1905
See also : Top 10 Art on paper Painting Children Nude Flowers Music and dance Self portrait Self portrait II Picasso Picasso < 1907 France Monet Pond by Monet Cézanne Midi Alps US painting < 1940 Far West Horse
1905 Innocent Children of the Période Rose
2018 SOLD for $ 115M including premium
Pablo Picasso is back in Paris in April 1904. Barcelona had not dissipated his morbid obsessions and he needs a restart. He installs his workshop at the Bateau-Lavoir and finally manages to create a couple, with Fernande. Gradually his painting loses its blue predominant to include warm colors like pink or orange. It is his Période Rose.
Poverty had dominated his Période Bleue. It is now replaced by the optimistic and promising theme of children ready to enter adulthood. The Garçon à la pipe, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1905, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004.
Pablo mixes the innocence of the nude with the acquisition of a first job. Although the formats are very different, the Fillette à la corbeille fleurie, 155 x 66 cm painted in 1905, and the Garçon menant un cheval, 220 x 131 cm finished in 1906, appear as pendants.
The girl is standing in profile. The body is healthy, straight. The expression is rebellious without any excuse for immodesty, in a striking psychological effect : this young person has obviously been disturbed in her occupation.
During the very short Période Rose the line is delimited and effective. The figurative realism of this Fillette makes forget that nudity may not have been necessary. This artwork successively delighted Gertrude Stein and David Rockefeller. It will be sold on May 8 by Christie's in New York, lot 15.
Poverty had dominated his Période Bleue. It is now replaced by the optimistic and promising theme of children ready to enter adulthood. The Garçon à la pipe, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1905, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004.
Pablo mixes the innocence of the nude with the acquisition of a first job. Although the formats are very different, the Fillette à la corbeille fleurie, 155 x 66 cm painted in 1905, and the Garçon menant un cheval, 220 x 131 cm finished in 1906, appear as pendants.
The girl is standing in profile. The body is healthy, straight. The expression is rebellious without any excuse for immodesty, in a striking psychological effect : this young person has obviously been disturbed in her occupation.
During the very short Période Rose the line is delimited and effective. The figurative realism of this Fillette makes forget that nudity may not have been necessary. This artwork successively delighted Gertrude Stein and David Rockefeller. It will be sold on May 8 by Christie's in New York, lot 15.
1905 Garçon à la Pipe by Picasso
2004 SOLD for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
The miserability of the Période Bleue of Picasso, based on the difficult life of circus acrobats, was socially a dead end. In 1905 he reacts with new themes where the characters imagine their future without losing a stuck or surly attitude. These works include the Femme à l'éventail and two children, the Fillette à la corbeille de fleurs and the Garçon à la pipe.
La Fillette, oil on canvas 155 x 66 cm, was sold for $ 115M including premium by Christie's on May 8, 2018. Le Garçon, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004, lot 7.
The Garçon à la Pipe is a subtle blend of realism and dreamlike and, as such, will remain the archetype of the Période Rose. Dressed in blue overalls, the gloomy teenager is drawn in a fine line. The pipe marks his expectation of maturity. Picasso did not reveal his identity, because it is an allegory. He is however P'tit Louis, a boy from Montmartre who spent long hours watching the artists working at the Bateau-Lavoir.
The inspiration suddenly came to Picasso after a month of interruption of the work. In the blur of a dream, the character is positioned in front of a wallpaper with patterns of roses and wears a garland of flowers in his hair. A simultaneous use of a sharp image in a floral blur had also been attempted by Odilon Redon.
The little worker thus becomes a supernatural being. A relevant comparison was made with Verlaine's poem titled Crimen Amoris. In the dream of a delicious Orient where the seven sins supersede the five senses amidst the roses, the most handsome of the evil angels, indifferent to temptations and caresses, is a boy of sixteen who wears a crown of flowers. His ambition, annihilated at the end of the poem, was to be "the one who will create God".
La Fillette, oil on canvas 155 x 66 cm, was sold for $ 115M including premium by Christie's on May 8, 2018. Le Garçon, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004, lot 7.
The Garçon à la Pipe is a subtle blend of realism and dreamlike and, as such, will remain the archetype of the Période Rose. Dressed in blue overalls, the gloomy teenager is drawn in a fine line. The pipe marks his expectation of maturity. Picasso did not reveal his identity, because it is an allegory. He is however P'tit Louis, a boy from Montmartre who spent long hours watching the artists working at the Bateau-Lavoir.
The inspiration suddenly came to Picasso after a month of interruption of the work. In the blur of a dream, the character is positioned in front of a wallpaper with patterns of roses and wears a garland of flowers in his hair. A simultaneous use of a sharp image in a floral blur had also been attempted by Odilon Redon.
The little worker thus becomes a supernatural being. A relevant comparison was made with Verlaine's poem titled Crimen Amoris. In the dream of a delicious Orient where the seven sins supersede the five senses amidst the roses, the most handsome of the evil angels, indifferent to temptations and caresses, is a boy of sixteen who wears a crown of flowers. His ambition, annihilated at the end of the poem, was to be "the one who will create God".
