1903
1903 In the Blue of Absinthe
2010 SOLD 34.8 M£ including premium
Picasso's blue period, which lasted three years, is fascinating. Barely more than twenty years old, the artist expresses in his paintings a sort of autobiography of life's difficulties, and of the pursuit of pleasure despite misery.
Les Noces de Pierrette (1905), sold 300 MF on November 30, 1989 in duplex between Paris and Tokyo by Binoche and Godeau, is a scene group charged with intense emotion.
The portraits of friends are extraordinary. The Absinthe drinker of the Andrew Lloyd Webber collection, painted in 1903, 70 x 55 cm, in one of them. There is a wonderful contrast between the cynical face twisted like a Van Gogh and the feverish activity of the hands that prepare the addicting drink. At that time, the dangers of absinthe were not yet known (or not yet accepted by consumers ...).
Lloyd Webber had intended to sell it on November 8, 2006 at Christie's in New York. The lot had been withdrawn from sale after a property dispute dating back to Nazi spoliation. The art market awaited with impatience the come back of this work.
It is now done to the satisfaction of all parties. Christie's will sell it in London on June 23. Estimated $ 40 million in 2006, it is now expecting £ 30 million. The sale is to benefit the charity foundation of the composer.
All the press will talk about it. For not creating jealousy (!!!), here is a link to its photo in 2006 in the Sydney Morning Herald.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkable work from the beginning of Picasso's maturity has been sold £ 34.8 million including premium.
Les Noces de Pierrette (1905), sold 300 MF on November 30, 1989 in duplex between Paris and Tokyo by Binoche and Godeau, is a scene group charged with intense emotion.
The portraits of friends are extraordinary. The Absinthe drinker of the Andrew Lloyd Webber collection, painted in 1903, 70 x 55 cm, in one of them. There is a wonderful contrast between the cynical face twisted like a Van Gogh and the feverish activity of the hands that prepare the addicting drink. At that time, the dangers of absinthe were not yet known (or not yet accepted by consumers ...).
Lloyd Webber had intended to sell it on November 8, 2006 at Christie's in New York. The lot had been withdrawn from sale after a property dispute dating back to Nazi spoliation. The art market awaited with impatience the come back of this work.
It is now done to the satisfaction of all parties. Christie's will sell it in London on June 23. Estimated $ 40 million in 2006, it is now expecting £ 30 million. The sale is to benefit the charity foundation of the composer.
All the press will talk about it. For not creating jealousy (!!!), here is a link to its photo in 2006 in the Sydney Morning Herald.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkable work from the beginning of Picasso's maturity has been sold £ 34.8 million including premium.
1903 London by MONET
1
Waterloo Bridge
2021 SOLD for $ 48M by Christie's
During his frequent and long duration stays in London from 1899 to 1904, Monet made a unprecedented artistic move : he selected only three view points, all of them along the River Thames, two of them from the balcony of his hotel room. He loved the winter fog of London. Not for its mist but for its ever vanishing colors.
As early as 1900 he counted in his hotel room 65 canvases covered of paint with his impressions from all kinds of weather. He reworked them simultaneously in his studio at Giverny and signed them with the date of the completion. He thus painted 41 views of the elegant Waterloo bridge, 37 views of Charing Cross bridge and 19 views of the Towers of Parliament. He considered that work as a whole and did not give visibility before the last of them was finished in 1904. He also made pastels.
On May 13, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 48M Waterloo Bridge effet de Brouillard, oil on canvas 66 x 100 cm dated 1903, lot 8 B. The March 18 press release announces an estimate in the region of $ 35M. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The intense fog displays here an ethereal blue iridescent with soft hues of violet, pink and orange, dissolving the animation of the passing carriages and reducing the shores to mere shadows. This significant opus had been included in 1904 in the ground-breaking Durand-Ruel exhibition entitled Claude Monet : Vues de la Tamise à Londres.
As early as 1900 he counted in his hotel room 65 canvases covered of paint with his impressions from all kinds of weather. He reworked them simultaneously in his studio at Giverny and signed them with the date of the completion. He thus painted 41 views of the elegant Waterloo bridge, 37 views of Charing Cross bridge and 19 views of the Towers of Parliament. He considered that work as a whole and did not give visibility before the last of them was finished in 1904. He also made pastels.
On May 13, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 48M Waterloo Bridge effet de Brouillard, oil on canvas 66 x 100 cm dated 1903, lot 8 B. The March 18 press release announces an estimate in the region of $ 35M. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The intense fog displays here an ethereal blue iridescent with soft hues of violet, pink and orange, dissolving the animation of the passing carriages and reducing the shores to mere shadows. This significant opus had been included in 1904 in the ground-breaking Durand-Ruel exhibition entitled Claude Monet : Vues de la Tamise à Londres.
