artistic practice turned its focus toward a fusion of pre-Columbian heritage, folk cultures, and the social imperatives that emerged in the post-revolutionary period. Within this framework, the visual arts played a decisive role in rebuilding the country’s social fabric, with the Muralist movement standing out as one of the most influential projects both nationally and internationally. Championed in 1921 by José Vasconcelos and solidified by artists José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera, Muralism helped democratize art and construct an epic narrative of Mexican history—one in which the people, workers, and peasants took center stage. The result was a new national iconography that spoke to communities and public spaces while redefining the artist's social role.

The exhibition is organized into four thematic sections:

Academy and Tradition – Rivera’s Training: explores the engagement with 19th-century legacies and the lineage of the craft—spanning academies and fine arts schools—to understand the technical and cultural roots of Mexican modernity.

The Contribution of Diego Rivera and Mexico to European Avant-Gardes – The European Years: focuses on dialogues with Cubism and the avant-garde, as well as the original contribution Mexican artists made to the international scene through a new visual syntax.

The Mexican Cultural Renaissance: analyzes the post-Revolutionary era, when visual arts, literature, architecture, and music converged to define a modern national identity, blending pre-Columbian heritage, folk traditions, and social imperatives. Beyond Social Realism:examines the dissemination of models and ideas beyond the canons of Muralism, moving toward explorations that expand the lexicon of modern Mexican art and attest to its enduring vitality.

Each section brings together emblematic works from the 19th and 20th centuries, accompanied by critical essays from distinguished art historians featured in the exhibition catalogue, published by Gangemi Editore.

IMAGES

Diego Rivera (1886–1957) Seated Woman with Flowers, 1944, oil on canvas, 118 x 150 cm, Mexico City, BBVA Mexico Art Collection, inv. CCB062 © Banco de México

Diego Rivera (1886-1957) Adoración de la Virgen Adorazione della Vergine 1912-1913 olio su tela, 151 x 122 cm Città del Messico, Colección Manuel Reyero © Banco de México

Diego Rivera (1886–1957), Self-Portrait, 1906, oil on canvas, 54.1 x 53 cm. Culiacán (Mexico), Museo de Arte de Sinaloa Collection. Sinaloa Institute of Culture. Government of Sinaloa, inv. D-7300 © Banco de México

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) Still Life with Parrot and Flag, 1951, oil on Masonite, 28 x 40 cm, Mexico City, private collection, courtesy AC Associates © Banco de México

Monet’s Coast: The Discovery of Étretat

Städel Museum

19 March to 5 July 2026 

The coastal town of Étretat has attained legendary status—and continues to fascinate to this day. Located on the Atlantic coast of Normandy, the cliffs of Étretat captivated numerous artists during the 19th century. From 19 March to 5 July 2026, the Städel Museum is presenting a major exhibition on the artistic discovery of this former fishing village and its influence on modern painting. On display in Frankfurt are around 170 outstanding paintings, drawings, photographs, and historical documents from leading French, German, and other international museums as well as private collections—including 24 works by Claude Monet alone.

Étretat played a significant role in the emergence of a new style of painting that went down in art history as Impressionism. Artists were particularly drawn to the distinctive cliff landscape, which was perceived as both breathtakingly beautiful and menacing. Painters and writers traveled to Étretat, making the remote location famous far beyond France’s borders through their work. With the rise of tourism around 1850, Étretat developed into a popular seaside resort and a meeting place for artists, intellectuals, and the Parisian bourgeoisie: Gustave Courbet painted his famous wave pictures here, Guy de Maupassant elevated Étretat in literature to a place of longing, and the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin—Maurice Leblanc’s fictional character—stashed his art treasures there. The up-and-coming painter Claude Monet was also so fascinated by the unique sheer cliffs and their three natural arches—the Porte d’Amont, the Porte d’Aval, and the Manneporte—that he dedicated numerous paintings to them. Inspired by the constantly changing light and weather conditions, Monet began painting series of the same motif in Étretat—a working method that would later become his trademark.

In addition to works by Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, and Henri Matisse, the exhibition brings together a multitude of other significant figures in modern and contemporary art—ranging from Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and Eugène Le Poittevin, through Camille Corot and Eugène Boudin, to Elger Esser. Collectively, the works illustrate the enduring fascination this place continues to exert to this day. Loans have been secured from institutions including the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum, emphasizes: “With our major special exhibition in the spring of 2026, we are dedicating ourselves for the first time to the emergence of the Étretat myth. This coastal town, with its striking rock arches and unique light, has captivated artists since the 19th century and has lost none of its allure. It was in Étretat that Claude Monet developed his famous series of paintings, which played a decisive role in shaping Impressionism. We are particularly proud that two outstanding works from the Städel collection—created in Étretat—form the starting point of the exhibition: Monet’s *Luncheon* and Gustave Courbet’s *The Wave*.

“Claude Monet and the artists featured in this exhibition were travelers who captured the unique character of the coastal region around Étretat in their art. Travel and art connect and inspire people, while fostering the international exchange of knowledge and innovation. Connecting people worldwide is a key priority for us at Fraport AG. Our long-standing partnership with the Städel Museum embodies this commitment and reflects our aim to strengthen cultural dialogue. In this exhibition, we see these goals realized to a remarkable degree...”

CHRONOLOGY

Around 1786

The first known depictions of Étretat come from Alexandre Jean Noël (1752–1834). They were probably commissioned by an oyster farmer to advertise his business.