1905 Water Landscapes
2015 SOLD for $ 54M including premium
In 1904 Claude Monet is seduced by his own work, not as an artist but as a gardener. Water lilies are now invading his pond at Giverny. Their floating leaves constitute a perfectly flat surface which is unique as an artistic theme and the exquisite colors of the flowers meet the Art Nouveau sensitivity of the time.
The artist begins a synthesis of this new theme with his concern from the previous twenty years for the changing colors and reflections under various time and weather. He had the good fortune to catch in his own garden the most subtle theme of modern painting.
The paintings of the first year of the Nymphéas series are very rare on the art market. One of them, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2007. In this close-up view, the edge of the pond is already off the field, also providing an impression of infinity that anticipates Mondrian.
In 1905, the water lilies are more sparse to offer a better role to reflections that became recognizable although the trees are still out of field. The plants form a floating cohort simulating a nice horizontal movement.
A view in clear weather under a gentle sun, oil on canvas 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44M including premium by Christie's on November 7, 2012.
On May 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 81 x 100 cm, lot 30 estimated $ 30M. Also dated 1905, it shows the blocks at the water surface in an atmosphere of early or late hour providing a superb harmony of deep blues and greens.
The artist begins a synthesis of this new theme with his concern from the previous twenty years for the changing colors and reflections under various time and weather. He had the good fortune to catch in his own garden the most subtle theme of modern painting.
The paintings of the first year of the Nymphéas series are very rare on the art market. One of them, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2007. In this close-up view, the edge of the pond is already off the field, also providing an impression of infinity that anticipates Mondrian.
In 1905, the water lilies are more sparse to offer a better role to reflections that became recognizable although the trees are still out of field. The plants form a floating cohort simulating a nice horizontal movement.
A view in clear weather under a gentle sun, oil on canvas 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44M including premium by Christie's on November 7, 2012.
On May 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 81 x 100 cm, lot 30 estimated $ 30M. Also dated 1905, it shows the blocks at the water surface in an atmosphere of early or late hour providing a superb harmony of deep blues and greens.
AuctionUpdate: Sotheby's Chairmen George Wachter and Patti Wong battle for Monet’s ‘Nymphéas,' selling for $54m pic.twitter.com/4mlTAOvKY9
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 6, 2015
1905 Les Noces de Pierrette by Picasso
1989 SOLD for FF 315M including premium by Binoche et Godeau
narrated in 2020
The Période Bleue begins in 1901 with the suicide of Casagemas. Picasso remains melancholic. His main theme is poverty, painted with cool colors. The associated theme is the contradictory life of circus acrobats, who must amuse the public while their real life is miserable.
Les Noces de Pierrette, oil on canvas 115 x 195 cm, appears at first glance as a work of the blue period. It was however painted in 1905, a year rather characterized by the entry of the artist into his pink period with the return of a positive meaning of life. In this transitional artwork, Picasso criticizes the power of money.
This painting depicts six circus characters, three men and three women. During the blue period, the compositions rarely exceeded the couple, sometimes with a child or a partner.
The tension is brought by the whiteness of the faces, the sad expressions, the dark colors of the clothes and of the background. The artist is staging a drama. Pierrette marries the boss of the circus but her amorous look is for Arlequin, who sends her a kiss with one hand while furiously closing the other fist behind his back.
Les Noces de Pierrette was sold on November 30, 1989 by Binoche et Godeau for FF 315M including premium, worth US $ 52M. The Minister of Culture had granted this work the authorization to leave France in exchange for the gift to the French State by its owner of La Célestine, another painting of the blue period considered to be more important.
Unlike La Célestine, Pierrette is not a character from literature. She would rather be a female equivalent of Pierrot, a Colombine being losing her Arlequin, imagined by Picasso.
Les Noces de Pierrette, oil on canvas 115 x 195 cm, appears at first glance as a work of the blue period. It was however painted in 1905, a year rather characterized by the entry of the artist into his pink period with the return of a positive meaning of life. In this transitional artwork, Picasso criticizes the power of money.
This painting depicts six circus characters, three men and three women. During the blue period, the compositions rarely exceeded the couple, sometimes with a child or a partner.
The tension is brought by the whiteness of the faces, the sad expressions, the dark colors of the clothes and of the background. The artist is staging a drama. Pierrette marries the boss of the circus but her amorous look is for Arlequin, who sends her a kiss with one hand while furiously closing the other fist behind his back.
Les Noces de Pierrette was sold on November 30, 1989 by Binoche et Godeau for FF 315M including premium, worth US $ 52M. The Minister of Culture had granted this work the authorization to leave France in exchange for the gift to the French State by its owner of La Célestine, another painting of the blue period considered to be more important.
Unlike La Célestine, Pierrette is not a character from literature. She would rather be a female equivalent of Pierrot, a Colombine being losing her Arlequin, imagined by Picasso.
1905 Monet overwhelmed by his Nymphéas
2012 SOLD 44 M$ including premium
Continuously in search of the harmony of colors and lights, Monet could not ignore the water lilies. When he installed some of them in his pool at Giverny, it was for the pleasure of gardening. The infinite variety of shapes and reflections pushed Monet to make the Nymphéas his favorite subject.
