1901
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Picasso < 1907 Klimt Swiss painting Northern Europe Alps Self portrait Self portrait II Jewels II
See also : Picasso < 1907 Klimt Swiss painting Northern Europe Alps Self portrait Self portrait II Jewels II
1901 PICASSO
Intro
After the Expo 1900 where one of his works had been displayed,Pablo Picasso makes his first trip to Paris. He is seduced by the atmosphere of the Belle Epoque and enticed about the possibilities of a brilliant artistic career. He comes back to Paris in May 1901. Pedro Mañach introduces him to influential dealers and Ambroise Vollard prepares an exhibition that will open on 25 June.
Time is running out but Pablo cannot miss such an opportunity to launch his career. He enters into a creative frenzy, estimated by some observers at three oils per day made in broad brush strokes for a faster covering of the surface. He has so little available time that he does not deal with details, especially in the face lines.
Pablo who is not yet 20 did not offer up to that point an original style to match his graphic skill. Vollard had worked with Bonnard. Picasso is opting for a wide variety of themes from intimate to worldly with a choice of colors reminiscent of the post-impressionnisme and thick outlines that anticipate the expressionism.
In this ephemeral style that remains primitive compared to the blue period, an oil on cardboard 47 x 62 cm painted in 1901 showing Belle Epoque women on top of an omnibus that crosses a bridge over the Seine was sold for £ 4.9M by Christie's on February 9, 2011. This painting with a bold diagonal composition had been exhibited by Berthe Weill in 1902.
Returning to the artificial pleasures of Parisian life after the Vollard exhibition, he will remember Casagemas and enter into the psychological disaster of his blue period.
Time is running out but Pablo cannot miss such an opportunity to launch his career. He enters into a creative frenzy, estimated by some observers at three oils per day made in broad brush strokes for a faster covering of the surface. He has so little available time that he does not deal with details, especially in the face lines.
Pablo who is not yet 20 did not offer up to that point an original style to match his graphic skill. Vollard had worked with Bonnard. Picasso is opting for a wide variety of themes from intimate to worldly with a choice of colors reminiscent of the post-impressionnisme and thick outlines that anticipate the expressionism.
In this ephemeral style that remains primitive compared to the blue period, an oil on cardboard 47 x 62 cm painted in 1901 showing Belle Epoque women on top of an omnibus that crosses a bridge over the Seine was sold for £ 4.9M by Christie's on February 9, 2011. This painting with a bold diagonal composition had been exhibited by Berthe Weill in 1902.
Returning to the artificial pleasures of Parisian life after the Vollard exhibition, he will remember Casagemas and enter into the psychological disaster of his blue period.
1
La Gommeuse
2015 SOLD for $ 67M by Sotheby's
Pablo Picasso returned to Paris in May 1901, torn between the desire for debauchery and the anguish of death. He was not yet 20 years old. Thus begins his Blue Period, charged with an intense emotion that combines lust and misery.
He is gifted and already recognized. His first exhibition at Vollard's begins on 25 June. He lives at 130 Boulevard de Clichy with Pedro "Pere" Mañach who is his broker and introduces his artworks to Berthe Weill.
On November 5, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 67M La gommeuse, oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm, lot 26. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The woman is visible down to her lower hips. She is nude by her job and not for pleasure even though her disillusioned gaze may also be attributed to absinth. Her attitude with raised shoulders and hanging breasts is miserable though she is not slender.
The title is an additional mockery. In the previous century, a gommeur was a type of ridiculous character trying to make his living by performing in the cafés-concerts. The word was later applied to women.
Art is more important. Behind Pablo's gommeuse, we see the lower part of a painting on the wall showing the legs of a ballerina along with a flower throwing. The artist is attracted and repelled by the cabaret world that ultimately is not his. The gommeuse does not watch the painting.
Pablo had here an intention for caricature which is expressed with more fancy on the recently uncovered back side of that painting. The nude body of a ballerina is surmounted by the head of Mañach according to the principle of these portraits-charges which were so popular at that time in the Parisian society.
This back also has an inscription to his friend on the occasion of his feast. If this date is interpreted as St. Peter's day, this dedication allows to date the back on 29 June 1901. The front side should logically be earlier than the sketched reverse, making this gommeuse one of the triggering prototypes of the blue period.
He is gifted and already recognized. His first exhibition at Vollard's begins on 25 June. He lives at 130 Boulevard de Clichy with Pedro "Pere" Mañach who is his broker and introduces his artworks to Berthe Weill.
