Claude Monet, (1840-1926), Champ d'avoine et de coquelicots, signed and dated 'Claude Monet 90' (lower right), oil on canvas, 25.5/8 x 36.1/4 in. (65 x 92.1 cm.) Painted in Giverny in 1890. © Christie's Images Ltd 2022.
Claude Monet’s Champ d’avoine et de coquelicots, (estimate: $12 million – 18 million) will highlight the 20th Century Evening Sale during the Spring Marquee Week of sales. The 1890 masterwork comes to Christie’s from an Important Private French Collection along with two wonderful examples from the late 19th century offered in the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale: Alfred Sisley’s Femme et enfant sur le chemin des près, Sèvres (estimate: $400,000 – 600,000) and Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot’s Le gros arbre (environs de Gournay) (estimate: $200,000 – 300,000). The group of three paintings is incredibly fresh to market, having been held in the same private family collection for decades, and in the case of the Monet, for over a century.
Like his Impressionist friends, Monet had long been dedicated to the portrayal of the passing effects of light and atmosphere on the landscape. At the beginning of the 1890s he took this interest a step further when he began to work predominantly in series, painting the same scene multiple times, each canvas rendered with varying palettes depending on the time of day and weather effects. Champ d’avoine et de coquelicots is a brilliant example of this practice, demonstrating how Monet transformed the beautiful countryside of his beloved Giverny into symphonic harmonies of color and light. Capturing the abundantly flowering poppy field, this is one of a series of five works, each of which depict this dazzling rural spectacle.
Antoine Lebouteiller, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art Department, Paris remarks, “We are so pleased to offer Champ d’avoine et de coquelicots in our 20th Century Evening sale this Spring. This painting is a true masterpiece that brings to life the critical development of Monet’s seminal serial method during this all-important period in his practice. Painted near the artist’s Giverny home, the canvas features a lush field of impastoed color in jewel-like tones of red, orange, and emerald green juxtaposed with soft lilac hues in the distance, beautifully capturing the ephemeral effects of light and atmospheric conditions. It is an honor to steward this painting alongside two works from the same collection by 19th century masters, Sisley and Corot. These three works, which have been hidden away in a private collection for over half a century, together showcase the artistic tenets that lay at the heart of Impressionism.”
Monet settled in Giverny in 1883. Over the following years, he came to know the landscape intimately in a way that made possible the extended serial treatment that underscores his later artistic production. After a number of painting campaigns around France and further afield in the late 1880s, in the summer of 1890, Monet became entirely engrossed by Giverny. He pictured surroundings in their most abundant, elemental form, emphasizing the agrarian nature of the land. In this way, he reacquainted himself with the pastoral beauty of Giverny while further establishing his legacy as the key artist of rural France. The approach that Monet employed in Champ d’avoine et de coquelicots and the accompanying works created throughout autumn of 1890 would mark the start of a decade that is defined by the artist’s highly celebrated series, including the Meules and Peupliers.
Monet’s Champ d’avoine et de coquelicots was originally acquired by the legendary art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel directly from Monet in May of 1891, one year after its creation. In 1914, it was acquired by a private collector; the painting has remained in the family’s collection until present day.
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE FRENCH COLLECTION
CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)
La Mare, effet de neige
signed and dated ‘Claude Monet 75’ (lower left)
Painted in Argenteuil in 1874-1875
Estimate: $18 million – 25 million
Christie’s has announced Claude Monet’s masterwork La Mare, effet de neige (estimate: $18 million – 25 million) will be a highlight of the 20th Century Evening Sale taking place live on 12 May 2022 at Rockefeller Center. A historic masterpiece, the exemplary painting was among the selection of Monet canvasses represented at The Fourth Impressionist Exhibition in 1879. The work is incredibly fresh to market, having been held in a single private collection for over 70 years. Christie’s Restitution Department was privileged to provide research that helped facilitate a settlement agreement between the current owners and the heirs of Richard Semmel, the persecuted collector, who owned the painting during the Nazi era. The painting will be on exhibition at Christie’s Hong Kong 20-21 April.
Anika Guntrum, International Director, 20th & 21st Century Art, remarks: Claude Monet’s La Mare, effet de neige is undeniably one of the masterpieces of the Impressionist movement. The spontaneity and the freedom of execution seen in the rendering of light and atmosphere is a veritable tour de force. The blanket of white snow, melting along the edge of the pond is a genius pretext for the artist to reveal, by touches of silvery blue and rose tones, a hint of springtime to come.”
MONET’S LA MARE, EFFET DE NEIGE
Claude Monet painted La Mare, effet de neige in Argenteuil winter of 1874-1875. The aethereal landscape employs tonal blue and white hues to create a frosted snowscape, bordered by homes with snow-dusted roofs. A trio of silhouetted figures, dwarfed by trees, traverse the scene. The work is brilliant, charming and subtle, standing as a superb example of Monet’s experimentation with the Impressionist style in the mid-1870s. During this crucial period of his practice, his increasingly loose brushwork and thick application of paint began to formally convey the more ephemeral and atmospheric effects of the natural world.