Constable had been the painter of the wind. Monet was the artist of the water surface. After the development of Impressionism, the Nymphéas series is the second revolution brought about by Monet in art history.
In June 19, 2007, Sotheby's sold £ 18.5 million including premium an oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm. Dated 1904, it demonstrates the first systematic experiments on this subject: the horizon disappears to let the water remaining alone in space. The green reflections are almost abstract, already.
The oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 7, is dated in the following year, 1905. The water lilies have a botanical accuracy, the more readable reflections are a better tribute to the pleasure of the garden. It is estimated $ 30M, and illustrated in the release shared by Artdaily.
Durand-Ruel was the first to understand and support the transformation of the art of Monet. In 1909, he assembled in an exhibition 48 Nymphéas by Monet, including the painting now for sale at Christie's. Through this unique theme, careful observers could detect the infinite variety of the artistic creation.
POST SALE COMMENT
By its date and quality, this painting is one of the most outstanding from the Nympheas series: $ 44M including premium.
Constable had been the painter of the wind. Monet was the artist of the water surface. After the development of Impressionism, the Nymphéas series is the second revolution brought about by Monet in art history.
In June 19, 2007, Sotheby's sold £ 18.5 million including premium an oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm. Dated 1904, it demonstrates the first systematic experiments on this subject: the horizon disappears to let the water remaining alone in space. The green reflections are almost abstract, already.
The oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 7, is dated in the following year, 1905. The water lilies have a botanical accuracy, the more readable reflections are a better tribute to the pleasure of the garden. It is estimated $ 30M, and illustrated in the release shared by Artdaily.
Durand-Ruel was the first to understand and support the transformation of the art of Monet. In 1909, he assembled in an exhibition 48 Nymphéas by Monet, including the painting now for sale at Christie's. Through this unique theme, careful observers could detect the infinite variety of the artistic creation.
POST SALE COMMENT
By its date and quality, this painting is one of the most outstanding from the Nympheas series: $ 44M including premium.
1905 Au Lapin Agile by Picasso
1989 SOLD for $ 41M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Cabarets had a preponderant place in Picasso's youth. It is indeed at the 4 Gats in Barcelona that he feels the desire to have a bohemian life in Montmartre.
Le Lapin Agile is perfectly located in the heart of Montmartre, rue des Saules. Before 1900 its reputation had been sordid. Its name is a pun on the sign created by the cartoonist André Gill showing a happy rabbit jumping out of a pan.
Picasso arrives in Paris at the time when a new steward nicknamed Frédé organizes evenings in this cabaret during which poets, comedians and artists from Montmartre play music, sing, recite poems, chat with conviviality. Frédé plays guitar and cello.
Au Lapin Agile is an oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm painted by Picasso in 1905 on a commission from Frédé. Pablo prepares it in the graphic style of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, without any style link either with the blue period or with the pink period. It was sold for $ 41M including premium by Sotheby's on November 27, 1989.
The couple in the foreground, seated in front of glasses of wine, is made up of Picasso dressed as a Harlequin and of Germaine, the woman who had rejected Casagemas but was probably Pablo's mistress throughout the blue period. Behind them, Frédé plays the guitar.
Picasso's painting hung on the wall of the cabaret until 1912. It was therefore a silent witness of the most famous hoax in the history of art.
In 1910 on the cabaret terrace, the writer Roland Dorgelès accompanied by an accomplice attaches brushes to the tail of Lolo, Frédé's donkey. In the presence of a bailiff, they dip the brushes in pots of orange, yellow, red and blue paint and offer the animal a carrot. The frantic movement of the tail creates on a 54 x 81 cm canvas the masterpiece titled Et le Soleil s'endormit sur l'Adriatique, signed J.R. Boronali, an anagram of Buridan's famous donkey, Aliboron.
They exhibit this Sunset at the Salon des Indépendants as a manifesto of the Excessivisme. The fruitful debates that the hoax has aroused about the meaning of art are thus a direct consequence of the artists' meetings at the Lapin Agile. Picasso's painting is a rare rendering of this environment.
Le Lapin Agile is perfectly located in the heart of Montmartre, rue des Saules. Before 1900 its reputation had been sordid. Its name is a pun on the sign created by the cartoonist André Gill showing a happy rabbit jumping out of a pan.
Picasso arrives in Paris at the time when a new steward nicknamed Frédé organizes evenings in this cabaret during which poets, comedians and artists from Montmartre play music, sing, recite poems, chat with conviviality. Frédé plays guitar and cello.
Au Lapin Agile is an oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm painted by Picasso in 1905 on a commission from Frédé. Pablo prepares it in the graphic style of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, without any style link either with the blue period or with the pink period. It was sold for $ 41M including premium by Sotheby's on November 27, 1989.
The couple in the foreground, seated in front of glasses of wine, is made up of Picasso dressed as a Harlequin and of Germaine, the woman who had rejected Casagemas but was probably Pablo's mistress throughout the blue period. Behind them, Frédé plays the guitar.
Picasso's painting hung on the wall of the cabaret until 1912. It was therefore a silent witness of the most famous hoax in the history of art.
