1896
1896 Matinée sur la Seine by Monet
2018 SOLD for $ 20.5M by Sotheby's
Claude Monet is obsessed with the most subtle variations in colors. The nearby river of his Giverny property offers the total tranquility needed for his unprecedented experiences. With the series of Peupliers in 1891, he installs several easels in parallel and passes from one canvas to another according to the modifications of the light.
Les Peupliers, like Les Meules in 1890-1891 and Les Cathédrales de Rouen completed in 1894, address all the hours of the day, offering too much contrasts between the paintings of the series. The success of these three sets is considerable with the public but the aesthetic result cannot fully satisfy the demanding artist.
During the summer of 1896 Monet gets up every day at 3:30am, operates up to 14 canvases in parallel with the help of an assistant always at the same place at the confluence of the Epte and the Seine rivers, paints the mists when they dissipate at sunrise and leaves for the rest of the day. The title of the series is Matinée sur la Seine. Some paintings are panoramic but others are square, which is bold for a landscape.
He has no luck. Summer and the beginning of autumn are very rainy. He finishes only four paintings at the end of this season. One of them, 89 x 92 cm, was sold for $ 20.5M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2018, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia. The poor weather brings soft contrasts without saturating the shadows.
Monet returned to the same river bank in 1897 without changing anything in his creative process from the previous year, bringing the total of the Matinées to 22 paintings. One of them on which the sun rays are just reaching the trees in the background, also 89 x 92 cm, was sold for $ 23.4M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 26A.
Les Peupliers, like Les Meules in 1890-1891 and Les Cathédrales de Rouen completed in 1894, address all the hours of the day, offering too much contrasts between the paintings of the series. The success of these three sets is considerable with the public but the aesthetic result cannot fully satisfy the demanding artist.
During the summer of 1896 Monet gets up every day at 3:30am, operates up to 14 canvases in parallel with the help of an assistant always at the same place at the confluence of the Epte and the Seine rivers, paints the mists when they dissipate at sunrise and leaves for the rest of the day. The title of the series is Matinée sur la Seine. Some paintings are panoramic but others are square, which is bold for a landscape.
He has no luck. Summer and the beginning of autumn are very rainy. He finishes only four paintings at the end of this season. One of them, 89 x 92 cm, was sold for $ 20.5M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2018, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia. The poor weather brings soft contrasts without saturating the shadows.
Monet returned to the same river bank in 1897 without changing anything in his creative process from the previous year, bringing the total of the Matinées to 22 paintings. One of them on which the sun rays are just reaching the trees in the background, also 89 x 92 cm, was sold for $ 23.4M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 26A.
A highlight of #SothebysImpMod Evening Sale in #NYC, Claude Monet's Matinée sur la Seine is now on view in London. Stop by 34-35 New Bond Street through 5pm GMT tomorrow to visit this dreamlike scene and head over to our website to learn more: https://t.co/5MHWXEdwzu pic.twitter.com/cSZJwSAYcf
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) April 9, 2018
1896 Te Arii Vahine by Gauguin
2017 SOLD for £ 8.4M by Sotheby's
In 1882 Paul Gauguin, aged 34, decides to live by and for art. This earned him nine years of brilliant creating activity but often of sordid adventures. Ruined, he moved to Polynesia.
At the end of his stay in Brittany, the Vision of the Sermon (Jacob's Fight with the Angel) (1889) was a social and religious critical comment, one of the most powerful images from the metaphysical art, but also, of course, the expression of his own doubts and anxieties. It was urgent that Gauguin keeps cool.
The Tahitian vahines are not the gullible Breton women of the Sermon, whom they do not know. Their peaceful life, close to nature, provides a boost of inspiration to the artist.
A group of women is shown in the small oil on canvas 26 x 32 cm dated 1896 titled Te Arii vahine. The two women in the foreground are nude and quiet. It was sold on June 18, 2010 by Kornfeld for CHF 5.5M before fees and for £ 8.4M by Sotheby's on March 1, 2017, lot 15.
Ihis work is one of those which prepared the two masterpieces of the Polynesian period of Gauguin : the calmed metaphysics of Qui sommes-nous Où sommes-nous Où allons-nous in 1897 and the tribute to the women in Et l'Or de leurs Corps in 1901.