Around 1820-1822

Eugène Isabey (1803–1886), a representative of romantic landscape painting, was the first artist to stay in the village for a longer period of time. He is hosted by a former navy captain.

1822

The first French seaside resort opens in Dieppe. This is followed by Veules-les-Roses in 1830, Étretat in 1840 and Le Tréport in 1851. Bathing in the sea at this time is said to relieve various ailments.

In Étretat, the patients visit the Duchemin bathing establishment, where fishermen act as so-called “guide-baigneurs” and assist the bathers.

1823-1825

The richly illustrated travel report Excursion sur les côtes et dans les ports de Normandie with a text by Noël Jacques Lefebvre-Duruflé (1792–1877) is published. Among the numerous views of Norman places there are also such Étretats, which means that depictions of the village spread early on.

Around 1831

The painter Eugène Le Poittevin (1806–1870) comes to Étretat for the first time. In the following years he had a villa and a studio built by the sea. The sea, the fishermen and their families, but also the bathers become the central themes of his paintings. These are regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon. Local motifs—such as huts fashioned from retired ship hulls (*caloges*) and the winches used to haul fishing boats ashore (*cabestans*)—begin to appear in art.

1835

The writer Victor Hugo (1802–1885) travels to Normandy during the summer months and visits Étretat. Drawings in his travel journal bear witness to his fascination with the cliff landscape.

1836

The novel *Le Chemin le plus court* (The Shortest Way) by Alphonse Karr (1808–1890) is published. With its descriptions of Étretat’s unique landscape and local customs, the book contributes to the village's growing renown.

1838

One of the first travelogues about Étretat is published: *Reise und Rasttage in der Normandie* (Travel and Rest Days in Normandy), written by the German journalist and politician Jakob Venedey (1805–1871).

Construction begins on the first proper road between Étretat and Le Havre; it is completed in 1852. At this time, the journey from Paris to Étretat by stagecoach still takes at least two days.

1842

Le Poittevin paints a sign for the façade of the Hôtel Blanquet. Later, the façade is also adorned with a faience medallion by Théodore Deck (1823–1891) depicting the writer Alphonse Karr. In 1837, the village's only hotel for many years had adopted the additional name "Au rendezvous des artistes" (Meeting Place for Artists). Over the decades, it hosts many artists, including Claude Monet and Henri Matisse.

1850s

The first photographic views of Étretat are created.

1852

Inauguration of the casino, which attracts a fashionable clientele and becomes a social hub.

1858

The composer Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) achieves enormous success with Orpheus in the Underworld: The triumph of his opera buffa enables him to have the Villa Orphée built in Étretat. There, he hosts lavish parties in the following years.

Around 1860

The writer Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) spends his childhood and youth with his mother in Étretat after his parents' separation. Normandy and the lives of its inhabitants are a major source of inspiration for his work. The beach is divided between bathers and fishermen, which significantly reduces the fishermen's working space.

1864

Claude Monet (1840–1926) paints the landscape of Étretat for the first time.

1868/69

Monet stays in Étretat again, this time with his wife Camille and their young son Jean. He paints The Luncheon as well as the painting The Magpie.

1869

Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) moves into Le Poittevin's former studio on the beach to paint The Cliff at Étretat After the Storm and his series of waves. Maupassant later recounts this in "La vie d’un paysagiste" (1886; The Life of a Landscape Painter).

1872

The painter Camille Corot (1796–1875) stays in Étretat with the family of the businessman François Stumpf, who collects his works.

1874

The first Impressionist exhibition takes place in the former studio of the photographer Nadar on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. Monet exhibits his painting The Luncheon, created in Étretat.

1877

At the request of the writer Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), who is working on his novel Bouvard and Pécuchet at the time, Maupassant describes in a letter dated November 3rd [describing] the Normandy coast. These six pages also contain sketches of the coast near Étretat.

1882

Maupassant has the house "La Guillette" built. There, he entertains friends and hosts parties.

1883

Between 1883 and 1886, Monet stays in Étretat every year; it is here that he paints his first series of works based on a single subject. Maupassant publishes his novel *A Life* (*Une vie*) in the newspaper *Gil Blas*.

Like many of his short stories, the novel—which becomes an immediate success—is set in the Pays de Caux region and Étretat.

1885

Monet leaves behind two paintings executed on doors at the "Hostellerie des Vieux Plats." Located just a few kilometers from Étretat in Gonneville-la-Mallet, this inn is a gathering place for artists, intellectuals, politicians, and tourists. The proprietor, Edmond Aubourg, has a habit of asking visiting artists to paint the doors of the region's characteristic wardrobes in exchange for a meal. Monet's paintings are later sold by the owners.

1886

Monet's final stay in Étretat.

1895

The railway line is extended from Les Ifs to Étretat, connecting the town to the Saint-Lazare station in Paris and reducing the travel time to just four hours.

1899

The painter Félix Vallotton (1865–1925) rents the Château de Grandval in Étretat and spends the entire summer there. It serves as the honeymoon for him and his wife, Gabrielle (née Bernheim). Vallotton takes photographs of life on the beach, which he uses as reference material for his paintings. The Swiss painter Sophie Schaeppi (1852–1921) is staying in Étretat and producing oil sketches and drawings.

Around 1900

The Alabaster Coast (Côte d’Albâtre) receives its name. As with other French coastal regions—such as the Côte d’Azur, the Côte d’Émeraude, and the Côte d’Argent—the name, originally coined by writers or artists, is adopted for tourism purposes.

1908

The golf course, which still exists today, is laid out.