In 1910 on the cabaret terrace, the writer Roland Dorgelès accompanied by an accomplice attaches brushes to the tail of Lolo, Frédé's donkey. In the presence of a bailiff, they dip the brushes in pots of orange, yellow, red and blue paint and offer the animal a carrot. The frantic movement of the tail creates on a 54 x 81 cm canvas the masterpiece titled Et le Soleil s'endormit sur l'Adriatique, signed J.R. Boronali, an anagram of Buridan's famous donkey, Aliboron.
They exhibit this Sunset at the Salon des Indépendants as a manifesto of the Excessivisme. The fruitful debates that the hoax has aroused about the meaning of art are thus a direct consequence of the artists' meetings at the Lapin Agile. Picasso's painting is a rare rendering of this environment.
1902-1906 Nature morte au melon vert, watercolor and pencil by Cézanne
2007 SOLD 25.5 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
1905 A Siesta by Sargent
2004 SOLD for $ 23.5M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Influenced by impressionism, John Singer Sargent was one of the best portrait painters of his time. As he approaches fifty, he wants to live his life better. He has been traveling throughout Europe since his youth. He will now refocus his art on the landscapes of his travels and on the holiday scenes with his friends.
Group with Parasols (A Siesta) is an oil on canvas 55 x 71 cm painted in 1905. Two women and two men enjoy the farniente in a meadow on the border of a wood in the Swiss Alps.
The colors are very contrasted, in the chiaroscuro of a hot summer day. The removal of details takes some parts of the image to the borders of abstraction.
One of the men has his head resting on the belly of his mistress who is peacefully dozing under her white parasol. The painting was dedicated to this friend. This extramarital relationship, as well as the different position of each of the four sleepers, matches the artist's deep desire for a free life.
Group with Parasols was sold for $ 23.5M including premium by Sotheby's on December 1, 2004 over a lower estimate of $ 9M.
Group with Parasols (A Siesta) is an oil on canvas 55 x 71 cm painted in 1905. Two women and two men enjoy the farniente in a meadow on the border of a wood in the Swiss Alps.
The colors are very contrasted, in the chiaroscuro of a hot summer day. The removal of details takes some parts of the image to the borders of abstraction.
One of the men has his head resting on the belly of his mistress who is peacefully dozing under her white parasol. The painting was dedicated to this friend. This extramarital relationship, as well as the different position of each of the four sleepers, matches the artist's deep desire for a free life.
Group with Parasols was sold for $ 23.5M including premium by Sotheby's on December 1, 2004 over a lower estimate of $ 9M.
1905 Vlaminck inspired by Van Gogh
2011 SOLD 22.5 M$ including premium
Maurice de Vlaminck was an unusual personality. Violinist, cyclist, African tribal art collector, anarchist activist, bulky and thunderous colossus, he did not follow the predefined tracks.
He shares with Derain an artist's studio in Chatou. Success is not to go, and all experiments are possible. The visit made by the two friends to an exhibition of the works of Van Gogh excites Vlaminck, who finds his style.
The idea is powerful: only the color should dominate the painting, and it must be pure. The figure, realistic among Impressionists, shaken by Van Gogh, will become secondary. The bourgeois are horrified. The movement named Fauvisme by them was born.
Executed in 1905 (or perhaps 1906), the oil on canvas, 65 x 81cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 4, is a centerpiece of this experimental period.
It is a landscape of suburban Paris, with small scattered houses separated by their gardens. It is such a commonplace that this view could be what an amateur photographer captures from his window. Composition has not the originality of a Derain, the line has not the strength of a Van Gogh.
But the boldly applied colors are pure, like from the tube: yellow, blue, green, with details in vermilion distributed all over the surface.
This Vlaminck so close to a Van Gogh is expected at $ 18M. It is illustrated in the article shared by Art Market Monitor.
As early as 1906, Vollard will buy paintings by Vlaminck.
POST SALE COMMENT
With this result, $ 22.5 million including premium, the early paintings of Vlaminck have demonstrated their importance in art history. Derain's work had achieved a similar feat in June 2010.
He shares with Derain an artist's studio in Chatou. Success is not to go, and all experiments are possible. The visit made by the two friends to an exhibition of the works of Van Gogh excites Vlaminck, who finds his style.
The idea is powerful: only the color should dominate the painting, and it must be pure. The figure, realistic among Impressionists, shaken by Van Gogh, will become secondary. The bourgeois are horrified. The movement named Fauvisme by them was born.
Executed in 1905 (or perhaps 1906), the oil on canvas, 65 x 81cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 4, is a centerpiece of this experimental period.
It is a landscape of suburban Paris, with small scattered houses separated by their gardens. It is such a commonplace that this view could be what an amateur photographer captures from his window. Composition has not the originality of a Derain, the line has not the strength of a Van Gogh.
But the boldly applied colors are pure, like from the tube: yellow, blue, green, with details in vermilion distributed all over the surface.
This Vlaminck so close to a Van Gogh is expected at $ 18M. It is illustrated in the article shared by Art Market Monitor.
As early as 1906, Vollard will buy paintings by Vlaminck.