On November 5, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 67M La gommeuse, oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm, lot 26. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The woman is visible down to her lower hips. She is nude by her job and not for pleasure even though her disillusioned gaze may also be attributed to absinth. Her attitude with raised shoulders and hanging breasts is miserable though she is not slender.
The title is an additional mockery. In the previous century, a gommeur was a type of ridiculous character trying to make his living by performing in the cafés-concerts. The word was later applied to women.
Art is more important. Behind Pablo's gommeuse, we see the lower part of a painting on the wall showing the legs of a ballerina along with a flower throwing. The artist is attracted and repelled by the cabaret world that ultimately is not his. The gommeuse does not watch the painting.
Pablo had here an intention for caricature which is expressed with more fancy on the recently uncovered back side of that painting. The nude body of a ballerina is surmounted by the head of Mañach according to the principle of these portraits-charges which were so popular at that time in the Parisian society.
This back also has an inscription to his friend on the occasion of his feast. If this date is interpreted as St. Peter's day, this dedication allows to date the back on 29 June 1901. The front side should logically be earlier than the sketched reverse, making this gommeuse one of the triggering prototypes of the blue period.
2
Femme aux bras croisés
2000 SOLD for $ 55M by Christie's
From 1900, Picasso lived alternately in Barcelona and Paris. He settled permanently in Paris in April 1904. We may believe that his art influenced his melancholy, and not the reverse, to be correlated with the fact that no event in his sentimental life was identified to explain the triggering of the Période bleue.
The terminus post quem of the blue period is the exhibition at the Vollard gallery, which begins on June 24, 1901. Picasso appears as a brilliant colorist, with a wide variety of themes around worldly life and a youthful spontaneity. The terminus ante quem of the change in mood is a visit by Sabartes in his workshop at the end of the fall of the same year : the bright colors are gone, all the paintings are predominantly blue.
The themes also changed, with three variants of miserabilism : acrobats, alcohol in cafes, the women of Saint-Lazare. Sabartes confirmed that Picasso deliberately wanted to transform his art for integrating humanist characteristics such as sadness and pain.
Saint-Lazare is the prison-hospital where prostituted women live a hopeless decline. Picasso found cheap models there, and it was indeed at this point that his ideas went dismal. One morning, on the road once again for Saint-Lazare, he conceived L'Enterrement de Casagemas, the oil on canvas 150 x 90 cm which is often considered as the earliest example of the blue period.
On November 8, 2000, Christie's sold Femme aux bras croisés for $ 55M, lot 43. This oil on canvas 81 x 58 cm is undoubtedly the portrait of a prisoner at Saint-Lazare. The starving woman expects nothing and looks at nothing. The position of the arms is protective, but she has nothing to protect. Picasso will later consider women as suffering machines.
It is difficult to accurately date some works from the blue period : the artist often reused his canvases, either for new compositions or for major alterations, which was the case for the Femme aux bras croisés. Considering Picasso's visits to Saint-Lazare in 1901 and this very allegorical interpretation of misery, this tragic painting was probably begun in Paris in the early phase of the blue period.
The terminus post quem of the blue period is the exhibition at the Vollard gallery, which begins on June 24, 1901. Picasso appears as a brilliant colorist, with a wide variety of themes around worldly life and a youthful spontaneity. The terminus ante quem of the change in mood is a visit by Sabartes in his workshop at the end of the fall of the same year : the bright colors are gone, all the paintings are predominantly blue.
The themes also changed, with three variants of miserabilism : acrobats, alcohol in cafes, the women of Saint-Lazare. Sabartes confirmed that Picasso deliberately wanted to transform his art for integrating humanist characteristics such as sadness and pain.
Saint-Lazare is the prison-hospital where prostituted women live a hopeless decline. Picasso found cheap models there, and it was indeed at this point that his ideas went dismal. One morning, on the road once again for Saint-Lazare, he conceived L'Enterrement de Casagemas, the oil on canvas 150 x 90 cm which is often considered as the earliest example of the blue period.
On November 8, 2000, Christie's sold Femme aux bras croisés for $ 55M, lot 43. This oil on canvas 81 x 58 cm is undoubtedly the portrait of a prisoner at Saint-Lazare. The starving woman expects nothing and looks at nothing. The position of the arms is protective, but she has nothing to protect. Picasso will later consider women as suffering machines.