At the end of his stay in Brittany, the Vision of the Sermon (Jacob's Fight with the Angel) (1889) was a social and religious critical comment, one of the most powerful images from the metaphysical art, but also, of course, the expression of his own doubts and anxieties. It was urgent that Gauguin keeps cool.
The Tahitian vahines are not the gullible Breton women of the Sermon, whom they do not know. Their peaceful life, close to nature, provides a boost of inspiration to the artist.
A group of women is shown in the small oil on canvas 26 x 32 cm dated 1896 titled Te Arii vahine. The two women in the foreground are nude and quiet. It was sold on June 18, 2010 by Kornfeld for CHF 5.5M before fees and for £ 8.4M by Sotheby's on March 1, 2017, lot 15.
Ihis work is one of those which prepared the two masterpieces of the Polynesian period of Gauguin : the calmed metaphysics of Qui sommes-nous Où sommes-nous Où allons-nous in 1897 and the tribute to the women in Et l'Or de leurs Corps in 1901.
1896 Une Calanque by Signac
2023 SOLD for £ 8M by Christie's
Paul Signac permanently settles in Saint-Tropez in 1892, the year after Seurat's death. The blazing sun enables him to improve the brightness of his landscape views following his successful trials in Brittany in the previous decade.
Saint-Tropez is decidedly Signac's paradise on earth. In 1896 he considers the soft hues of dawn on the calanque des Caroubiers in the vicinity of the village. Using a strict pointillist technique as it had been developed by Seurat and himself, he renders the quiet atmosphere and the reflection of the pines in water by a soft impression of very light blue, lilac and orange, and the deep violet shadows.
This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm was sold for £ 8M from a lower estimate of £ 5.5M by Christie's on June 28, 2023, lot 32.
Saint-Tropez is decidedly Signac's paradise on earth. In 1896 he considers the soft hues of dawn on the calanque des Caroubiers in the vicinity of the village. Using a strict pointillist technique as it had been developed by Seurat and himself, he renders the quiet atmosphere and the reflection of the pines in water by a soft impression of very light blue, lilac and orange, and the deep violet shadows.
This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm was sold for £ 8M from a lower estimate of £ 5.5M by Christie's on June 28, 2023, lot 32.
#AuctionUpdate Paul #Signac's 'Calanque des Canoubiers (Pointe de Bamer), Saint-Tropez' achieved £8,015,000. Bathed in the day's first glow the painting expertly captures the serenity of a Mediterranean morning: https://t.co/xqcfNpAOVT pic.twitter.com/9GWG87lQmr
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) June 28, 2023
1896 The Old Wyoming
2015 SOLD for $ 8.6M including premium
The railway, superseding the dangerous Oregon trail, allows the emergence of civilization into the wilderness of the Western American territories that are not yet upgraded into states.
The village of Green River in Dakota Territory is served by the Pacific section in July 1868 before the famous transcontinental junction of 10 May 1869. Green River will be part of Wyoming in the later division of states.
Green River was incorporated as a city in 1868 and became a rallying point for geological and geographical expeditions starting with Powell in 1869.
Thomas Moran arrives by train to Green River in 1871 to join the Hayden expedition. The admirer of Turner is dazzled by the variety of colors: the reflection in water adds green and lavender to the yellow and orange of the cliffs. He immediately realizes a first watercolor. He does not seek realism but idealization and the result is sumptuous.
The Cliffs of Green River, Wyoming is one of the finest western landscapes and Moran painted this scenery in different sizes without changing the composition.
An oil on canvas 64 x 122 cm painted in 1878 was sold for $ 17.7M including premium by Christie's on 21 May 2008. A later version in the same technique, 51 x 76 cm painted in 1896, is estimated $ 6M for sale by the same auction house in New York on May 21, lot 7.
The village of Green River in Dakota Territory is served by the Pacific section in July 1868 before the famous transcontinental junction of 10 May 1869. Green River will be part of Wyoming in the later division of states.
Green River was incorporated as a city in 1868 and became a rallying point for geological and geographical expeditions starting with Powell in 1869.
Thomas Moran arrives by train to Green River in 1871 to join the Hayden expedition. The admirer of Turner is dazzled by the variety of colors: the reflection in water adds green and lavender to the yellow and orange of the cliffs. He immediately realizes a first watercolor. He does not seek realism but idealization and the result is sumptuous.