POST SALE COMMENT
With this result, $ 22.5 million including premium, the early paintings of Vlaminck have demonstrated their importance in art history. Derain's work had achieved a similar feat in June 2010.
1905 Derain and the Colors of Collioure
2010 SOLD 16.3 M£ including premium
The French Mediterranean coast is renowned for its superb light. Two small ports, St. Tropez and Collioure, were particularly inspiring to young artists for a hundred and thirty years.
During the summer of 1905, Matisse and Derain are resident in Collioure. André Derain is 25 years old. Comparing painting to dynamite, he explodes the colors in his port scenes and views to the sea.
The big question is to decide whether or not to imitate the style of Signac, who preceded the two artists in this small village. Some paintings by Derain, that year, are pointillist while others are not. If he had maintained such creativity for many years, he would be one of the outstanding painters of his time.
With broad points closer to Seurat, some boats in Collioure with nice reflections, 60 x 73 cm, earned $ 14 million including premium at Sotheby's on November 4, 2009.
On June 22 in London, the same house will auction some trees in the countryside, with a small house in the distance. This oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm, is made with pure color, and again with a strong pointillism that creates a particularly successful light effect. It is estimated £ 9 million, and is illustrated in the press release shared by AuctionPublicity.
The painting, that had belonged to Vollard, is fresh on the market, after having been forgotten in a bank vault because of the tragedies of the Second World War.
POST SALE COMMENT
The pieces which are fresh on the market have always an advantage. This painting made in Derain's best year was sold £ 16.3 million including premium.
During the summer of 1905, Matisse and Derain are resident in Collioure. André Derain is 25 years old. Comparing painting to dynamite, he explodes the colors in his port scenes and views to the sea.
The big question is to decide whether or not to imitate the style of Signac, who preceded the two artists in this small village. Some paintings by Derain, that year, are pointillist while others are not. If he had maintained such creativity for many years, he would be one of the outstanding painters of his time.
With broad points closer to Seurat, some boats in Collioure with nice reflections, 60 x 73 cm, earned $ 14 million including premium at Sotheby's on November 4, 2009.
On June 22 in London, the same house will auction some trees in the countryside, with a small house in the distance. This oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm, is made with pure color, and again with a strong pointillism that creates a particularly successful light effect. It is estimated £ 9 million, and is illustrated in the press release shared by AuctionPublicity.
The painting, that had belonged to Vollard, is fresh on the market, after having been forgotten in a bank vault because of the tragedies of the Second World War.
POST SALE COMMENT
The pieces which are fresh on the market have always an advantage. This painting made in Derain's best year was sold £ 16.3 million including premium.
1905 Meetings before the Automne
2016 SOLD for $ 16.4M including premium
The meeting of Derain and Vlaminck with Matisse at an exhibition dedicated to van Gogh in 1901 at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune is decisive for the younger artists in search of a breakthrough. Vlaminck now seeks to rely on the art of van Gogh for an increased role of color to the detriment of line.
Matisse's visit to Signac in Saint-Tropez in 1904 is another milestone of modern art. Matisse explores pointillism while using pure colors with which expression will supersede realism.
All these elements converge to make 1905 a key year in modern style. Derain spends several months studying artistic creation with Matisse in Collioure, leading to progressively giving up of the pointillism.
Meanwhile Maurice De Vlaminck remains in Chatou in the workshop which he was sharing with Derain. Vlaminck is an excessive character, physically and in his behavior. His works from this period display large variations of style around a technique of divisionism.
On May 9 in New York, Sotheby's sells a Sous-Bois painted by Vlaminck during the summer of 1905, oil on canvas 60 x 72 cm, lot 14 estimated $ 12M. This artwork whose composition is as nicely balanced as a Cézanne is spectacular through the use of colors as bright as what Derain was doing in Collioure. Divisionism is pushed up to a meticulous pointillism quite surprising in the corpus of this impatient artist.
A few weeks later at the Grand Palais, the third Salon d'Automne promotes the promising vision of these young artists. The famous "cage aux fauves" wording probably refers to a painting by 'Douanier' Rousseau but the use of pure colors in art in a style closer to impressionism than to Gauguin and Signac becomes the Fauvisme.
The Sous-Bois is not among the five paintings exhibited by Vlaminck at the Salon d'Automne. This canvas did not surface until 1951. It is quite possible that the artist concerned about the search of an original style did not appreciate that he had made a rare masterpiece of Fauviste pointillism.
Vlaminck concluded soon after that he must be inspired by Cézanne but he did not understand that Cézanne was confronting light colors. Vlaminck's palette became dark and dull with a sad repetition of unidentified empty villages. He became embittered up to an outrageous rejection of that modernism for which he had however made an outstanding contribution in 1905.
Matisse's visit to Signac in Saint-Tropez in 1904 is another milestone of modern art. Matisse explores pointillism while using pure colors with which expression will supersede realism.
All these elements converge to make 1905 a key year in modern style. Derain spends several months studying artistic creation with Matisse in Collioure, leading to progressively giving up of the pointillism.
Meanwhile Maurice De Vlaminck remains in Chatou in the workshop which he was sharing with Derain. Vlaminck is an excessive character, physically and in his behavior. His works from this period display large variations of style around a technique of divisionism.