1908/09

The novel *Arsène Lupin and the Hollow Needle* (*L’Aiguille creuse*) by Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) is published—

initially as a serial in the magazine *Je sais tout*, and then in its entirety in 1909. In the novel, the rock needle at Étretat serves as the hiding place for Lupin’s loot. Leblanc wrote the majority of the Arsène Lupin series in his home in Étretat, which he named "Clos Lupin." Today, the house is home to the "Maison d’écrivain" (Writers' House museum), established in honor of the author and his protagonist.

1920

The painter Henri Matisse (1869–1954) spends two periods in Étretat during the summer. He produces a substantial body of paintings and drawings, which he successfully sells.

WALL TEXTS

Monet in Normandy

Claude Monet’s work is defined by a profound connection to Normandy. He spent his childhood there and developed his Impressionist style while living and working in various locations across the region. He was particularly captivated by the rugged coastline—the sea, wind, and waves. Between 1864 and 1886, Monet frequently painted in northern Normandy along the "Alabaster Coast" (Côte d'Albâtre) between Le Havre and Dieppe, in towns such as Fécamp, Pourville, and Varengeville. However, the majority of his works were created in Étretat; with around 80 paintings and pastels, the fishing village holds a prominent place in his body of work. He was particularly captivated by the dramatic cliff formations—the natural rock arches known as Porte d’Amont, Porte d’Aval, and Manneporte, as well as the needle-like rock formation, the Aiguille. Monet studied these features under varying light and weather conditions, experimenting with an early form of serial work that would later become a defining characteristic of his painting style. Monet’s images are perhaps the most famous depictions of Étretat; however, they cannot be viewed in isolation from the many artists who had already discovered the location as early as the beginning of the 19th century.

Étretat’s Path into Art

A lack of roads, a perilous sea, and a bay without a harbor long kept Étretat largely isolated. It was not until the influence of the Enlightenment in the 18th century that scientific fields such as geology and oceanography began to take a descriptive and analytical interest in this Atlantic region. Shortly thereafter, Romantic painters and writers discovered the allure of the wild coastline. The theory popularized at the time by the English philosopher Edmund Burke also began to exert influence: humans must overcome the terror inspired by the forces of nature in order to experience the sublime. Consequently, people began seeking out the awe-inspiring thrill provided by the sea and the coast.

A depiction of Étretat by Alexandre Jean Noël, created as early as 1786, served to promote the oyster farming industry that had been briefly established there. It was not until the 1820s that artists began to settle in the town. Among the pioneers was the marine painter Eugène Isabey, who created atmospheric watercolors of striking motifs to serve as the basis for his larger paintings. Johann Wilhelm Schirmer arrived from Germany at an early stage; his precise oil studies—rooted in the direct observation of nature—introduced the practice of *plein-air* (open-air) painting into the landscape art curriculum at the Düsseldorf Academy. At the same time, the first literary descriptions and illustrated guidebooks appear, making Étretat known beyond the region.

Courbet’s Stay in Étretat

For Gustave Courbet, commercial success with his "seascapes" began in 1865. This prompted him to spend time in the late summer of 1869 in Étretat, which had by then transformed into a fashionable seaside resort. He took up a studio located right on the beach. In mid-September, Courbet witnessed a violent storm battering the English Channel coast—an event that served as the starting point for some 20 paintings featuring two motifs: *The Cliffs After the Storm* and *The Wave*. In these imposing depictions of nature, Courbet eschews narrative or representational elements—and omits the human figure entirely. He does not aim for the closest possible imitation of reality; instead, he consciously constructs an artistic reality. He alters the pictorial space through shifts in perspective or subjects the landscape to strong geometric stylization. In certain areas, Courbet applied the oil paint to the canvas using a spatula-like palette knife. Water, sky and rocks appear to be made of dense matter. At the Paris Salon of 1870, Courbet celebrated unprecedented success with the large-format versions of both motifs. Later artists - including Claude Monet - would measure themselves against Courbet's works.

IMAGES

Claude Monet

Étretat. The rock needle and the rock gate of Aval, 1885

Oil on canvas, 65.1 x 81.3 cm

Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1933 Photo © The Clark Art Institute

Claude Monet

Stormy sea near Étretat, 1883

Oil on canvas, 81.4 x 100.4 cm

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Photo © Lyon MBA – Photo Martial Couderette

Claude Monet

Cliffs of Aval, 1885

Oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm Photo © Hasso Plattner Collection

Claude Monet

Étretat. The Manneporte, 1885/86

Oil on canvas, 81.3 x 65.4 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Bequest of Lillie P. Bliss, 1931

© bpk | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Eugene Delacroix

Étretat. The Porte d’Aval, around 1840 or 1846

Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper, 15 x 20 cm

Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, legs Michel Monet, 1966. Inv. 5034 © Musée Marmottan Monet

Eugene Le Poittevin

Moving a boat. Memories of the beach at Étretat, 1856 Oil on canvas, 70.1 x 116.4 cm

Private collection

Photo © Ader, Paris

Claude Monet

Luncheon 1868/69

Oil on canvas, 231.5 x 151.5 cm

Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, property of the Städelschen Museums-Verein e.V.

Eugene Le Poittevin

Seaside resort in Étretat, 1866

Oil on canvas, 66.5 x 152cm

Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, Troyes Photo © Carole Bell, Ville de Troyes

Gustave Courbet

The Wave, 1869

Oil on canvas, 65.6 x 92.4 cm

Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, property of the Städelschen Museums-Verein e.V.