It is difficult to accurately date some works from the blue period : the artist often reused his canvases, either for new compositions or for major alterations, which was the case for the Femme aux bras croisés. Considering Picasso's visits to Saint-Lazare in 1901 and this very allegorical interpretation of misery, this tragic painting was probably begun in Paris in the early phase of the blue period.
3
Yo Picasso
1989 SOLD for $ 48 M by Sotheby's
Pablo Ruiz Picasso is attracted to the bohemian life. He goes to the 4 Gats cabaret in Barcelona and shares a workshop with Carlos Casagemas from January to September 1900. That name of 4 Gats is a reference to the Chat Noir in Montmartre. The two friends explore Paris in October 1900. It is indeed the ideal city for a career as a painter.
Carlos is the first to return to Paris, in January 1901. He commits suicide on February 17.
A highly creative period begins for Pablo. In May, the success of an exhibition of his pastels in Barcelona stirs his ambition. He returns to Paris at the end of May.
The skills of the young man is already evident. He will have a solo exhibition at the Galerie Vollard from June 24. He wants to show his know-how in its whole extent and frantically prepares paintings on various themes: scenes of cabaret and of horse racing, landscapes, flowers, naked women.
He is ready. His father's name, Ruiz, is too common for his exuberant ambition. He removes it from his signature to become Picasso.
The exhibition at Vollard's is dominated by a half-length self-portrait in front of his easel, unequivocally marking the artist's desire to be known and recognized. The attitude is proud, the gaze is intense and the colors are vivid. He will later write a title on this painting, Yo Picasso, confirming his own insolence. He may be forgiven : he was not yet 20 years old.
No, decidedly, four months after the death of Casagemas, there was no precursor of the blue period. Picasso's deep depression began around the middle of 1901. Picasso would later attribute it to the mourning of his friend, which nevertheless considerably disturbed him, without ever revealing the real cause of its outbreak. A rejected love?
Yo Picasso, oil on canvas 74 x 60 cm, was sold for $ 48M by Sotheby's on May 9, 1989.
Carlos is the first to return to Paris, in January 1901. He commits suicide on February 17.
A highly creative period begins for Pablo. In May, the success of an exhibition of his pastels in Barcelona stirs his ambition. He returns to Paris at the end of May.
The skills of the young man is already evident. He will have a solo exhibition at the Galerie Vollard from June 24. He wants to show his know-how in its whole extent and frantically prepares paintings on various themes: scenes of cabaret and of horse racing, landscapes, flowers, naked women.
He is ready. His father's name, Ruiz, is too common for his exuberant ambition. He removes it from his signature to become Picasso.
The exhibition at Vollard's is dominated by a half-length self-portrait in front of his easel, unequivocally marking the artist's desire to be known and recognized. The attitude is proud, the gaze is intense and the colors are vivid. He will later write a title on this painting, Yo Picasso, confirming his own insolence. He may be forgiven : he was not yet 20 years old.
No, decidedly, four months after the death of Casagemas, there was no precursor of the blue period. Picasso's deep depression began around the middle of 1901. Picasso would later attribute it to the mourning of his friend, which nevertheless considerably disturbed him, without ever revealing the real cause of its outbreak. A rejected love?
Yo Picasso, oil on canvas 74 x 60 cm, was sold for $ 48M by Sotheby's on May 9, 1989.
4
Maternité
1988 SOLD for $ 24.7M by Christie's
Picasso said: "It was while thinking that Casagemas was dead that I began to paint in blue". The chronology of the facts complicates the expertise. The euphoria of his solo exhibition by Vollard, in June 1901, just before Picasso's great depression, had come four months after Casagemas' death. This statement is however confirmed by an imaginary portrait of Casagemas on his deathbed, a much painful vision that Picasso kept in secret from 1901 to 1965.
The two fellows had wanted to explore the pleasures of Parisian life. Casagemas had committed suicide after attempting to assassinate a Moulin Rouge girl.
This mixture of love and death created with some delay a mystical questioning. Picasso is traumatized by the degradation of women in the prison-hospital of Saint-Lazare, dedicated for a hundred years to keeping sick prostitutes away from the brothels.
In this impulse that anticipates the Minotauromachie by more than thirty years, the artist no longer understands the meaning of life. The woman is not only an object of pleasure, she is also the mother, entrusted for perpetuating the human species. In the fall of 1901, just before returning to Barcelona, he painted a series of Maternities which indirectly reinterpreted the theme of the Virgin and Child.