On May 9 in New York, Sotheby's sells a Sous-Bois painted by Vlaminck during the summer of 1905, oil on canvas 60 x 72 cm, lot 14 estimated $ 12M. This artwork whose composition is as nicely balanced as a Cézanne is spectacular through the use of colors as bright as what Derain was doing in Collioure. Divisionism is pushed up to a meticulous pointillism quite surprising in the corpus of this impatient artist.
A few weeks later at the Grand Palais, the third Salon d'Automne promotes the promising vision of these young artists. The famous "cage aux fauves" wording probably refers to a painting by 'Douanier' Rousseau but the use of pure colors in art in a style closer to impressionism than to Gauguin and Signac becomes the Fauvisme.
The Sous-Bois is not among the five paintings exhibited by Vlaminck at the Salon d'Automne. This canvas did not surface until 1951. It is quite possible that the artist concerned about the search of an original style did not appreciate that he had made a rare masterpiece of Fauviste pointillism.
Vlaminck concluded soon after that he must be inspired by Cézanne but he did not understand that Cézanne was confronting light colors. Vlaminck's palette became dark and dull with a sad repetition of unidentified empty villages. He became embittered up to an outrageous rejection of that modernism for which he had however made an outstanding contribution in 1905.
1902-1905 The Goddess of Chahut
2016 SOLD for £ 11.6M including premium
In Greek mythology, Iris is the messenger of the gods. Her mission is to only forward good news. She is also the sister of the Harpies and logically gets a place in the proposed Porte de l'Enfer (Gate of Hell) by Rodin.
In an early version, she is lying on her back. She is a robust acrobat, a hand holding a foot and another ensuring the balance of her splits. Totally and explicitly nude, this woman is often compared with The Origin of the World of Courbet with whom Rodin shares an irrepressible desire to shock the bourgeois.
In 1891, Rodin works on commission on his monument to Victor Hugo. He designs a group of nudes in which the poet is originally surrounded by the three ages of life. It is a bit boring. The sculptor retrieves his Iris for bringing glory to Hugo by hovering over his head.
Iris becomes independent in 1896 with a larger version. Inspired by the dancers of can can and chahut, Rodin puts the statue upright. The erotic power is increased, but still not enough to the taste of the artist. In order to concentrate the viewer's attention to the open sex, he takes off the head and also the arm that ensured the balance.
Iris bronzes made during the lifetime of Rodin are very rare. One of them cast by Rudier between 1902 and 1905 in the large size model, 83 cm high, was sold for £ 4.6 million including premium by Sotheby's in London on June 19, 2007. This example comes back in the same auction room on February 3, lot 22 estimated £ 6M.
Posthumous casts were also executed. A bronze edited in 1966 in the same size by the Musée Rodin was sold for $ 2.9 million including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2015.
In an early version, she is lying on her back. She is a robust acrobat, a hand holding a foot and another ensuring the balance of her splits. Totally and explicitly nude, this woman is often compared with The Origin of the World of Courbet with whom Rodin shares an irrepressible desire to shock the bourgeois.
In 1891, Rodin works on commission on his monument to Victor Hugo. He designs a group of nudes in which the poet is originally surrounded by the three ages of life. It is a bit boring. The sculptor retrieves his Iris for bringing glory to Hugo by hovering over his head.
Iris becomes independent in 1896 with a larger version. Inspired by the dancers of can can and chahut, Rodin puts the statue upright. The erotic power is increased, but still not enough to the taste of the artist. In order to concentrate the viewer's attention to the open sex, he takes off the head and also the arm that ensured the balance.
Iris bronzes made during the lifetime of Rodin are very rare. One of them cast by Rudier between 1902 and 1905 in the large size model, 83 cm high, was sold for £ 4.6 million including premium by Sotheby's in London on June 19, 2007. This example comes back in the same auction room on February 3, lot 22 estimated £ 6M.
Posthumous casts were also executed. A bronze edited in 1966 in the same size by the Musée Rodin was sold for $ 2.9 million including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2015.
#AuctionUpdate #Rodin's daringly erotic #sculpture Iris once again sets a record for the artist at £11.6 million pic.twitter.com/KE1uHsl1kv
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) February 3, 2016
1905 The Collioure Style
2018 SOLD for £ 10.9M including premium
Cézanne's increasingly daring experiments on the pre-eminence of the structure over the line excite the creativity of the young artists. Fauvisme will be a synthesis of the ultimate vision of Cézanne with the pointillisme of Seurat and Signac, enriched by the implacable light of the Midi which had once dazzled Van Gogh.
Vlaminck and Derain share a small workshop in the suburbs of Paris. During the summer of 1905 Matisse invites Derain to spend two months with him in Collioure. They confront their young experiences and work together on the same themes. This season is very prolific : Derain executes about 30 paintings during this short period.
At the beginning of this phase Matisse appears as a continuator to Seurat while using pure colors as Gauguin had done. Derain wants to interpret the blinding sun light without shadow from the middle of the day as Signac had done in Saint-Tropez. Derain excessively increases Seurat's dots until they are re-attributed with figurative forms such as small boats in the harbor.