Gustave Courbet

Rocks of Étretat, around 1869/70

Oil on canvas, 66 x 82 cm

State Museums in Berlin, National Gallery © bpk / Nationalgalerie, SMB / Jörg P. Anders

Claude Monet

Rough Seas, 1881

Oil on canvas, 60 x 73.7 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Photo © MBAC

Gustave Caillebotte

Man in a work coat (also: Père Magloire on the Chemin de Saint-Clair in Étretat), 1884 oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm

Private collection

© Bridgeman Images

Jean Francis Auburtin

The roadstead in front of Étretat with a view of the Chambre des Demoiselles, around 1898/99 gouache on paper, 51 x 67.5 cm

Private collection

Photo © Lyon MBA - Photo Alberto Ricci

Felix Vallotton

July 14th in Étretat, 1899

Oil on cardboard, 47 x 60 cm

Private collection

Photo © Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausannene

Anonymous

Painter on the beach at Étretat, around 1900

Gelatin silver print, 16.7 x 21.8 cm (print), 21.2 x 27.4 cm (cardboard) Collection Pascal Servain, Fécamp

Photo © Collection Pascal Servain

Henri Matisse
Étretat. The washerwomen, 1920
Oil on canvas, 54 x 65.4 cm
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Photo © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Sotheby's Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection 24 June 2026 Part III

Part I

Part II

 Last month, Sotheby’s shared the news that it would bring to market a group of masterpieces from the legendary Lewis Collection. Since then, some ten works – each one exceptional in its own right – have been revealed, including paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Gustave Caillebotte, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Chaïm Soutine. 

This landmark offering is led by a sensuous nude by Amedeo Modigliani (estimated in excess of £45 million) which ranks among the most important examples of the artist’s work ever to come to market. Painted in 1917, Nu assis au collier belongs to a series of works now widely regarded as pivotal in the evolution of modern art, but considered so outrageous at the time the exhibition in which they featured was shut down by the police. Modigliani is one of a rare coterie of artists to have broken the $100 million threshold at auction, not just once but twice – each time for a work from this series, and each time in New York. Now, with this sale, the mantle passes to London, where this painting represents not only one of the highest value works of any kind ever offered in the city, but also the highest value work by Modigliani ever to be offered in Europe. In this ground-breaking painting, Modigliani reinvents the tradition of the nude – a tradition marked most notably by the work of Rubens, Velázquez, Titian and, not least, Manet’s Olympia – in a way so radical it shook the foundations of art history. 

Some 80 years later, Lucian Freud took that reinvention one step further, breaking new ground with the four seminal portraits of ‘benefits supervisor’ Sue Tilley, described by art critic and historian Sebastian Smee as “among the most exciting and unprecedented paintings of the human figure in the history of art.” The final, and most ambitious of the works in that series – Sleeping by the Lion Carpet (est. £25-35m) – will also feature in the June sale. 

A further star work in the collection, Edgar Degas’ Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans (est. £18-25m) marks another of these radical moments. While Modigliani’s 1917 exhibition was considered so scandalous the police were called in, this extraordinary sculpture by Degas – with its real hair, dressed in a tutu and real dancing shoes – was considered at the time so shockingly realistic it was vilified: “Can art descend any lower?” asked one critic, describing the dancer as full of ‘bestial effrontery’’, while others called her ‘hideously ugly’. Now considered one of the icons of modern art, Degas’ ‘little rat’ is – in spite of the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with the medium – the only sculpture exhibited in his lifetime. Of the 27 casts produced of this work, the vast majority now reside in international museums. These iconic sculptures are even rarer on the market – aside from this, only four other example have ever appeared at auction. 

A suite of seven works by Pablo Picasso, spanning eight full decades of the artist’s long and varied career. The group is led by a highly unusual and evocative portrait of Dora Maar, the vibrant, fiercely independent artist who first attracted his attention by playing ‘knife roulette’ between her splayed fingers on an adjacent table at Les Deux Magots, and who, in addition to becoming Picasso’s muse and lover, also became his indispensable intellectual and artistic sparring partner. Given both the provocative nature of their relationship and the tumultuous backdrop against which it unfolded (the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War), the vast majority of Picasso’s renditions of Dora Maar are angular and jagged in form. The work to be offered this June, unseen until now for over half a century, is a rare example of something quite different – a generous, sweepingly lyrical rendition of the Dora Maar with whom, in 1938 when this work was painted, Picasso was still entirely besotted.

Buste de femme (est. £12–18m) will be presented alongside Tête de femme (est. £2–3m), a monumental work on paper from 1921 depicting Picasso’s first wife Olga Khokhlova. Produced during the years following the First World War, the work hails from Picasso’s Neoclassical period, part of the broader cultural reckoning known as the Return to Order. Among other works by Picasso to be offered this June is one of the earliest fully realised portraits by the artist ever to come to market, painted when he was just seventeen and already displaying his abundant precocious talent. 

AMEDEO MODIGLIANI Nu assis au collier 1917-18, oil on canvas Estimate: In excess of £45 million 

One of the greatest works by Modigliani ever to appear on the market, Nu assis au collier belongs to a pivotal moment in the artist’s career: 1917, the year of his first and only lifetime solo exhibition at Berthe Weill’s gallery on the rue Taitbout in Paris – a shortlived but infamous presentation that scandalised Parisian society and was closed by police on its opening day. The legendary nudes in the show are the works for which the Italian artist is today best known. The two highest-achieving works by the artist at auction – both titled Nu couché – were painted in that same year (selling for $170.4 million and $157.2 million in 2015 and 2018, respectively), underscoring the exceptional importance of this moment within his oeuvre. Last offered at auction in 1995, and unseen in Europe since 1938, the work emerges from the long tradition of the nude in Western art, tracing a lineage from Titian’s Venus of Urbino to Manet’s Olympia. With this series, Modigliani firmly positioned himself within that canon, reimagining it for a modern audience. 