#AuctionUpdate Claude Monet's 'Waterloo Bridge, effet de brouillard' from the artist's landmark series of London views achieves $48,450,000 pic.twitter.com/xdEgAyxatl
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 13, 2021
2
Charing Cross Bridge
2019 SOLD for $ 27.6M by Sotheby's
In the early autumn 1899 Claude and Alice Monet are in London. Below their windows at the Savoy Hotel, the Thames river flows between the Charing Cross railway bridge and the Waterloo road bridge. The artist returns alone in the following year to the same hotel for a longer stay, in February and March. He applies every day an ambitious working plan with a schedule of the utmost rigor.
In 1891 he had made 23 paintings of his Poplars with only four angles of view for recording all the variations of the day, passing from one canvas to another when the light changes. In London, taking advantage of the benevolent welcome of the hotel, he prepares dozens of canvases to translate in parallel all the shimmers of the morning on Waterloo Bridge and of the early afternoon on Charing Cross Bridge. He observes that some effects of light through the fog do not last more than five minutes.
During this stay he adds a third theme, the late afternoon on the Parliament, probably to offer the public a more traditional view of London than the strict silhouettes of the two bridges. This activity requiring the outdoor installation of his easels is obviously less comfortable. Monet is definitely not a tourist or a stroller : the rest of the city does not interest him.
The change of light in the early spring terminates this session. He returns in 1901 during the same season for completing his preparation. The paintings are finished in the workshop at Giverny. The artist inscribes the year of completion beside his signature.
On November 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells one of the 37 oil paintings on canvas of Charing Cross Bridge, 65 x 100 cm, dated 1903. It is estimated $ 20M, lot 8. This example displays a thick fog made even more abstract by the lack of perspective of the unsightly bridge. The almost imperceptible steam of two trains is dissolved in the mist. A faint light illuminates the center of the image.
This set of nearly one hundred paintings executed in parallel on only three themes was a project without equivalent in the history of art. The Thames in London in the winter fog of was perhaps the only condition in the world worthy to manage such a feat. The mists of Venice are less fugitive, probably explaining the dismay of Monet at the beginning of his stay in the City of the Doges in 1908.
In 1891 he had made 23 paintings of his Poplars with only four angles of view for recording all the variations of the day, passing from one canvas to another when the light changes. In London, taking advantage of the benevolent welcome of the hotel, he prepares dozens of canvases to translate in parallel all the shimmers of the morning on Waterloo Bridge and of the early afternoon on Charing Cross Bridge. He observes that some effects of light through the fog do not last more than five minutes.
During this stay he adds a third theme, the late afternoon on the Parliament, probably to offer the public a more traditional view of London than the strict silhouettes of the two bridges. This activity requiring the outdoor installation of his easels is obviously less comfortable. Monet is definitely not a tourist or a stroller : the rest of the city does not interest him.
The change of light in the early spring terminates this session. He returns in 1901 during the same season for completing his preparation. The paintings are finished in the workshop at Giverny. The artist inscribes the year of completion beside his signature.
On November 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells one of the 37 oil paintings on canvas of Charing Cross Bridge, 65 x 100 cm, dated 1903. It is estimated $ 20M, lot 8. This example displays a thick fog made even more abstract by the lack of perspective of the unsightly bridge. The almost imperceptible steam of two trains is dissolved in the mist. A faint light illuminates the center of the image.
This set of nearly one hundred paintings executed in parallel on only three themes was a project without equivalent in the history of art. The Thames in London in the winter fog of was perhaps the only condition in the world worthy to manage such a feat. The mists of Venice are less fugitive, probably explaining the dismay of Monet at the beginning of his stay in the City of the Doges in 1908.
One of the many works in the #London series by Claude #Monet, will be sold in November – with an estimate of £15-23 million
— Barnebys.co.uk (@Barnebysuk) November 1, 2019
1902-1904 Fillette à la Poupée by Cézanne
2001 SOLD for $ 16.5M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg
Sold for $ 16.5M on May 7, 2001 by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg, lot 4, from the Berggruen collection, formerly in the collections of Ambroise Vollard, Auguste Pellerin, Alphonse Kann, and George A. Embiricos.
oil on canvas, in lush hues of dark and light blues.
In a pre-Cubist style, the heads of girl and doll are not detailed.
oil on canvas, in lush hues of dark and light blues.
In a pre-Cubist style, the heads of girl and doll are not detailed.