This synthesis in an unprecedented artistic daring baffles the visitors of the Salon d'Automne. The art critic who utters a horror cry when entering the "Salle des Fauves" was probably in complicity with the artists. Fauvisme is born. It will be ephemeral but its place in the evolution of modern art is extremely important. Losing the reference to Impressionnisme, it ensures a transition between Cézanne and Kandinsky.
Arbres à Collioure 65 x 81 cm painted by Derain with splendid colors was sold for £ 16.3M including premium by Sotheby's on June 22, 2010. By the same artist but closer to Matisse and Seurat, Barques au Port de Collioure 60 x 73 cm was sold for $ 14M including premium on November 4, 2009, also by Sotheby's.
From the same series by Derain, Barques à Collioure, oil on canvas 39 x 46 cm, was sold for £ 5.9M including premium by Christie's on February 9, 2011 and is now estimated £ 7.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 28, lot 11.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Vlaminck and Derain share a small workshop in the suburbs of Paris. During the summer of 1905 Matisse invites Derain to spend two months with him in Collioure. They confront their young experiences and work together on the same themes. This season is very prolific : Derain executes about 30 paintings during this short period.
At the beginning of this phase Matisse appears as a continuator to Seurat while using pure colors as Gauguin had done. Derain wants to interpret the blinding sun light without shadow from the middle of the day as Signac had done in Saint-Tropez. Derain excessively increases Seurat's dots until they are re-attributed with figurative forms such as small boats in the harbor.
This synthesis in an unprecedented artistic daring baffles the visitors of the Salon d'Automne. The art critic who utters a horror cry when entering the "Salle des Fauves" was probably in complicity with the artists. Fauvisme is born. It will be ephemeral but its place in the evolution of modern art is extremely important. Losing the reference to Impressionnisme, it ensures a transition between Cézanne and Kandinsky.
Arbres à Collioure 65 x 81 cm painted by Derain with splendid colors was sold for £ 16.3M including premium by Sotheby's on June 22, 2010. By the same artist but closer to Matisse and Seurat, Barques au Port de Collioure 60 x 73 cm was sold for $ 14M including premium on November 4, 2009, also by Sotheby's.
From the same series by Derain, Barques à Collioure, oil on canvas 39 x 46 cm, was sold for £ 5.9M including premium by Christie's on February 9, 2011 and is now estimated £ 7.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 28, lot 11.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1905 Gallops in the Wild West
2017 SOLD for $ 11.2M including premium
From his studio in New Rochelle in the suburbs of New York, Frederic Remington illustrates for the magazines the joys and torments of the frontiersmen. He wants to revive by his realism the atmosphere of the Wild West and is influenced by the decomposition of the gallop masterfully demonstrated by the photographs of Muybridge against all preconceived ideas.
When Remington becomes a sculptor, he pushes to its paroxysm the study of the imbalance in rapid movements. In 1895 his first masterpiece in that technique, The Broncho Buster, shows a tall prancing horse on his hind legs with no other support, seeking to dismantle his rider. A bronze 58 cm high edited in 1906 was sold for $ 2,6M including premium by Christie's on November 29, 2007.
Even bolder : in 1896, the sculptor attempted a group of two in full gallop entitled The Wounded Bunkie, only connected to the base by two hoofs, one per horse in compliance with the findings of Muybridge. A bronze 51 cm high edited in the first year was sold for $ 5.6M including premium by Sotheby's on May 22, 2008.
Nothing stops that demanding artist. In 1902 he conceives a group of four linked through five legs, departing from Muybridge. The founder succeeds in convincing him of the impossibility of the realization and a compromise with six bearing hoofs is accepted. Titled Coming through the Rye, it is once again a scene expressing a great fastness. The four galloping horses are ridden by cowboys in full euphoria who exhibit their pistols at the end of their arms stretched upwards.
Some orders are received in 1903 but the realization is a feat. This complex piece 78 cm high is too cumbersome and the price tag at 2,000 dollars is too expensive. Very few copies will be made.
Dated 1905 and delivered in 1906 to Tiffany and Co, the serial number 3 is estimated $ 7M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 23, lot 7.
Considering this commercial failure Remington destroyed his models in wax and plaster in 1908. In the same year, disgusted by the new trend of fantasy illustrations, he prepared a bonfire in his yard and destroyed hundreds of his original paintings. This artist out of standards in every sense of that wording dies in 1909 at the age of 48 from complications related to his extreme obesity.
When Remington becomes a sculptor, he pushes to its paroxysm the study of the imbalance in rapid movements. In 1895 his first masterpiece in that technique, The Broncho Buster, shows a tall prancing horse on his hind legs with no other support, seeking to dismantle his rider. A bronze 58 cm high edited in 1906 was sold for $ 2,6M including premium by Christie's on November 29, 2007.
Even bolder : in 1896, the sculptor attempted a group of two in full gallop entitled The Wounded Bunkie, only connected to the base by two hoofs, one per horse in compliance with the findings of Muybridge. A bronze 51 cm high edited in the first year was sold for $ 5.6M including premium by Sotheby's on May 22, 2008.