Leopold Zborowski, Modigliani’s dealer, offered the artist a stipend of 15 francs a day in 1917 to paint a series of nudes. With this sum Modigliani created several of the most arresting paintings in the history of art, reimagining the nude for the Modern era, including Nu assis au collier. The artist’s models were paid five francs to pose in an apartment just above Zborowksi’s own at 3 rue Joseph Bara, tucked between the Cimetière du Montparnasse and the Jardin du Luxembourg. 

Just as Manet had confounded contemporary audiences of the previous generation with his Olympia, Modigliani’s provocatively modern take on the timeless subject of the reclining female nude would have a profound impact on twentieth century art. Where Manet’s figure confronts the viewer directly, Modigliani’s model turns inward. Seated in a pose that knowingly echoes the Venus pudica of classical antiquity, and wearing a coral necklace reminiscent of those worn in the Italian Renaissance portraits that Modigliani so admired, Nu assis au collier is a timeless fusion of ancient tradition and Modernist innovation. The work combines the influence of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist painting, of African carvings and the earth-toned palette and geometric modelling of Cubism, to unique effect. With her elongated form and averted gaze, Modigliani’s anonymous sitter feels both classical and deeply personal and intimate – she lifts one hand to her necklace, while the other rests between her legs in a gesture that is at once protective and provocative. Ultimately, her nudity is self-assured and proud, not cloaked in myth or allegory. 

Modigliani died in 1920 at just 35, from tubercular meningitis, followed by his pregnant partner Jeanne Hébuterne dying the next day. The tragedy of the artist’s life has become inseparable from the perception of his oeuvre, and the notoriety surrounding the enforced closure of the infamous 1917 exhibition played an important role in establishing the “myth of Modigliani.” The strength of reaction to his now-celebrated nudes was indicative of their central role in establishing him as one of the great voices in the history of twentieth century art. 

Nu assis au collier has been exhibited in major exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among others. “‘Nu assis au collier’ is a cornerstone within Modigliani’s celebrated series of nudes, distinguished by its restraint and psychological depth and – quite frankly – by its audaciousness. As restrained as she seems on the surface, this ‘modern-day Olympia’ nonetheless had the power to upturn tradition, causing a sensation. 

EDGAS DEGAS Petite danseuse de quatorze ans Conceived in wax circa 1879-81; cast in bronze from 1922 Estimate: £18–25 million 

Although approximately 150 sculptures in varying states of repair were found in Degas’s studio after his death in 1917, only one sculpture had been exhibited during his lifetime – the Petite danseuse de quatorze ans. The artist’s most ambitious and important sculpture, the work depicts Marie van Goethem, one of the ballet students at the Paris Opéra, or ‘little rats’, as they were known. These young dancers were a constant source of fascination for Degas, who – in his renderings – evokes not only the time-honoured elegance of ballet dancers, but also the relentless work and physical strain that their work demanded. When the wax model for this piece was first seen in Paris in 1881 during the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition, audiences were shocked by its realism, and it was at once acclaimed for its modernity and chastised for its realism and perceived vulgarity. 

Degas’ unconventional use of materials also caused a stir: using a wire armature for the body and hemp for the arms and hands, he dressed the figure in real silk, tulle and gauze. The wig, meanwhile, came from Madame Cusset, supplier of ‘hair for puppets and dolls’. Now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., a part of the Mellon collection, the wax model for this work was found in Degas’s studio following his death in 1917 and cast in bronze from 1922. The collection also includes La Loge, a pastel by Degas completed in 1880 that is distinct from any previous image of the theatre the artist had yet created (est. £3-4 million). Unveiled at the Fifth Impressionist Exhibition, the work can be seen as an entirely new kind of portrait, focused on a modern individual in her modern surroundings, and depicted in a resolutely modern way. The artist’s detached view of a solitary human figure, seen from a low vantage point, caught the eye of nineteenth-century critic Charles Ephrussi: “The impression is strange, but captured with great accuracy”. 

PABLO PICASSO Buste de femme 1938, oil on paper laid down on canvas Estimate: £12–18 million 

Not seen in public for over half a century, Buste de femme is among the finest of Picasso’s celebrated series of portraits of Dora Maar, his lover and artistic companion in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In contrast to Picasso’s later distortions of Dora’s features, the work ranks as one of the artist’s more reverent and affectionate portrayals of the woman whose startling beauty and fierce intelligence was to inspire the creation of some of the greatest portraits of the artist’s career. Picasso’s affair with Maar was a partnership of intellectual exchange and intense passion. Maar, a talented artist and photographer closely associated with the Surrealist movement, first met Picasso early in 1936 while he was still married to Olga Khokhlova and involved in an illicit affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter. Unlike MarieThérèse, whose golden beauty had dominated Picasso’s subject matter in the previous decade, Maar spoke Picasso’s native Spanish, and shared his intellectual and political concerns. She even assisted with the execution of the monumental Guernica. Throughout their time together, Picasso would depict her in a variety of ways, from the monstrous character of the weeping women series to the vibrant and dignified depictions such as Buste de femme. 