La Mare, effet de neige was sold a few months after its execution, at an auction at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. Monet organized this sale with his fellow Impressionist painters, Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley, after the poor critical reception of The First Impressionist Exhibition in 1874. At this sale, Paul Durand-Ruel, art dealer and champion of the Impressionists, purchased 18 of the 73 works offered, including Monet’s La Mare, effet de neige.
La Mare, effet de neige was exhibited publicly for the first time four years after it was complete at The Fourth Impressionist Exhibition or “4e exposition faite par un Groupe d’artistes Indépendants.” Monet had initially been reluctant to participate in the exhibition, however, Gustave Caillebotte eventually convinced him to join. Twenty-nine works by the artist were included in the show, three of them Argenteuil winter landscapes—including La Mare, effet de neige. This group of 29 represented the full range of Monet’s mature oeuvre. They were all hung in the fifth and final room of the exhibition space, declaring their importance. As put by a 1879 article in Le Siècle, “the last room belongs to the high priests of Impressionism.” Despite his work being the crown jewel, Monet never visited the exhibition during its month-long run. Regardless, the show was a rousing success, with overwhelmingly positive reviews in the press.
Durand-Ruel held the painting until at least 1879. By 1893, the work had entered the collection of Henri Vever, one of the most important jewelry designers in fin-de-siècle France, and a major collector of Japanese prints and Impressionist pictures. In 1898, the painting was in the Holthusen collection, in Hamburg, Germany.
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
In the early 1930s, La Mare, effet de neige belonged to a German textile industrialist named Richard Semmel, who lived in Berlin with his wife, Clara Cäcilie (née Brück). When the National Socialist government came into power, the Semmels were targeted for their Jewish background and Richard’s support of the German Democratic Party. After leaving Berlin for Amsterdam in 1933, Richard offered his art collection for sale, with mixed success. Shortly before the occupation of the Netherlands, the Semmels fled again to New York via Chile. Over recent months, Christie’s has worked closely with the current owners in their discussions with the legal representative for heirs of Richard Semmel. Our Restitution Department offered research and support as the parties involved came to an agreement. The present work is being offered for sale pursuant to that settlement agreement. The settlement agreement resolves the dispute over ownership of the work and title will pass to the successful bidder.
JACKSON POLLOCK (1912-1956)
Number 31
signed and dated ‘Jackson Pollock 49’ (upper left)
oil, enamel, aluminum paint and gesso on paper mounted on Masonite
31 x 22 ½ in. (78.7 x 57.2 cm.)
Executed in 1949.
Estimate on request; in excess of $45 million
Christie’s has announce that Jackson Pollock’s Number 31, 1949 will lead the 20th Century Evening Sale taking place 12 May 2022 at Rockefeller Plaza (Estimate on request; in excess of $45 million). Painted in 1949, the work is among the richest and most powerful examples of Pollock’s celebrated drip paintings, standing as an icon from a seminal moment in the development of twentieth-century art. It has been featured in a number of important exhibitions, including the 1967 Jackson Pollock MoMA retrospective in addition to the 1998 retrospective mounted at MoMA and The Tate. Held in the same private collection for over two decades, the work is incredibly fresh to market.
Pollock executed Number 31 during a flurry of brilliant artistic activity during the end of 1949. The work was subsequently exhibited with Pollock’s new dealer Betty Parsons later that year where critics described the exhibition as “the best painting he has yet done.” Number 31 will tour to Christie’s Los Angeles where it will be on view from 19 – 22 April before returning to New York ahead of the sale.
Alex Rotter, Christie’s Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art, remarks, “In the late 1940s, Pollock’s drip paintings categorically redefined how we understand art. This moment saw the art world’s center of gravity shift for the first time away from the museums and galleries of Paris and into the streets of New York. With his revolutionary new technique, Pollock effectively upended the existing framework of traditional painting practices. True drip paintings were—and still are—the ultimate in mid-century American avant-garde, and are rare to come across in the secondary market. Number 31 is a superb example. It is a fantastic, frenetic combination of rich hues—straight from the paint can. It stands as a brilliant demonstration of Pollock’s rigor and effusiveness and we are thrilled to feature it as the top lot in Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale this Spring Marquee Week.”
Essentially an unknown artist in the early 1940s, Pollock first began exploring his now infamous drip painting technique in 1948. By the latter half of 1949, Pollock had found himself catapulted to success as a result of the popularity of this body of work, with paintings acquired by five major museums and 40 prominent private collections. By the time he created Number 31, Pollock had truly mastered the process. Pollock created only thirteen of these drip paintings on paper in 1949—each then mounted onto Masonite, composition board or canvas. Only eight of these display the gleaming, metallic paint employed in Number 31, one of the fullest and most opulent compositions of the group.
Property from a Renowned Private New York Collection
WILLEM DE KOONING (1904-1997)
Untitled XXI
signed ‘de Kooning’ (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
Painted in 1977.
70 x 80 in. (177.8 x 203.2 cm.)