The Cliffs of Green River, Wyoming is one of the finest western landscapes and Moran painted this scenery in different sizes without changing the composition.
An oil on canvas 64 x 122 cm painted in 1878 was sold for $ 17.7M including premium by Christie's on 21 May 2008. A later version in the same technique, 51 x 76 cm painted in 1896, is estimated $ 6M for sale by the same auction house in New York on May 21, lot 7.
1896 Typically Far West : the bronzes of Frederic Remington
2008 SOLD 5.6 M$ including premium
Two important bronzes dominate the group of works by Frederic Remington that Sotheby's will present in New York on May 22.
Very animated, with two horses full speed and two riders on their backs, the lot 171 is titled Wounded Bunkie. Estimated 3 M$, it is a 51 cm high bronze of red brown patina edited in 1896.
Quite as dynamic with its rider on a pulled up horse, the 57 cm high Outlaw, lot 167, is awaited 2 M$. Edited in 1906, therefore still during the artist's life, it is a dark brown patina bronze.
These two lots will be sold for the benefit of a charitable foundation.
Reviewing the other bronzes of Remington presented in the same catalogue, one can think that the importance of the price is related to the model, and especially to the dramatic intensity of the action. It is what still makes it possible to envisage Mountain Man at 400 K$ (lot 158) but leaves a rather insipid Scalp, lot 179, at 250 K$.
But it is not so simple: in the past, the important biddings mostly went on Broncho Busters, these models culminating with the specimen sold 2,6 M$ fees included at Christie's, of course in New York, on November 29, 2007. There is well also a Broncho Buster at Sotheby's on May 22, lot 163, but it is estimated 500 K$ only. All these sculptures are of similar size and times, and it would be necessary to be in the passion of the subject to identify what makes the difference of price between these specimens.
POST AUCTION COMMENT
The auction house knew about it. Among the five bronzes that I had identified, the most expensive made the best gains. The three following lots were also sold beyond estimate.
Here are their results, including the fees: $ 5.6 million for Wounded Bunkie; $ 3.4 million for Outlaw; 710 K$ for Broncho Buster; 540 K$ for Mountain Man.
I was not entirely wrong either, even if my explanations do not yet understand everything about the ratings for Remington: Scalp, which from the photo was not of interest, did not find buyer, on an estimate of 250 K€. For this artist like everyone else, the signature is not enough to predict a price.
By the way, here is a competitor for Remington: on July 26 in Reno at The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction, a large bronze by Charles M. Russell is estimated $ 3 million. It shows Indians on horseback attacking cattle. (SOLD 3.6 M$ before fees).
Very animated, with two horses full speed and two riders on their backs, the lot 171 is titled Wounded Bunkie. Estimated 3 M$, it is a 51 cm high bronze of red brown patina edited in 1896.
Quite as dynamic with its rider on a pulled up horse, the 57 cm high Outlaw, lot 167, is awaited 2 M$. Edited in 1906, therefore still during the artist's life, it is a dark brown patina bronze.
These two lots will be sold for the benefit of a charitable foundation.
Reviewing the other bronzes of Remington presented in the same catalogue, one can think that the importance of the price is related to the model, and especially to the dramatic intensity of the action. It is what still makes it possible to envisage Mountain Man at 400 K$ (lot 158) but leaves a rather insipid Scalp, lot 179, at 250 K$.
But it is not so simple: in the past, the important biddings mostly went on Broncho Busters, these models culminating with the specimen sold 2,6 M$ fees included at Christie's, of course in New York, on November 29, 2007. There is well also a Broncho Buster at Sotheby's on May 22, lot 163, but it is estimated 500 K$ only. All these sculptures are of similar size and times, and it would be necessary to be in the passion of the subject to identify what makes the difference of price between these specimens.
POST AUCTION COMMENT
The auction house knew about it. Among the five bronzes that I had identified, the most expensive made the best gains. The three following lots were also sold beyond estimate.
Here are their results, including the fees: $ 5.6 million for Wounded Bunkie; $ 3.4 million for Outlaw; 710 K$ for Broncho Buster; 540 K$ for Mountain Man.
I was not entirely wrong either, even if my explanations do not yet understand everything about the ratings for Remington: Scalp, which from the photo was not of interest, did not find buyer, on an estimate of 250 K€. For this artist like everyone else, the signature is not enough to predict a price.