The most symbolic element of the sitter’s wardrobe in this picture is the hat, Maar’s most famous accessory and signifier of her involvement in the Surrealist movement. In 1937 the critic Paul Éluard wrote about the symbolism of the hat, explaining its fetishistic importance within the Surrealist movement and shedding light on its role in Picasso’s paintings: “Among the objects tangled in the web of life, the female hat is one of those that require the most insight, the most audacity. A head must dare to wear a crown.”

RENÉ MAGRITTE La Belle promenade 1965, gouache on paper Estimate: £3–4 million  

La Belle promenade features the instantly recognisable image of the bowler-hatted man – not only the most iconic motif in Magritte’s oeuvre, but arguably one of the defining images of twentieth century Western art. In his works from the 1960s, Magritte reduced the man to a silhouette; by this point in his career, the image had become widely recognisable and a recurring stand-in for the artist himself. Executed in gouache – a medium he often used to revisit and distill key motifs – the work was last exhibited more than half a century ago. Only three significant bowler-hatted images have come to auction in the last decade.

MAX BECKMANN Stillleben mit Grammophon und Schwertlilien (Still Life with Gramophone and Irises) 1924, oil on canvas Estimate: £3–4 million

 Stillleben mit Grammophon und Schwertlilien is an exceptional painting from Max Beckmann’s formative years in Frankfurt in the 1920s when he was recuperating from the trauma he experienced during the First World War. Painted in 1924, it is the first in an important series of mysterious and complex allegorical still-life paintings that the artist was to make throughout his career. Depicting a sequence of objects arranged at convoluted angles and on the verge of collapse, the work expresses Beckmann’s anger and pessimism towards Germany’s impoverished state. The masked figure of the woman serves not only to disguise her identity (she may be his mistress or his wife), but also to signify – together with the mirror reflection – illusion and artifice. The collection includes Artisten, a further work by Beckmann, painted in 1948, in which an ageing clown and a young snake charmer serve as proxies for the artist and his wife navigating their American exile (est. £2-3 million). Formerly in the celebrated Thyssen-Bornemisza collection and exhibited in Beckmann: Exile Figures (2018), the work was first owned by the American collector Morton D. May, an early patron of the artist. 

FRANCIS BACON Study for Portrait 1976, oil on canvas Estimate: £3–4 million 

Executed in 1976, Study for Portrait was painted in the shadow of Francis Bacon’s partner George Dyer’s death in 1971. It belongs to a pivotal group of works shown at Galerie Claude Bernard in 1977 – widely considered the most important exhibition of the artist’s career. An exemplary “head,” the painting fuses the features of Bacon’s close circle – most notably Henrietta Moraes – into a single, unstable presence. Constructed from memory and photographic source rather than direct observation, the face feels at once specific and elusive. A stark black circle, likely traced from a paint lid in the artist’s studio, frames a miniature self-portrait, inserting Bacon into the composition. 

PABLO PICASSO Tête de femme 1921, pastel on paper mounted on board Estimate: £2–3 million 

The monumental Tête de femme is one of five portrait heads executed in 1921 that relate directly to one of Picasso’s most iconic Neoclassical paintings of the period, Trois femmes à la fontaine. In the early 1920s, in the wake of the First World War, the artist took the features of his wife, Olga Khokhlova, as his subject and inspiration and an embodiment of the Classical ideal. Always at the forefront – if not leading – the prevailing zeitgeist of any given period throughout his career, Picasso forged a uniquely modern take on Neoclassicism amid the broad cultural reckoning known as the rappel à l’ordre, or call to order. Picasso’s style and preoccupations often changed in response to the circumstances around him, most particularly, to the ravages of war-torn Europe – an artistic reckoning that would have chimed deeply with the Lewises. Tête de femme is one of just two pastel heads from this group of five to remain in private hands. 

PABLO PICASSO Angel Fernández de Soto circa 1899, oil on canvas Estimate: £1.5–2 million 

  Picasso was just 17 years old when he painted this early masterpiece – among the earliest fully realised portraits by the artist to ever come to market. It is a rarity amongst the portraits of his peers, most of which were drawings on paper rather than oil paintings. The sitter is Àngel Fernández de Soto – nicknamed “Patas” by Picasso – a spice merchant’s clerk who picked up extra money as a theatre extra. Both men were part of the Els Quatre Gats circle, a Barcelona café that brought together Catalan artists, bohemians and young intellectuals. The brooding mood anticipates the Blue Period, still two years away, a transition that would be hastened by the suicide of Picasso’s closest friend in 1901. Soto sat for Picasso again at the height of that period, resulting in the 1903 painting Portrait of Àngel Fernández de Soto, also known as The Absinthe Drinker – the same face, now carrying a far heavier expression. Soto was killed in the Spanish Civil War in 1938. 

HENRI MATISSE Lydia (Étude pour ‘Portrait au manteau bleu’) 1935, charcoal on paper Estimate: £1.5–2 million

The 1930s were pivotal years for Matisse, when he refined his focus on the human form. During this period, the artist’s drawings take on a new dimension as he pursued a synthesis between line and ‘colour’, producing works of striking sensuality and sculptural presence, saturating the paper with richly shaded charcoal, and creating deep, textural layers through repeated drawing, rubbing and erasure. Acquired by the Lewises some three decades ago, this drawing is a key preparatory study for the artist’s celebrated painting Portrait au manteau bleu (1935) depicting Lydia Delectorskaya, who in the 1930s became Matisse’s devoted muse, assistant and companion of many years. 1

Sotheby's Old Master & 19th Century Paintings and Sculpture Evening Auction 1 July 2026

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli, and Associate

The Virgin and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist

Estimate:

2,000,000 - 3,000,000 GBP

Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Village scene with peasants carousing and dancing around a maypole

Estimate:

2,500,000 - 3,500,000 GBP

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

“Let The Little Children Come Unto Me”

Estimate:

8,000,000 - 12,000,000 GBP

Paulus Pietersz. Potter

Landscape with livestock and a milkmaid

Estimate:

2,000,000 - 3,000,000 GBP

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, R.A.