An opus in this series is arguably the most poignant image therein. The mother wears a bure robe with a large hood. She affectionately holds the child standing in pajamas in front of her and places a kiss on his forehead. The room is empty except for a sewing basket, symbol of the humble occupations of the mother. There is no doubt that she is a fallen woman, locked up in Saint-Lazare, to whom her son brings the memory and the hope of real life. The hands of the young boy are joined as in a Christian prayer.
This 92 x 60 cm oil painting was sold for $ 24.7M by Christie's on November 14, 1988. The image was shared in 2006 by Artnet.
The above interpretations are confirmed by a masterpiece from the blue period, painted in Barcelona in 1903, significantly titled La Vie, which confronts a naked couple and a maternity and where the man of the carnal couple is a posthumous portrait of Casagemas.
The two fellows had wanted to explore the pleasures of Parisian life. Casagemas had committed suicide after attempting to assassinate a Moulin Rouge girl.
This mixture of love and death created with some delay a mystical questioning. Picasso is traumatized by the degradation of women in the prison-hospital of Saint-Lazare, dedicated for a hundred years to keeping sick prostitutes away from the brothels.
In this impulse that anticipates the Minotauromachie by more than thirty years, the artist no longer understands the meaning of life. The woman is not only an object of pleasure, she is also the mother, entrusted for perpetuating the human species. In the fall of 1901, just before returning to Barcelona, he painted a series of Maternities which indirectly reinterpreted the theme of the Virgin and Child.
An opus in this series is arguably the most poignant image therein. The mother wears a bure robe with a large hood. She affectionately holds the child standing in pajamas in front of her and places a kiss on his forehead. The room is empty except for a sewing basket, symbol of the humble occupations of the mother. There is no doubt that she is a fallen woman, locked up in Saint-Lazare, to whom her son brings the memory and the hope of real life. The hands of the young boy are joined as in a Christian prayer.
This 92 x 60 cm oil painting was sold for $ 24.7M by Christie's on November 14, 1988. The image was shared in 2006 by Artnet.
The above interpretations are confirmed by a masterpiece from the blue period, painted in Barcelona in 1903, significantly titled La Vie, which confronts a naked couple and a maternity and where the man of the carnal couple is a posthumous portrait of Casagemas.
KLIMT
1
1901-1902 Insel im Attersee
2023 SOLD for $ 53M by Sotheby's
From 1900 to 1907 Gustav Klimt spends the summer in the small village of Litzlberg on the Attersee in the Austrian Alps of Salzkammergut. Far away from the hectic life of Vienna, he has a quiet pastime including swim in the lake and outdoor painting after breakfast when the weather is fine, plus an optional swim and second painting session in the afternoon, "early to bed, early to rise in the next morning".
Like Monet he does not feel like a tourist and is not appealed by panoramic views. He is serenely looking for the deep essence of nature, catching its texture in square format. Monet also had used this solution.
In an oil on canvas 80 x 80 cm of the Attersee painted in 1900, nearly the whole surface is occupied by the turquoise spots in grazing incidence against the misty sunlight. The surface of the lake is lapping in shimmering shades from green in the forefront to bluish violet in the distance.
The sunrise and the horizon appear in a very narrow area where the sun is trimmed. Please watch the video shared by the Leopold Museum.
Klimt's textures express a sensation that anticipates the abstraction.
In 1901 or 1902 Klimt paints a remake of his 1900 Attersee view. In a move that anticipates by a few years Monet's Nymphéas, he gets rid of the horizon in another square format. The shore is maintained but looks far away. A green area of foliage without details on the right, already visible in the 1900 picture, is an island in Litzlberg.
Klimt did not depart from this improved replica, certainly made for his own pleasure. This oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm was sold for $ 53M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 107. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Like Monet he does not feel like a tourist and is not appealed by panoramic views. He is serenely looking for the deep essence of nature, catching its texture in square format. Monet also had used this solution.
In an oil on canvas 80 x 80 cm of the Attersee painted in 1900, nearly the whole surface is occupied by the turquoise spots in grazing incidence against the misty sunlight. The surface of the lake is lapping in shimmering shades from green in the forefront to bluish violet in the distance.
The sunrise and the horizon appear in a very narrow area where the sun is trimmed. Please watch the video shared by the Leopold Museum.
Klimt's textures express a sensation that anticipates the abstraction.