1902-1906 Watercolors by CEZANNE
1
Nature Morte
2020 SOLD for $ 28.7M by Christie's
Paul Cézanne, like the old Dutch masters, uses still life to express light. His workshop at Les Lauves, set up in 1902, is well lit in the morning. The motley objects await on a shelf the role that the master will want to give them. He cannot work by imagination or by spontaneous construction : he chooses in advance the elements of his next assembly and determines distance and perspective.
He is a perfectionist of geometric projection. The paper is flat but the fruits are volumes that the light reaches through their middle. Breakfast utensils, such as a teapot or sugar bowl, are also convex.
The work begins with a drawing of the outlines on a sheet of paper. Each surface is filled with colors that reflect the lighting zones without overlapping. This phase should be intermediate but Cézanne is never satisfied : the finished product, which is oil on canvas, becomes scarce. His rare visitors, like Emile Bernard, are disconcerted by the complexity and slowness of his creative process. His reinterpretation of nature is so innovative that he creates modern art.
On October 6, 2020, Christie's sold as lot 13 for $ 28.7M a still life in watercolor and gouache made in the largest paper size used by the artist, 48 x 62 cm. The focal point is the green melon, with its bright color and its central position in the image. It is however placed on the other side of the table, partially hidden by the milk jug and the sugar bowl.
He is a perfectionist of geometric projection. The paper is flat but the fruits are volumes that the light reaches through their middle. Breakfast utensils, such as a teapot or sugar bowl, are also convex.
The work begins with a drawing of the outlines on a sheet of paper. Each surface is filled with colors that reflect the lighting zones without overlapping. This phase should be intermediate but Cézanne is never satisfied : the finished product, which is oil on canvas, becomes scarce. His rare visitors, like Emile Bernard, are disconcerted by the complexity and slowness of his creative process. His reinterpretation of nature is so innovative that he creates modern art.
On October 6, 2020, Christie's sold as lot 13 for $ 28.7M a still life in watercolor and gouache made in the largest paper size used by the artist, 48 x 62 cm. The focal point is the green melon, with its bright color and its central position in the image. It is however placed on the other side of the table, partially hidden by the milk jug and the sugar bowl.
'The greatest Cézanne watercolour to be offered in decades' — #Cézanne's Nature morte avec pot au lait, melon et sucrier from the collection of Edsel & Eleanor Ford House will be offered in the 20th Century Evening Sale on 6 October in New York: https://t.co/gJGcA3KMtr pic.twitter.com/Ss3mrhbAH9
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) August 30, 2020
2
Nature morte au melon vert
2007 SOLD for $ 25.5M by Sotheby's
Also from the last period of Cézanne, a Nature morte au melon vert is another close-up still life similarly focused on a green melon behind a goblet.
This watercolor and pencil 32 x 48 cm was sold for $ 25.5M by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 14M, lot 8.
This watercolor and pencil 32 x 48 cm was sold for $ 25.5M by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 14M, lot 8.
Route tournante (recto) Montagne Sainte-Victoire (verso)
2007 SOLD for $ 6.8M by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
3
Montagne Sainte-Victoire
2014 SOLD 3.55 M£ including premium
Paul Cézanne was not an easy character. Diabetes patient, reaching sixty, he is obsessed with death. In 1901, with remarkable lucidity, he decides to change his lifestyle.
The majestic landscape of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, near his hometown of Aix en Provence, is one of his favorite themes for two decades. His images in the quarries of the mountain are considered are precursors to Cubism.
Cézanne chose a place in the countryside where the mountain view is beautiful and moved his studio, built there in 1902. He did not live there but walked every day from Aix for his work. Until his death in 1906, art of all themes by Cézanne are made in this quiet studio of the Chemin des Lauves where his creativity can no longer be disturbed.
Cézanne made nine oils and seventeen watercolors of Sainte-Victoire from the Lauves. He works outdoors at short distances from the studio but his perception of color shades offers in each of them a renewed harmony.
Throughout his life, Cézanne was a master of watercolor, a technique that enables the maximum transparency over the white paper. In 1904, his friend Emile Bernard came to admire the mastery of execution. Over a rough pencil drawing, the artist positioned successively the colors, meticulously waiting each one to dry before continuing the work, to prevent any unintentional overflow.
One of these watercolors, 43 x 54 cm, was sold twice by Christie's, for $ 4.5M on November 6, 2007, lot 33, and for £ 3.55M on June 24, 2014.
The majestic landscape of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, near his hometown of Aix en Provence, is one of his favorite themes for two decades. His images in the quarries of the mountain are considered are precursors to Cubism.
