1891
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : France Monet Vétheuil to Giverny Signac Gauguin Lautrec Belgium II Landscape
See also : France Monet Vétheuil to Giverny Signac Gauguin Lautrec Belgium II Landscape
1891 Meules by Monet
2016 SOLD for $ 81M by Christie's
The deep nature of a landscape can no longer be expressed by a single snapshot. In this series which ends in January 1891 and totals 25 paintings, Monet has captured 25 moments of light of a wide variety : morning, evening, full sun, snow, mist. In the last pictures the color also comes to sublimate the perspective with the reduction of the theme to a single haystack..
Three of them have been specifically grouped as a ultimate achievement of the Meules in the catalogue raisonné prepared by Daniel Wildenstein. Only one stack is visible in front of a retracted landscape. It is truncated either from top or from one side. The color emotion is not challenged by that figurative feature reduced to nothing more than a bulky triangle. In 1896, in front of one of these paintings, Kandinsky was dazzled.
Another Meule from that group of three, oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm painted in 1891, reference Wildenstein 1290 pictured at sunset, was sold for $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 11 1999 and for $ 81M by Christie's on November 16, 2016, lot 9 B. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Three of them have been specifically grouped as a ultimate achievement of the Meules in the catalogue raisonné prepared by Daniel Wildenstein. Only one stack is visible in front of a retracted landscape. It is truncated either from top or from one side. The color emotion is not challenged by that figurative feature reduced to nothing more than a bulky triangle. In 1896, in front of one of these paintings, Kandinsky was dazzled.
Another Meule from that group of three, oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm painted in 1891, reference Wildenstein 1290 pictured at sunset, was sold for $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 11 1999 and for $ 81M by Christie's on November 16, 2016, lot 9 B. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1891 Peupliers au Bord de l'Epte by MONET
Intro
A stretch of poplars alongside the Epte river two kilometers upstream of his home inspired Claude Monet in the spring of 1891 with one of the most fruitful ideas of impressionist art. The sunny or cloudy weather, the time in the day, varied the feeling offered by this humble bucolic theme. The arabesque of the waterway elegantly brings a farther row of trees.
The artist created a first series of thirteen paintings, viewed from one single point angled to the left from the other bank of the river or from his bateau atelier. He was working on all these canvases in parallel, changing the palette for the whole variety of light through the trees.
His working day was punctiliously managed without fancy, as he will do in London in the next decade. He was often accompanied by his stepdaughter Blanche Hoschedé. The canvases were carried in wheelbarrow from his home two kilometers away.
The tall trees of the nearer row are reflected in the foreground water. The decorative pattern of their regularly spaced vertical trunks was possibly influenced by Japanese woodcuts. The banality of the horizon made suitable the vertical format for this scenery viewed upwards.
During summer Monet had to purchase temporarily these fully grown trees for avoiding their falling before he completed his series.
Monet made in the fall a second series of eleven views of the Peupliers, showing the variety of seasons in a overall total of 24.
After this exciting self training, the artist was ready for his systematic study of light effects on the cathedral of Rouen which amazed all art lovers in 1892.
The artist created a first series of thirteen paintings, viewed from one single point angled to the left from the other bank of the river or from his bateau atelier. He was working on all these canvases in parallel, changing the palette for the whole variety of light through the trees.
His working day was punctiliously managed without fancy, as he will do in London in the next decade. He was often accompanied by his stepdaughter Blanche Hoschedé. The canvases were carried in wheelbarrow from his home two kilometers away.
The tall trees of the nearer row are reflected in the foreground water. The decorative pattern of their regularly spaced vertical trunks was possibly influenced by Japanese woodcuts. The banality of the horizon made suitable the vertical format for this scenery viewed upwards.
During summer Monet had to purchase temporarily these fully grown trees for avoiding their falling before he completed his series.
Monet made in the fall a second series of eleven views of the Peupliers, showing the variety of seasons in a overall total of 24.
After this exciting self training, the artist was ready for his systematic study of light effects on the cathedral of Rouen which amazed all art lovers in 1892.