By the way, here is a competitor for Remington: on July 26 in Reno at The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction, a large bronze by Charles M. Russell is estimated $ 3 million. It shows Indians on horseback attacking cattle. (SOLD 3.6 M$ before fees).
1896 Danseuse Rose by Degas
2021 SOLD for £ 3M by Christie's
In the 1890s the young ballerinas remain a preferred theme for Degas. Instead of visiting the backstage of the Opéra, he now paints his models in the studio. Detailed representation of the muscular movement supersedes the glamour.
Danseuse Rose is a dense interlacing of pale hues. In a moment of rest, the red haired seated girl is catching her shoe on the bench at the end of her stretched leg.
This pastel on paper 42 x 31 cm laid down on card painted ca 1896 was sold for £ 3M by Christie's on June 30, 2021, lot 16.
Danseuse Rose is a dense interlacing of pale hues. In a moment of rest, the red haired seated girl is catching her shoe on the bench at the end of her stretched leg.
This pastel on paper 42 x 31 cm laid down on card painted ca 1896 was sold for £ 3M by Christie's on June 30, 2021, lot 16.
#AuctionUpdate Edgar #Degas' 'Danseuse rose' (1896) achieves £3,022,500. The composition explores one of Degas' most important and enduring themes—that of the female dancer. The artist frequently returned to study the dancer's rare, intimate moments of repose and respite. □ pic.twitter.com/XS8DOmB0W9
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) June 30, 2021
1896 SHISHKIN
1
The Forest Clearing
2008 SOLD for $ 3.2M by Christie's
Ivan Shishkin is the painter of the Russian forest. With almost photographic details, he shows the harmonious beauty of the woods illuminated by the sun. He was recognized as one of the best Russian artists and led a landscape painting class in St. Petersburg.
He retired from teaching in 1896 and decided to devote more time to outdoor painting. He shares this activity between two residential sites, Vyra where he owns a dacha and Siverskaya which he had visited all along his career.
Gradually, his interest is shifting from realism to impression. The forest is now seen as a whole and not just as a juxtaposition of majestic trees.
An example comes from Vyra. A clearing in an oak forest, oil on canvas 119 x 171 cm, was sold for $ 3.2M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Christie's on 18 April 2008, lot 16.
Unfortunately this highly creative period was too short. Shishkin died at work two years later.
He retired from teaching in 1896 and decided to devote more time to outdoor painting. He shares this activity between two residential sites, Vyra where he owns a dacha and Siverskaya which he had visited all along his career.
Gradually, his interest is shifting from realism to impression. The forest is now seen as a whole and not just as a juxtaposition of majestic trees.
An example comes from Vyra. A clearing in an oak forest, oil on canvas 119 x 171 cm, was sold for $ 3.2M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Christie's on 18 April 2008, lot 16.
Unfortunately this highly creative period was too short. Shishkin died at work two years later.
2
Twilight in the Pine Forest
2013 SOLD for £ 2.15M by Macdougall's
Also painted by Shishkin in 1896, a twilight in the pine forest of Siverskaya, oil on canvas, 162 x 121 cm, was sold for £ 2.15M from a lower estimate of £ 1.2M on June 5, 2013 by MacDougall's.
Shishkin expresses the purity of the evening light after a storm. He is not a poet like Aivazovsky. His art and colors are totally realistic, but he now attaches the utmost attention to extreme lights of the day.
Shishkin expresses the purity of the evening light after a storm. He is not a poet like Aivazovsky. His art and colors are totally realistic, but he now attaches the utmost attention to extreme lights of the day.
1896 Landscape by Hammershøi
2024 SOLD for £ 2.34M by Christie's
Vilhelm Hammershøi is eagerly independent of all artistic trends. In the 1890s he manages to redefine the landscape painting by observing geometric details from a desperately trivial wood land, anticipating Klimt.
A landscape at Ryet is conceived in 1895 during a summer stay at Farum Lake. After a preparatory drawing, the oil on canvas 45 x 56 cm is painted in 1896. The view features two isolated tall trees, one of them before the other.
It was sold for £ 2.34M from a lower estimate of £ 500K by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 44.
A landscape at Ryet is conceived in 1895 during a summer stay at Farum Lake. After a preparatory drawing, the oil on canvas 45 x 56 cm is painted in 1896. The view features two isolated tall trees, one of them before the other.