Cézanne chose a place in the countryside where the mountain view is beautiful and moved his studio, built there in 1902. He did not live there but walked every day from Aix for his work. Until his death in 1906, art of all themes by Cézanne are made in this quiet studio of the Chemin des Lauves where his creativity can no longer be disturbed.
Cézanne made nine oils and seventeen watercolors of Sainte-Victoire from the Lauves. He works outdoors at short distances from the studio but his perception of color shades offers in each of them a renewed harmony.
Throughout his life, Cézanne was a master of watercolor, a technique that enables the maximum transparency over the white paper. In 1904, his friend Emile Bernard came to admire the mastery of execution. Over a rough pencil drawing, the artist positioned successively the colors, meticulously waiting each one to dry before continuing the work, to prevent any unintentional overflow.
One of these watercolors, 43 x 54 cm, was sold twice by Christie's, for $ 4.5M on November 6, 2007, lot 33, and for £ 3.55M on June 24, 2014.
1901-1903 The Triumph of Spring
2016 SOLD for $ 20.4M including premium
Auguste Rodin likes the vigorous bodies which he reproduces in high realism by kneading the earth. The Torso of Adèle, realized before 1880, displays the muscular curvature of a naked young woman. When he meets Camille Claudel, he expresses his new passion by providing a young man to his Adèle now complemented with her limbs and a head.
This first version of L'Eternel Printemps (The Eternal Spring) is carved in the mid 1880s. With the excuse of the reference to Dante in the Gates of Hell and the desire for a total art inspired by Beethoven, Rodin injects in this nude couple an intense erotic surge. The kneeling woman is embraced by the powerful young man. Mouths are joined in a kiss. The title positions the mad love outside the time of our civilizations while evoking the season of sap rising.
Rodin has marbles carved in single blocks by his workshop in response to customer orders. The first marble of The Eternal Spring is started in 1896. The group is now built against a rock which ensures the robustness of the outstretched arm.
The fifth marble of The Eternal Spring is commissioned in 1901 by a friend of Rainer Maria Rilke and completed in 1903, the year when the poet wrote an essay on Rodin. This sculpture 66 cm high and 80 cm long is weighing 154 Kg. It is estimated $ 8M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 9, lot 17.
I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house:
This first version of L'Eternel Printemps (The Eternal Spring) is carved in the mid 1880s. With the excuse of the reference to Dante in the Gates of Hell and the desire for a total art inspired by Beethoven, Rodin injects in this nude couple an intense erotic surge. The kneeling woman is embraced by the powerful young man. Mouths are joined in a kiss. The title positions the mad love outside the time of our civilizations while evoking the season of sap rising.
Rodin has marbles carved in single blocks by his workshop in response to customer orders. The first marble of The Eternal Spring is started in 1896. The group is now built against a rock which ensures the robustness of the outstretched arm.
The fifth marble of The Eternal Spring is commissioned in 1901 by a friend of Rainer Maria Rilke and completed in 1903, the year when the poet wrote an essay on Rodin. This sculpture 66 cm high and 80 cm long is weighing 154 Kg. It is estimated $ 8M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 9, lot 17.
I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house:
Rodin's Eternal Springtime - on offer this May in #SothebysImpMod https://t.co/fJInnZfclH #ImagineTheConversation pic.twitter.com/1GQxqHF8Ah
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) April 20, 2016
1903 Within the Head of Picasso
2015 SOLD for $ 12M including premium
Everything is going wrong in Pablo's head after the suicide of Casagemas in February 1901. This death is inseparable from the demi-monde where the two friends had desired to have fun, since its cause is the disdain of a frivolous dancing girl from the Moulin Rouge.
The early successes of 1901 are now in the past. The blue period poignantly expresses the untimely discovery by this 20 years old artist of this inevitable decay of body and mind that spares nobody, affecting among others the clowns, entertainers and prostitutes. This crisis of melancholy will last three years. His art has probably preserved Picasso against his own suicide.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells a pastel and pencil on paper 58 x 46 cm painted in 1903, lot 15 estimated $ 8M.
The aging prostitute is seated, legs crossed. She needs customers for living but exhibits her nudity with such clumsiness that nobody will come. She neglects her body as evidenced by her too long hair and by the fact that only one of her legs is naked. The introvert gaze, the unpleasant mouth and the attitude modestly hiding the sex announce that her only possible fate is a further decline.
In 1905, Picasso's life becomes more consistent with his youth. His work amidst fellow artists at the Bateau-Lavoir and his meeting with Fernande pulled out Pablo from his morbid loneliness.
The early successes of 1901 are now in the past. The blue period poignantly expresses the untimely discovery by this 20 years old artist of this inevitable decay of body and mind that spares nobody, affecting among others the clowns, entertainers and prostitutes. This crisis of melancholy will last three years. His art has probably preserved Picasso against his own suicide.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells a pastel and pencil on paper 58 x 46 cm painted in 1903, lot 15 estimated $ 8M.