In 1901 or 1902 Klimt paints a remake of his 1900 Attersee view. In a move that anticipates by a few years Monet's Nymphéas, he gets rid of the horizon in another square format. The shore is maintained but looks far away. A green area of foliage without details on the right, already visible in the 1900 picture, is an island in Litzlberg.
Klimt did not depart from this improved replica, certainly made for his own pleasure. This oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm was sold for $ 53M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 107. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
2
1901 Seeufer mit Birken
2012 SOLD for £ 5.6M by Sotheby's
In 1901, Gustav Klimt is already the leader of the movement named the Vienna Secession, which has its roots in the symbolism. He is not afraid of controversy, but he also needs rest, and he takes a holiday on the shores of the Attersee lake.
Inspired by some birch trees by the lake, he enjoys to show them in an impressionist oil on canvas that has much in common with the art of Monet.
The square format, 90 x 90 cm, provides an intimate feeling to this landscape. The grassy and flowery slope leading down to the lake has an impressionistic touch, as also the reflection of trees in water farther away.
However its composition is original and modern, with the trunk of a birch tree slightly twisted which cuts the image into two equal parts to better drive the eye onto its humble existence.
This painting was not recorded, but its authenticity is without a doubt. It was sold in post sale for £ 5.6M by Sotheby's on February 8, 2012. It is illustrated in the press release shared by AuctionPublicity.
Inspired by some birch trees by the lake, he enjoys to show them in an impressionist oil on canvas that has much in common with the art of Monet.
The square format, 90 x 90 cm, provides an intimate feeling to this landscape. The grassy and flowery slope leading down to the lake has an impressionistic touch, as also the reflection of trees in water farther away.
However its composition is original and modern, with the trunk of a birch tree slightly twisted which cuts the image into two equal parts to better drive the eye onto its humble existence.
This painting was not recorded, but its authenticity is without a doubt. It was sold in post sale for £ 5.6M by Sotheby's on February 8, 2012. It is illustrated in the press release shared by AuctionPublicity.
1901 The Red Cross Diamond
2022 SOLD for CHF 14.2M by Christie's
A rough diamond of canary color weighing about 370 carats was unearthed in 1901 in a De Beers mine in South Africa.
It was cut as a cushion modified brilliant-cut diamond of 205.07 carats, graded in 2021 by the GIA as fancy intense yellow, natural color, VS2 clarity. Its size is 33.8 x 33.8 x 24.9 mm and its
gross weight is 41.1 grams.
Recognized in February 1918 by The Times as one of the greatest jewels of the world and acclaimed for its natural phosphorescence, it was donated to be sold in April 1918 by Christie's in London at the fourth and last annual war charity auction of the Red Cross. It fetched £ 10K equivalent to £ 600K of today. A cross had been faceted in the front side.
Known as the Red Cross Diamond, it was sold for CHF 1.8M by Christie's in Geneva in November 1973. It was sold for CHF 14.2M on May 11, 2022, again by Christie's in Geneva, lot 61. Part of the sale revenue will be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
It was cut as a cushion modified brilliant-cut diamond of 205.07 carats, graded in 2021 by the GIA as fancy intense yellow, natural color, VS2 clarity. Its size is 33.8 x 33.8 x 24.9 mm and its
gross weight is 41.1 grams.
Recognized in February 1918 by The Times as one of the greatest jewels of the world and acclaimed for its natural phosphorescence, it was donated to be sold in April 1918 by Christie's in London at the fourth and last annual war charity auction of the Red Cross. It fetched £ 10K equivalent to £ 600K of today. A cross had been faceted in the front side.
Known as the Red Cross Diamond, it was sold for CHF 1.8M by Christie's in Geneva in November 1973. It was sold for CHF 14.2M on May 11, 2022, again by Christie's in Geneva, lot 61. Part of the sale revenue will be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
#SpotlightSaturday The Red Cross Diamond: 'one of the rarest stones on Earth' fetched double its pre-sale estimate and realised CHF14,181,250 at Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale. A significant portion of the proceeds will benefit the International Committee of the @RedCross pic.twitter.com/mQ5lvh47h6
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 14, 2022
#SpotlightSaturday Christie's is proud to announce The Red Cross Diamond, a historically important fancy intense yellow, cushion-shaped diamond of 205.07 carat. A symbol of altruism, part of the sale revenue will be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross. pic.twitter.com/DTIwEUQ9FL
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) April 16, 2022
1901 Genfersee von Saint-Prex aus by Hodler
2007 SOLD for CHF 11M by Sotheby's
Ferdinand Hodler faced a scandal. In 1897 he had accepted a commission for a historical fresco in Zurich. He selected to feature the battle of Marignan that had been famously lost by the Swiss. After a three year struggle, that project was accepted.