1
Crépuscule W1296
2025 SOLD for $ 43M by Christie's
Peupliers au bord de l'Epte, Crépuscule, is a view from the first series. Dusk is an excuse for displaying a rich palette including the pink hues of the setting sun.
It had been purchased by Durand-Ruel for his own use before the exhibition of the series. After long term loan to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, this oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm was sold for $ 43M from a lower estimate of $ 30M by Christie's on May 12, 2025, lot 50A. The image is shared by Wikimedia. This opus had long been owned by the Durand-Ruel family.
It had been purchased by Durand-Ruel for his own use before the exhibition of the series. After long term loan to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, this oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm was sold for $ 43M from a lower estimate of $ 30M by Christie's on May 12, 2025, lot 50A. The image is shared by Wikimedia. This opus had long been owned by the Durand-Ruel family.
2
Automne W1297
2022 SOLD for $ 36.5M by Christie's
Peupliers au bord de l'Epte, Automne, oil on canvas 100 x 66 cm painted in 1891 in the composition of the first series, was sold for $ 36.5M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 11C. The image is shared by Wikimedia. This piece displays the beautiful reddish gold of the autumn leaves.
3
Temps Couvert W1299
2023 SOLD for $ 31M by Sotheby's
A view of the poplars in cloudy weather was made in a nearly square format 92 x 81 cm. This oil on canvas from the first series painted in 1891 was sold for $ 31M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 15, The image is shared by Wikimedia
4
W1301
2011 SOLD for $ 22.5M by Christie's
The largest opus from the whole set, oil on canvas 117 x 73 cm with no subtitle, was sold for $ 22.5M by Christie's on May 4, 2011, lot 16. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
It is in its original condition, having never been varnished.
It is in its original condition, having never been varnished.
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1891 Concarneau by Signac
2022 SOLD for $ 39M by Christie's
Paul Signac had succeeded in 1884 in convincing Georges Seurat that intense lights bring a much better effect to the divisionniste technique. Seurat names this variant the chromo-luminarisme and tries it in 1885 at seaside.
While Seurat had selected a resort in Normandy, Signac, a great lover of yachting, prefers Brittany. A 60 x 92 cm view of the sunny seaside at Portrieux painted in 1888 by Signac was sold for $ 13.8M by Christie's on May 6, 2018.
In March 1891 Seurat suddenly dies at 31 years old. Signac, very shocked, tries unsuccessfully to promote the art of his late friend. He leaves Paris in summer to change his mind with his new boat, the Olympia.
Signac painted in Concarneau a series of five oil on canvas in pointillist style collectively titled La Mer : Les Barques. Each of them was subtitled with the name of a musical movement as a direct reference to harmony : scherzo, larghetto, allegro maestoso, adagio, presto finale. The gently rippling water reminds the lines of a music sheet.
The famous city walls appear in the scherzo. The neat composition had been influenced by a recent exhibition of Japanese prints including seascapes by Hiroshige.
The Larghetto features the calm in the morning. It was sold for $ 39M from a lower estimate of $ 28M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 6. The gently rippling sea is animated from foreground to horizon by the yellow, orange and white sails of the sardine boats, a speciality of that fishing village. Seagulls fly in the clear sky.
While Seurat had selected a resort in Normandy, Signac, a great lover of yachting, prefers Brittany. A 60 x 92 cm view of the sunny seaside at Portrieux painted in 1888 by Signac was sold for $ 13.8M by Christie's on May 6, 2018.
In March 1891 Seurat suddenly dies at 31 years old. Signac, very shocked, tries unsuccessfully to promote the art of his late friend. He leaves Paris in summer to change his mind with his new boat, the Olympia.
Signac painted in Concarneau a series of five oil on canvas in pointillist style collectively titled La Mer : Les Barques. Each of them was subtitled with the name of a musical movement as a direct reference to harmony : scherzo, larghetto, allegro maestoso, adagio, presto finale. The gently rippling water reminds the lines of a music sheet.
The famous city walls appear in the scherzo. The neat composition had been influenced by a recent exhibition of Japanese prints including seascapes by Hiroshige.