Nothing stops that demanding artist. In 1902 he conceives a group of four linked through five legs, departing from Muybridge. The founder succeeds in convincing him of the impossibility of the realization and a compromise with six bearing hoofs is accepted. Titled Coming through the Rye, it is once again a scene expressing a great fastness. The four galloping horses are ridden by cowboys in full euphoria who exhibit their pistols at the end of their arms stretched upwards.
Some orders are received in 1903 but the realization is a feat. This complex piece 78 cm high is too cumbersome and the price tag at 2,000 dollars is too expensive. Very few copies will be made.
Dated 1905 and delivered in 1906 to Tiffany and Co, the serial number 3 is estimated $ 7M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 23, lot 7.
Considering this commercial failure Remington destroyed his models in wax and plaster in 1908. In the same year, disgusted by the new trend of fantasy illustrations, he prepared a bonfire in his yard and destroyed hundreds of his original paintings. This artist out of standards in every sense of that wording dies in 1909 at the age of 48 from complications related to his extreme obesity.
Announcing Frederick Remington's Coming Through the Rye selling this May in our American Art sale https://t.co/ZsojWhvXUb pic.twitter.com/LXdvOHZ55A
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 8, 2017
1904-1906 Serene Woods of Paul Cézanne
2017 SOLD for € 6.9M including premium
From 1902 Paul Cézanne works alone facing the immensity of nature in his little cabin at Les Lauves. Sick and tired, he is anxious that he will not have time to reach his targeted ideal of perfection.
He observes the juxtapositions of colors on the Montagne Sainte-Victoire without abandoning other themes. The Baigneuses will remain until the end his demonstrator for still unexplored possibilities in figurative art. A quiet undergrowth is conducive to the sharing of meditation.
He has always enjoyed watercolor for its transparency and for the purity of its colors. His pathetic approach is no longer commercial. In this final period he often works on the reverse of previously painted papers. The lightness of the watercolor allows such a practice without damage to the other side.
Cézanne is diabetic and his vision weakens. More than ever he manages to recreate an atmosphere. In the forest the depth is only brought by the curve of the path or by the diagonal of the wood edge.
The preliminary sketch in lead pencil is barely figurative. It is instead a configuration of geometric elements prepared for coloring. According to his traditional practice he painstakingly and gradually fills these surfaces while ensuring that the colors shall not mix. This method is a pointillism of Seurat or Signac in which the dots have been replaced by intersections of lines prepared in advance.
On December 20 in Paris (Hôtel Drouot) Touati-Duffaud in cooperation with Beaussant Lefèvre sells as lot 43 an Intérieur de forêt. This watercolor 45 x 60 cm rich in warm colors of great brightness is one of the last realized by Cézanne on this theme, dated 1904-1906 by Rewald. It is glued on a cardboard but its inaccessible back side is probably blank.
The overall effect is figurative and this work demonstrates Cézanne's progress towards synthetic cubism. Is it Fontainebleau? Is it Le Tholonet? It does not matter. This corner of a forest does not imitate nature, it is built by the imagination of an artist for sharing his emotion.
Please watch the video shared by Drouot.
He observes the juxtapositions of colors on the Montagne Sainte-Victoire without abandoning other themes. The Baigneuses will remain until the end his demonstrator for still unexplored possibilities in figurative art. A quiet undergrowth is conducive to the sharing of meditation.
He has always enjoyed watercolor for its transparency and for the purity of its colors. His pathetic approach is no longer commercial. In this final period he often works on the reverse of previously painted papers. The lightness of the watercolor allows such a practice without damage to the other side.
Cézanne is diabetic and his vision weakens. More than ever he manages to recreate an atmosphere. In the forest the depth is only brought by the curve of the path or by the diagonal of the wood edge.
The preliminary sketch in lead pencil is barely figurative. It is instead a configuration of geometric elements prepared for coloring. According to his traditional practice he painstakingly and gradually fills these surfaces while ensuring that the colors shall not mix. This method is a pointillism of Seurat or Signac in which the dots have been replaced by intersections of lines prepared in advance.
On December 20 in Paris (Hôtel Drouot) Touati-Duffaud in cooperation with Beaussant Lefèvre sells as lot 43 an Intérieur de forêt. This watercolor 45 x 60 cm rich in warm colors of great brightness is one of the last realized by Cézanne on this theme, dated 1904-1906 by Rewald. It is glued on a cardboard but its inaccessible back side is probably blank.
The overall effect is figurative and this work demonstrates Cézanne's progress towards synthetic cubism. Is it Fontainebleau? Is it Le Tholonet? It does not matter. This corner of a forest does not imitate nature, it is built by the imagination of an artist for sharing his emotion.
Please watch the video shared by Drouot.
“Intérieur de forêt”, une rare aquarelle de Paul #Cézanne trouvera un nouvel acquéreur mercredi. Pour l’une des dernières ventes de la saison, gageons un très beau résultat !
— Drouot (@Drouot) December 18, 2017
Rendez-vous à 14h30 chez Touati-Duffaud => https://t.co/cdawsCKLjk pic.twitter.com/XKxQ5qTnuf