The aging prostitute is seated, legs crossed. She needs customers for living but exhibits her nudity with such clumsiness that nobody will come. She neglects her body as evidenced by her too long hair and by the fact that only one of her legs is naked. The introvert gaze, the unpleasant mouth and the attitude modestly hiding the sex announce that her only possible fate is a further decline.
In 1905, Picasso's life becomes more consistent with his youth. His work amidst fellow artists at the Bateau-Lavoir and his meeting with Fernande pulled out Pablo from his morbid loneliness.
1903 Renoir stripped the Nurse !
2010 SOLD 10.1 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The languorous naked woman lying on a sofa is a classical theme in art. They all look alike, but the style specific to each artist makes them all different.
Renoir's brush is quite suited to show the flesh, to which his Impressionism brings softness and sensuality. He also loves the vivid and composed scenes, and takes bathing as a pretext for his female nudes.
In 1903, he ventures to indoor scenes. Seeking to illustrate the intimacy, he does not accept professional models. He turns to Gabrielle, the servant of his children, of whom he had already made pictures better suited to her social role.
But it is a success. Gabrielle in the nude of her 25 years expresses confidence and proximity. The artist has preserved her privacy by covering her thigh with a discrete white linen. The young woman healthy and replete is almost full size on this oil on canvas in horizontal format, 65 x 155 cm.
This painting is estimated $ 7 million, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 4.
The languorous naked woman lying on a sofa is a classical theme in art. They all look alike, but the style specific to each artist makes them all different.
Renoir's brush is quite suited to show the flesh, to which his Impressionism brings softness and sensuality. He also loves the vivid and composed scenes, and takes bathing as a pretext for his female nudes.
In 1903, he ventures to indoor scenes. Seeking to illustrate the intimacy, he does not accept professional models. He turns to Gabrielle, the servant of his children, of whom he had already made pictures better suited to her social role.
But it is a success. Gabrielle in the nude of her 25 years expresses confidence and proximity. The artist has preserved her privacy by covering her thigh with a discrete white linen. The young woman healthy and replete is almost full size on this oil on canvas in horizontal format, 65 x 155 cm.
This painting is estimated $ 7 million, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 4.
1903 The Theatre of John Singer Sargent
2013 SOLD 5.2 M$ including premium
John Singer Sargent is not a classical artist, although his full length portraits may evoke Boldini. He is not an Impressionist, although he was close to Monet at some time. His professional success was considerable but he was not understood.
Living mostly in Europe, he was one of the first Americans to build an artistic bridge between both continents. He loved the landscapes and scenes of Italy.
This worldly artist grew tired of social relations. As passionate for drawing as Goya was, he turned to a more personal art to such an extent that he closed in 1907 his portrait studio.
Marionettes (behind the curtain), oil on canvas 74 x 53 cm painted in 1903, is an intimate work created by the artist for his own pleasure, and was kept by his family until now. It is estimated $ 5M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 22.
The scene is located in Philadelphia. Four Sicilian immigrants operate rod puppets. The bold composition has three registers, with an angle of view that would have pleased Degas. Separated from the men by the decor, two dolls play a medieval duel in the presence of an old woman.
Sargent loved the theater. This scene where the public is not visible is a juxtaposition between reality and play, with a rare spontaneity.
POST SALE COMMENT
Sold $ 5.2 million including premium, this nice painting has not reached its estimate. Its subject may be too unusual, and its size was small.
The picture is shared by Wikimedia :
Living mostly in Europe, he was one of the first Americans to build an artistic bridge between both continents. He loved the landscapes and scenes of Italy.
This worldly artist grew tired of social relations. As passionate for drawing as Goya was, he turned to a more personal art to such an extent that he closed in 1907 his portrait studio.
Marionettes (behind the curtain), oil on canvas 74 x 53 cm painted in 1903, is an intimate work created by the artist for his own pleasure, and was kept by his family until now. It is estimated $ 5M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 22.
The scene is located in Philadelphia. Four Sicilian immigrants operate rod puppets. The bold composition has three registers, with an angle of view that would have pleased Degas. Separated from the men by the decor, two dolls play a medieval duel in the presence of an old woman.
Sargent loved the theater. This scene where the public is not visible is a juxtaposition between reality and play, with a rare spontaneity.
POST SALE COMMENT
Sold $ 5.2 million including premium, this nice painting has not reached its estimate. Its subject may be too unusual, and its size was small.
The picture is shared by Wikimedia :