Scene in Braemar – Highland Deer

Estimate:

3,000,000 - 4,000,000 GBP 

Jasper Johns Night Driver

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

May 29 – October 12, 2026 

 Flags, targets, numbers, and letters are the motifs that run through Jasper Johns’s work, often in variations, and for which he is generally renowned. In his oeuvre, the American artist explores the painterly process and the nature of representation. On the one hand, he is indebted to the great masters of art history; on the other, he questions and challenges these, dissociating himself from tradition and from the dominant trend of his time, Abstract Expressionism. In this sense, he is a key figure in the birth of movements such as Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art, that transcended the subjectivity and individualism that prevailed in the 1950s. 

The show takes us on a journey through a critical period in art, spanning the seven decades of work of a quintessential artist of the second half of the twentieth century, whose oeuvre is at once deeply plastic and essentially intellectual. Johns’s creations combine the mundane and the sublime, life and death, criticism and humor, anatomy and the cosmos, play and reflection, seeking to activate the gaze of the viewer. 

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Jasper Johns: Night Driver , an ambitious retrospective dedicated to one of the most celebrated artists of our time. The exhibition is sponsored by the BBVA Foundation, a Strategic Trustee of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao since 1997. Night Driver takes is entitled after a 1960 drawing by Johns, described by the artist as his first work based on a personal feeling. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

The show features nearly 140 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, an artist’s book, and a stage design. The pieces are organized chronologically, reflecting Johns’s repeated return to certain themes. In this presentation, paintings and sculptures are shown separately from works on paper. 

Jasper Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1930 and grew up in South Carolina, where he was raised before continuing his studies in New York. In 1953, he moved to New York, where he soon formed close friendships with figures such as artist Robert Rauschenberg, composer John Cage, and choreographer Merce Cunningham. Together, they would reshape the artis tic landscape of their country. 

Between 1954 and 1955, Johns destroyed his earlier work and painted his first American flag, marking the beginning of a series of iconic works that feature signs and flat elements — numbers, letters, targets, and maps — drawn from everyday, recognizable imagery and widely regarded as precursors to Pop Art. When these works were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1958, they brought him immediate recognition, and the Museum of Modern Art acquired three of the works on view. 

Between 1950s and 1960s, Johns was also in contact with Marcel Duchamp, whose work and thinking would have a defining influence on his practice. 

The exhibition then moves into the 1970s and 1980s. Here, Johns develops abstract compositions built from crosshatched patterns of strokes, alongside pieces rich in visual references to artists of different periods. Also included are the series devoted to the four seasons, as well as a group of images in which Johns depicts a woman’s face, with eyes, nose, and lips drifting toward the edge of a rectangular field. 

The exhibition concludes with a selection from the 1990s and 2000s, where the artist returns to some of his best -known themes while continuing to explore new ideas, as in the Catenary series. 

Far from Expressionist rhetoric, Johns’s oeuvre is defined by an ironic, restrained approach that nonetheless carries emotional weight and is widely regarded as a forerunner of Minimalism and Conceptual Art. Although often interpreted allegorically, his work is rich in biographical references, though not always immediately apparent, as well as philosophical ideas and metalinguistic reflections. Despite this intellectual, at times hermetic dimension, the artist does not renounce the power of images or of pai nting itself. 

EXHIBITION WALKTHROUGH 

Gallery 205 The exhibition opens with examples of Johns’s celebrated paintings of flat motifs, including such well - known works as Flag on Orange Field and Drawer (both 1957), False Start (1959), and Target, Map, and In Memory of My Feelings – Frank O’Hara (all 1961). In Memory of My Feelings – Frank O’Hara marks a moment, between 1961and 1964, when the impersonal subject matter of Johns’s work begins to shift, giving way to more emotional concerns. The dominant gray palette of these paintings lends them a melancholic tone. 

Gallery 206 This gallery presents a number of Johns’s early sculptures, most of which were produced between 1958 and 1961.These are small -scale pieces based on everyday objects ,such as light bulbs or flashlights. Rather than casting light on other objects , they become the object of vision itself. Also on view are three large -scale works, Studio (1964), Untitled (1964–65), and Studio II (1966), centered on the theme of the artist’s studio. Although abstract in appearance, they are made using impressions of doors or windows and incorporate a range of objects such as cups, brooms, brushes, cutlery, and measuring tools, evoking the atmosphe re of the studio. Between 1964 and 1972, Johns introduces numerous new subjects, including a renewed presence of the human figure, among them self -portraits, imagery related to his studio and tiled walls. In Souvenir (1964), a self -portrait created after a trip to Japan with composer Tōru Takemitsu, Johns printed a photobooth portrait onto a ceramic plate purchased in a souvenir store . 