Estimate on Request
Christie's will offer Willem de Kooning's Untitled XXI as a leading highlight in the 20th Century Evening Sale taking place during Spring Marquee Week at Rockefeller Plaza (Estimate on Request; in excess of $20 million). Untitled XXI is fresh to the market, having been in the same important private collection for more than 30 years. This spring presents buyers with a rare opportunity to acquire a de Kooning of exceptional quality and significance.
Untitled XXI was painted in de Kooning’s studio in East Hampton in 1977, a historic year when he turned out a group of radiant, large-scale abstractions that had a new level of mastery about them. Art historians regard 1977 as a highpoint of his career, his annus mirabilis, or “miraculous year,” as the British critic David Sylvester wrote. The art market has confirmed that view: three of de Kooning’s top four highest prices achieved at auction were for paintings from 1977.
Untitled XXI is a singularly compelling work. At first it looks like a glowing abstraction, with ribbons of color twisting against a pearly white ground. But if one looks closely, intimations of landscape and the female figure become apparent. Untitled XXI might be called a retrospective of sorts, encapsulating in a single painting everything that de Kooning had achieved in the decades before. Here we find an ecstatic combination of gestural abstraction and the light of East Hampton, much of it rendered in the sumptuous pink-and-white palette for which he is famous.
Barrett White, Christie’s Executive Deputy Chairman, Post-War & Contemporary Art, remarks, “This vibrant 1977 canvas by Willem de Kooning stands as a triumph of his career. With thick winding strokes of jewel-toned pigment, de Kooning successfully combines the passionate brushwork that characterized his New York paintings of the ‘50s with the serenity his work acquired after he moved to East Hampton. Contemplative and joyful all at once, this luminous canvas represents the very best of de Kooning.”
Wayne Thiebaud from Gladstone Institutes
WAYNE THIEBAUD (1920-2021)
City Views
triptych—oil on canvas
left panel: 71.3/4 x 48 in. (182.2 x 121.9 cm.)
center panel: 71.7/8 x 53.7/8 in. (182.6 x 136.8 cm.)
right panel: 71.3/4 x 48 in. (182.2 x 121.9 cm.)
Painted in 2004.
Estimate: $10 million – 15 million
Christie’s has announced Wayne Thiebaud’s City Views (estimate: $10 million – 15 million) will highlight the Spring Marquee Week 20th Century Evening Sale at Rockefeller Plaza on Thursday, 12 May 2022. City Views is a striking triptych, standing as one of the largest landscapes ever painted by Thiebaud. The work is being sold by the nonprofit biomedical research organization Gladstone Institutes, with proceeds going to a dedicated fund that supports its scientific training and mentoring programs.
Gladstone has disrupted the traditional research model to accelerate discovery and cure development. Their vision is to overcome unsolved diseases through transformative biomedical research, particularly in the areas of cardiovascular, viral, and immunological diseases as well as neurodegenerative disorders. Gladstone also seeks to mentor and train future generations of scientific innovators. Created as a commissioned installation for the Gladstone Institutes in 2004, this May marks the first time City Views will be sold. Prior to the sale, the work will be on view in Christie’s San Francisco and Christie’s New York galleries.
Deepak Srivastava, President, Gladstone Institutes, remarks, “Mr. Thiebaud placed great value on teaching and mentoring, with many of his mentees going on to become influential American artists themselves. As a tribute to this legacy, all of the sale proceeds will go directly to a new, named fund to support our postdoctoral fellows along their journey to become leaders in biomedical science.”
Ellanor Notides, Christie’s, Chairman, West Coast, remarks, “Painted specifically for the Gladstone Institutes in 2004, City Views is a breathtaking and timeless rendering of San Francisco. Wayne Thiebaud—both local hero and internationally celebrated artist—was known for his map-like urban landscapes, and this is an absolutely superb example. The painting is an homage to our great city and we at Christie’s are so proud to steward it this Spring, and I am truly elated that proceeds will benefit innovation and discovery science and furthering the great work that the Institutes continues to achieve for the betterment of global health.”
City Views is a demonstrative of Thiebaud’s skill and telegraphs the enthusiasm with which the iconic Californian continued to paint the Bay Area throughout the entirety of his career. Thiebaud, who passed away last December at the age of 101, first began painting San Francisco in the 1970s, creating faithful iterations of that which he saw before him. As time went on, he began to combine different vantage points into fantastic larger-than-life cityscapes. City Views is exemplary, with roadways flattened out into geometric panels to form a quilt-like grid with buildings and sky. Bordering on the edge of abstraction, the formal composition is amplified through its triptych format, the three canvasses coalescing in a delightful interplay of color, texture and shape in a singular reimagining of the modern West coast landscape.
Thiebaud painted City Views over the course of about one year, finishing it six months prior to the completion of the Gladstone building in which it would eventually be installed. With the canvasses still in the studio, Thiebaud continued to fiddle with the composition, incorporating in new playful elements and hidden gems for the perceptive viewer. The median in the road in the central panel became a necktie, and the trees became cupcakes dotting the landscape, recalling his infamous cake series. In a way, the outcome is a complete retrospective of the artist contained within a single work.