The Larghetto features the calm in the morning. It was sold for $ 39M from a lower estimate of $ 28M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 6. The gently rippling sea is animated from foreground to horizon by the yellow, orange and white sails of the sardine boats, a speciality of that fishing village. Seagulls fly in the clear sky.
#AuctionRecord From the Paul G. Allen Collection Paul Signac’s ‘Concarneau, calme du matin’
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) November 10, 2022
set an auction record for the artist with a price realized of $39.32 million pic.twitter.com/OH4hylruuC
1891 Jeune Homme à la Fleur by Gauguin
2015 SOLD for $ 13.6M by Christie's
Looking for the conditions of primitive life, Paul Gauguin was severely disappointed and even felt deceived when he arrived at Papeete in June 1891 : the capital of French Polynesia was already much Europeanized and populated with colonials, in his own words the very thing which he had desired to flee. He relocated at Mataeia, a tiny seaside village 65 km away.
His creativity was blocked for a while. By the end of the year he had nevertheless filled a sketchbook and painted about 20 Polynesian subjects.
A young handsome man was named Jotefa by the artist whom he led as a boy servant for picking the best wood for his sculptures. He is the jeune homme à la fleur, represented in bust length in a three quarter view. He has a white blossom on his ear as a symbol of the mysteries and the purity of local life.
This oil on canvas 45 x 34 cm was owned by Matisse from 1900 to 1915, the key period for his artistic development. It was sold for $ 13.6M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Christie's on November 9, 2015, lot 6A. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
His creativity was blocked for a while. By the end of the year he had nevertheless filled a sketchbook and painted about 20 Polynesian subjects.
A young handsome man was named Jotefa by the artist whom he led as a boy servant for picking the best wood for his sculptures. He is the jeune homme à la fleur, represented in bust length in a three quarter view. He has a white blossom on his ear as a symbol of the mysteries and the purity of local life.
This oil on canvas 45 x 34 cm was owned by Matisse from 1900 to 1915, the key period for his artistic development. It was sold for $ 13.6M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Christie's on November 9, 2015, lot 6A. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
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1891 Fille à la Fourrure by Lautrec
1990 SOLD for $ 13M by Christie's
Fille à la Fourrure, Mademoiselle Jeanne Fontaine, oil on panel 68 x 53 cm painted in 1891 by Toulouse-Lautrec, was sold for $ 13M by Christie's on May 15, 1990.
The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
1891 Squelette arrêtant Masques by Ensor
2016 SOLD for € 7.4M by Sotheby's
The expression of social mockery by pictorial art cannot be welcomed by the public at the end of the 19th century. James Ensor behaves in the opposite to any other artist. When he sees his works refused in exhibitions, he withdraws to his hometown of Ostend where he chooses the most suitable themes to shock the bourgeois. Many years later, when he will become famous and recognized, he will also stop painting.
The young artist is a very good connoisseur of ancient art. The Entrance of Christ in Brussels, painted in 1889, is an anarchist-inspired crowd scene in a theme in the follow of Bosch and Bruegel.
Ensor lives for his art without providing information about his private life, but he likes to introduce his real image amidst the carnival masks. The danses macabres (dances of death) inspire him and his skeletons are indeed self-portraits. He is tall and handsome. The hussar with a dead's head who dominates the other characters in the scene is him again.
James Ensor introduces in his art riddles and messages to be decoded. The small oil on canvas 16 x 21 cm entitled Squelettes se disputant un hareng (skeletons contesting a herring) painted in 1891 is a masterpiece of Surrealism a quarter of a century before the creation of that movement. There is no difference in French pronunciation between hareng saur and Art Ensor.
An oil on canvas 30 x 51 cm has just surfaced. Entitled Squelette arrêtant masques (skeleton stopping masks), this oil on canvas had long been kept by the artist who gave it to a friend. Emile Verhaeren had listed it in Ensor's studio in 1908 but it had never been photographed or exhibited. It was sold for € 7.4M from a lower estimate of € 1M by Sotheby's on December 7, 2016, lot 11.
Squelette arrêtant masques was painted in 1891 and displays high similarities in style with Squelettes se disputant un hareng : the characters are seen half length leaving all the top part of the picture for a superb Ostend sky.