Gallery 207 This gallery brings together a significant group of abstract works from the Crosshatch series, produced by Johns between 1973 and 1984. These include Corpse and Mirror (1974-75 ), Cicada (1979), and Dancers on a Plane (1980-81). In these works, Johns explores simple variations in the organization of the pictorial space using strategies such as repetition, cropping, inversion, and displacement. From the mid -1980s onward, Johns continued to explore new directions, including the autobiographical Seasons series, with works such as Summer (1985) and Fall (1986), characterized by dense, complex compositions and an allegorical dimension. During this period, his practice also reflects an ongoing engagement with other artists, including Edvard Munch in Between the Clock and the Bed (1983), Picasso in After Picasso (1998), and Frida Kahlo in The Bath (1988). 

Gallery 209 This gallery presents works from the 1990s onward, including two from the Catenary series, created by Johns between 1997 and 2003 and once again marked by the gray tones and a play on language. From this period is Untitled (1992–94), a work of complex composition that introduces new imagery, including floor plans of his grandparents’ house, where Johns grew up, as well as images of galaxies and references to other artists. The gallery also features a large -scale bronze work, Numbers (0–9) (2007 –11),composed of twelve units, along with a video of a collaboration between Jasper Johns, Marcel Duchamp, and choreographer Merce Cunningham, titled Walkaround Time (1968). Johns designed the costumes and the set based on a work by Duchamp, which is shown alongside the film. 

Gallery 202 This gallery features a large selection of works on paper. Johns’s drawings are not preparatory studies but rather variations on earlier paintings, and they form an essential part of his practice. In addition to demonstrating his technical skill, they also reveal the reflective nature of his approach. Johns works with a wide range of materials and mediums , often combining them, including pencil, charcoal, pastel, encaustic, ink, ballpoint pen, watercolor, collage with paper and objects, and metallic pigments. Beyond paper, Johns has also drawn on plastic, exploiting its transparency and varying degrees of absorbency. Printmaking likewise allows the artist to alter the colors of earlier images and to reproduce details or fragments rearranged in different ways and configurations. For decades, Johns has worked with Gemini and ULAE, two of the most important print workshops in the United States. 

Gallery 203 Alongside additional works on paper and a group of monotypes, this final gallery presents Foirades/Fizzles (1976), an artist’s book produced in Paris with Irish writer Samuel Beckett that includes five texts by Beckett alongside some thirty prints by Johns. The gallery also highlights works connected to Johns’s friendships with other artists, including several very small drawings he gave to Robert Rauschenberg, reinterpretations of other artists’ works, a drawing he gifted to Richard Serra in exchange for one of Serra’s, and a rare portrait of Marcel Duchamp, M.D. (1964). Also on view are tracings after works by artists such as Paul Cézanne and Willem de Kooning, which serve as points of departure for Johns’s reflections on the image and artistic tradition. 

DIDAKTIKA 

The Museum’s Didaktika program offers educational spaces and digital content that complement the exhibitions, providing visitors with tools and resources to deepen their understanding and appreciation of the works on view. On this occasion, the exhibition includes two educational spaces, one located in the corridor adjacent to the galleries and the other in gallery 201. The first explores Jasper Johns’s creative process through interactive displays designed to reveal the multiple layers of meaning in his practice. The second highlights key 20th - century artists such as Marcel Duchamp, whose legacy Johns engaged with, as well as contemporary figures with whom Johns exchanged ideas, including Robert Rauschenberg. This exchange fostered significant interdisciplinary innovation in New York during the 1950s and 1960s.

Images 

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Jasper Johns

Flag on Orange Field, 1957
Encaustic on canvas
167.6 x 123.8 cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Gift, Ludwig Collection, 1976
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Painting with Two Balls, 1960
Encaustic and collage on canvas with objects (3 panels)
165.1 x 137.5 cm
Collection of the artist
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Target, 1961
Encaustic and collage on canvas
167.6 x 167.6 cm
The Art Institute of Chicago
Gift of the Edlis Neeson Collection
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

0 through 9, 1961
Oil on canvas
137.2 x 104.8 cm
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Map, 1961
Oil on canvas
198.1 x 313.1 cm
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Scull, 1963
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

In Memory of My Feelings – Frank O’Hara, 1961
Oil on canvas with objects (2 panels)
101.6 x 151.8 cm
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Partial gift of Apollo Plastics Corporation
Courtesy of Stefan T. Edlis and H. Gael Neeson
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Flags, 1987
Encaustic and collage on canvas
65.5 x 83.8 cm
Collection of the artist
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Untitled, 1964–65
Oil and charcoal on canvas with objects (4 panels)
182.9 x 426.7 cm
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

The Bath, 1988
Encaustic on canvas
122.6 x 153 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel
Acquired with funds from the Freunde des Kunstmuseums Basel, 1988
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Flashlight III, 1958 (cast 2010)
Bronze, tempered glass, and silver plating. Edition of 2 (2/2)
13.3 x 21 x 9.5 cm
Collection of the artist
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Dancers on a Plane, 1980–81
Oil on canvas with painted bronze frame
200 x 161.9 cm
Tate, London. Purchased 1981
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Summer, 1985
Encaustic on canvas
190.5 x 127 cm
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Gift of Philip Johnson, 1998
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Untitled, 1992-94
Encaustic on canvas
198.1 x 300.7 cm
The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Savarin, 1982
Monotype
127 x 96.5 cm
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Untitled (Red, Yellow, Blue), 1998
Acrylic over intaglio mounted on canvas
86.4 x 191.8 cm
Collection of the artist
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026

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Jasper Johns

Slice, 2020
Oil on canvas
127 x 168 cm
Private collection
Promised gift to The Museum of Modern Art
© Jasper Johns, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2026