Keeping quiet after that ordeal, Hodler managed to apply his Parallelism to landscapes.
Genfersee von Saint-Prex aus is a view of the Savoy Alps beyond the lake of Geneva taken from a flowering meadow in Vaud. Cumulus clouds are floating while their reflections add narrow stripes in the blue water. The mountains are bathed in a violet backlight.
This oil on canvas 72 x 107 cm painted ca 1901 was sold for CHF 11M by Sotheby's on June 5, 2007, lot 48.
Keeping quiet after that ordeal, Hodler managed to apply his Parallelism to landscapes.
Genfersee von Saint-Prex aus is a view of the Savoy Alps beyond the lake of Geneva taken from a flowering meadow in Vaud. Cumulus clouds are floating while their reflections add narrow stripes in the blue water. The mountains are bathed in a violet backlight.
This oil on canvas 72 x 107 cm painted ca 1901 was sold for CHF 11M by Sotheby's on June 5, 2007, lot 48.
1901 La Seine à Vétheuil by Monet
2015 SOLD for $ 11.5M by Sotheby's
From 1878 to 1881 Claude Monet had resided in Vétheuil, a medieval village on the banks of the Seine.
He revisited that beloved location in the summer of 1901 when he rented a house on the other bank of the river, at Lavacourt. He painted a series of 15 views of Vétheuil from virtually the same viewpoint on the balcony, concentrating in his new signature practice on the effect of light and atmosphere at different times of the day.
La Seine à Vétheuil, oil on canvas 82 x 93 cm featuring a beautiful reflection of the village in the river, was sold for $ 11.5M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Sotheby's on May 5, 2015, lot 28. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A view in the afternoon 90 x 92 cm was sold for $ 6.6M by Christie's on May 4, 2005, lot 18. A sun bathed view 82 x 93 cm was sold for $ 5.5M by Christie's on November 3, 2009, lot 19.
He revisited that beloved location in the summer of 1901 when he rented a house on the other bank of the river, at Lavacourt. He painted a series of 15 views of Vétheuil from virtually the same viewpoint on the balcony, concentrating in his new signature practice on the effect of light and atmosphere at different times of the day.
La Seine à Vétheuil, oil on canvas 82 x 93 cm featuring a beautiful reflection of the village in the river, was sold for $ 11.5M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Sotheby's on May 5, 2015, lot 28. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A view in the afternoon 90 x 92 cm was sold for $ 6.6M by Christie's on May 4, 2005, lot 18. A sun bathed view 82 x 93 cm was sold for $ 5.5M by Christie's on November 3, 2009, lot 19.
1901 Vagen by Strindberg
2022 SOLD for £ 6.8M by Sotheby's
August Strindberg used the writing for expressing his vision of the meaning of life, influenced in turn by Nietzsche, Zola and Swedenborg. He could not live without very young wives but his three marriages were short-lived.
In two periods of extreme tension in his dramatic creation, 1892-94 and 1901-05, Strindberg stopped writing and found refuge in a painting spread by violent knife blows, unleashing the automatism of his impulses.
In 1892 he left Sweden to try to restore his balance. This crisis will last six years. In 1893 he painted landscapes where sky and sea form a continuity without horizon.
In 1894 his tribulations led him with his very young pregnant second wife in a hut in Dornach, in the upper valley of the Danube. The couple's relationship is increasingly difficult. Waiting for the childbirth, he decorated this home by seven paintings of various subjects. The local scenery is spectacular. Strindberg paints landscapes in which topographical details are absent and where the thickness of the paint erases the border between the mountain and the stormy sky.
Alplandskap, an oil on panel 72 x 51 cm made in the Dornach hut, was sold for £ 2.1M by Sotheby's on June 27, 2007. The swirling motion of the knife reminds the starry sky of van Gogh. Made during the same stay, Wonderland shows the exit of the underworld, blinding and not reachable by a potential traveler stuck within the shadows. The inspiration and execution of Wonderland make Strindberg a forerunner of abstract expressionism.