It was sold for £ 2.34M from a lower estimate of £ 500K by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 44.
landscape by #Hammershoi
— ArtHitParade (@ArtHitParade) March 7, 2024
sold by @ChristiesInc for £ 2.34Mhttps://t.co/QHbeFk7WEk
will land in the Top 10 of 1896https://t.co/NxTwubDo0R
to be narrated later
1896 Young Woman on the Beach by Munch
2013 SOLD for £ 2.13M by Christie's
Threatened by melancholy, Edvard Munch conceives ca 1891 one of his most personal themes, loneliness. A couple is on the beach, but they are quite distant from one another and their mental solitude is complete. This first painting is lost.
During his stay in Paris from 1890 to 1892 he had begun to take inspiration from post-impressionist styles to express his symbolism.
In 1896, he comes back to Paris where he perfects his experiences of all printmaking techniques. Aquatint gives the possibility to vary the balance of colors from one copy to another of the same image.
He reworks his Young woman on the beach by liberating her from her companion. A single person is indeed enough to express the loneliness. This allegorical image is one of his strongest messages.
Well centered, the lonesome figure turns her back to us as in the original picture. She is tall, and her straight attitude in her beautiful white dress shows that she has no other problem than her solitude.
The woman is standing at sea shore, turning her back to the viewer for looking at the sea. The marine breeze plays with her very long hair. Her golden hair and her long immaculate white dress are lit by the twilight sun while the scenery is already in the shadow. With her feet hidden under the dress, she looks like levitating out of space, time and society.
That 1896 dry point in 29 x 22 cm image size is printed in aquatint with burnishing in imitation of a mezzotint.
Within a total of only twelve known impressions, Gerd Woll distinguishes no fewer than seven color combinations that offer variations comparable to Monet's post-impressionist practice.
One of them from variant Woll 3 printed in light blue, brown, gray and pink was sold on March 20, 2013 by Christie's for £ 2.13M from a lower estimate of £ 500K, lot 70. This image on a 45 x 31 cm Arches laid paper, probably the untrimmed size. It is signed in pencil.
The unique Woll 5 copy printed in golden yellow, sienna, green-blue and black on a 39 x 30 cm Arches laid paper was sold for £ 1.62M by Sotheby's on March 1, 2023, lot 141. It is inscribed 3te Druck and signed by the artist in pencil. Its pastel tones in which the surrounding details are again erased reduce the contrast but reinforce the psychic mystery of this young woman.
Munch stops working in aquatint after 1897.
During his stay in Paris from 1890 to 1892 he had begun to take inspiration from post-impressionist styles to express his symbolism.
In 1896, he comes back to Paris where he perfects his experiences of all printmaking techniques. Aquatint gives the possibility to vary the balance of colors from one copy to another of the same image.
He reworks his Young woman on the beach by liberating her from her companion. A single person is indeed enough to express the loneliness. This allegorical image is one of his strongest messages.
Well centered, the lonesome figure turns her back to us as in the original picture. She is tall, and her straight attitude in her beautiful white dress shows that she has no other problem than her solitude.
The woman is standing at sea shore, turning her back to the viewer for looking at the sea. The marine breeze plays with her very long hair. Her golden hair and her long immaculate white dress are lit by the twilight sun while the scenery is already in the shadow. With her feet hidden under the dress, she looks like levitating out of space, time and society.
That 1896 dry point in 29 x 22 cm image size is printed in aquatint with burnishing in imitation of a mezzotint.
Within a total of only twelve known impressions, Gerd Woll distinguishes no fewer than seven color combinations that offer variations comparable to Monet's post-impressionist practice.
One of them from variant Woll 3 printed in light blue, brown, gray and pink was sold on March 20, 2013 by Christie's for £ 2.13M from a lower estimate of £ 500K, lot 70. This image on a 45 x 31 cm Arches laid paper, probably the untrimmed size. It is signed in pencil.
The unique Woll 5 copy printed in golden yellow, sienna, green-blue and black on a 39 x 30 cm Arches laid paper was sold for £ 1.62M by Sotheby's on March 1, 2023, lot 141. It is inscribed 3te Druck and signed by the artist in pencil. Its pastel tones in which the surrounding details are again erased reduce the contrast but reinforce the psychic mystery of this young woman.
Munch stops working in aquatint after 1897.