The scene shows seven masks typical of the carnival of Ostend opposed to the hussar who manages to repel them. Their opposition is social : we do not know which sordid truth every mask can hide or which actual role the good bourgeois of Ostend wishes to play during the carnival. The soldier's skull shows his reality, it is the opposite of the mask. This skeleton lives his own life within a derisory and rejectable world, as the artist himself is doing.
Squelette arrêtant masques is signed ENSOR accompanied by a red ace of spades that seems single in the art of Ensor and has not been explained. In my opinion, this ace designates the artist as the champion of his own dissenting opinions. The spades card (in French : pique) is a military symbol that reinforces the identification of the hussar as a self-portrait. Red is the symbol of the revolution for the socialists.
The young artist is a very good connoisseur of ancient art. The Entrance of Christ in Brussels, painted in 1889, is an anarchist-inspired crowd scene in a theme in the follow of Bosch and Bruegel.
Ensor lives for his art without providing information about his private life, but he likes to introduce his real image amidst the carnival masks. The danses macabres (dances of death) inspire him and his skeletons are indeed self-portraits. He is tall and handsome. The hussar with a dead's head who dominates the other characters in the scene is him again.
James Ensor introduces in his art riddles and messages to be decoded. The small oil on canvas 16 x 21 cm entitled Squelettes se disputant un hareng (skeletons contesting a herring) painted in 1891 is a masterpiece of Surrealism a quarter of a century before the creation of that movement. There is no difference in French pronunciation between hareng saur and Art Ensor.
An oil on canvas 30 x 51 cm has just surfaced. Entitled Squelette arrêtant masques (skeleton stopping masks), this oil on canvas had long been kept by the artist who gave it to a friend. Emile Verhaeren had listed it in Ensor's studio in 1908 but it had never been photographed or exhibited. It was sold for € 7.4M from a lower estimate of € 1M by Sotheby's on December 7, 2016, lot 11.
Squelette arrêtant masques was painted in 1891 and displays high similarities in style with Squelettes se disputant un hareng : the characters are seen half length leaving all the top part of the picture for a superb Ostend sky.
The scene shows seven masks typical of the carnival of Ostend opposed to the hussar who manages to repel them. Their opposition is social : we do not know which sordid truth every mask can hide or which actual role the good bourgeois of Ostend wishes to play during the carnival. The soldier's skull shows his reality, it is the opposite of the mask. This skeleton lives his own life within a derisory and rejectable world, as the artist himself is doing.
Squelette arrêtant masques is signed ENSOR accompanied by a red ace of spades that seems single in the art of Ensor and has not been explained. In my opinion, this ace designates the artist as the champion of his own dissenting opinions. The spades card (in French : pique) is a military symbol that reinforces the identification of the hussar as a self-portrait. Red is the symbol of the revolution for the socialists.
1891 Fillettes se promenant by Vuillard
2008 SOLD for $ 8M by Christie's
The informal Nabi avant-garde group was created after Sérusier visited Gauguin at Pont-Aven in 1888. Denis, Sérusier and Bonnard were among the first attendants of the semi-secret meetings, for which they took nicknames. Bonnard was le Nabi le plus japonard et Sérusier le Nabi à la barbe rutilante.
Edouard Vuillard joined in 1890, aged 22, as le Nabi zouave. His style included the pre-eminence of variegated textures of dress or wallpaper over the nearly cancelled or over-stylized faces.
Fillettes se promenant, painted ca 1891, is a typical example. Two young girls are walking in a park. They are viewed from behind, one of them driving the other. The perspective is cancelled. This oil on canvas 80 x 64 cm was sold for $ 8M by Christie's on May 6, 2008, lot 20. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Edouard Vuillard joined in 1890, aged 22, as le Nabi zouave. His style included the pre-eminence of variegated textures of dress or wallpaper over the nearly cancelled or over-stylized faces.
Fillettes se promenant, painted ca 1891, is a typical example. Two young girls are walking in a park. They are viewed from behind, one of them driving the other. The perspective is cancelled. This oil on canvas 80 x 64 cm was sold for $ 8M by Christie's on May 6, 2008, lot 20. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