Strindberg is aware that his art is totally new. The title is only a guide, and the artwork is a tour de force that expresses both the external environment and the inner torment of the artist. He outlined in 1893 the theory of his creations as Art fortuit (in French, meaning chance art), which opens the way for the much later role of emotion in surrealist art and to the abstract landscapes by Zao Wou-ki. If Strindberg had been a professional artist, he could have shaken forever the theories about the meaning of art. Kandinsky did it in 1909 in Murnau.
Prepared in 1897 in the depths of one of his paranoid crises, an autobiographical novel titled Inferno describes his hallucinations and delusions as well as his paltry remedies including alchemy and occultism.
A new major marital crisis occurs in 1901 when Strindberg then 52 years old is informed of the murder of his former lover Dagny Juel and cancels his honeymoon with his third wife Harriet Bosse aged 23.
On June 7, 2017, Bukowskis sold for SEK 15.5M before fees an oil on canvas 100 x 70 cm also titled Inferno, lot 403. This direct following to Wonderland is reflecting his new descent into hell. It is dated 1903 but the catalog considers that it was painted in 1901.
In his 1901 crisis, Strindberg did not forget the wild force of the ocean. His Vagen (Waves) V to VII are a sub-series of three paintings from that year. The threatening wave looks like a snowy mountain crest between the dark foreground and the stormy gray sky. That composition in horizontal fields including a narrow band of calm sky possibly influenced Rothko's abstract rectangles.
Vagen V, oil on canvas 100 x 71 cm, was sold for £ 6.8M from a lower estimate of £ 2M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2022, lot 139.
In two periods of extreme tension in his dramatic creation, 1892-94 and 1901-05, Strindberg stopped writing and found refuge in a painting spread by violent knife blows, unleashing the automatism of his impulses.
In 1892 he left Sweden to try to restore his balance. This crisis will last six years. In 1893 he painted landscapes where sky and sea form a continuity without horizon.
In 1894 his tribulations led him with his very young pregnant second wife in a hut in Dornach, in the upper valley of the Danube. The couple's relationship is increasingly difficult. Waiting for the childbirth, he decorated this home by seven paintings of various subjects. The local scenery is spectacular. Strindberg paints landscapes in which topographical details are absent and where the thickness of the paint erases the border between the mountain and the stormy sky.
Alplandskap, an oil on panel 72 x 51 cm made in the Dornach hut, was sold for £ 2.1M by Sotheby's on June 27, 2007. The swirling motion of the knife reminds the starry sky of van Gogh. Made during the same stay, Wonderland shows the exit of the underworld, blinding and not reachable by a potential traveler stuck within the shadows. The inspiration and execution of Wonderland make Strindberg a forerunner of abstract expressionism.
Strindberg is aware that his art is totally new. The title is only a guide, and the artwork is a tour de force that expresses both the external environment and the inner torment of the artist. He outlined in 1893 the theory of his creations as Art fortuit (in French, meaning chance art), which opens the way for the much later role of emotion in surrealist art and to the abstract landscapes by Zao Wou-ki. If Strindberg had been a professional artist, he could have shaken forever the theories about the meaning of art. Kandinsky did it in 1909 in Murnau.
Prepared in 1897 in the depths of one of his paranoid crises, an autobiographical novel titled Inferno describes his hallucinations and delusions as well as his paltry remedies including alchemy and occultism.
A new major marital crisis occurs in 1901 when Strindberg then 52 years old is informed of the murder of his former lover Dagny Juel and cancels his honeymoon with his third wife Harriet Bosse aged 23.
On June 7, 2017, Bukowskis sold for SEK 15.5M before fees an oil on canvas 100 x 70 cm also titled Inferno, lot 403. This direct following to Wonderland is reflecting his new descent into hell. It is dated 1903 but the catalog considers that it was painted in 1901.
In his 1901 crisis, Strindberg did not forget the wild force of the ocean. His Vagen (Waves) V to VII are a sub-series of three paintings from that year. The threatening wave looks like a snowy mountain crest between the dark foreground and the stormy gray sky. That composition in horizontal fields including a narrow band of calm sky possibly influenced Rothko's abstract rectangles.
Vagen V, oil on canvas 100 x 71 cm, was sold for £ 6.8M from a lower estimate of £ 2M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2022, lot 139.
#AuctionUpdate Record for Swedish playwright & novelist August Strindberg, as his visceral 1901 work ‘Wave V’ sells for £6,797,800, sparking competition from 4 bidders to make over twice its estimate. pic.twitter.com/HGzBojIH8b
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 29, 2022
