1918
1918-19 Preparation of the Grandes Décorations by MONET
Intro
Monet had interrupted his series of Bassins aux Nymphéas in 1908. In 1914 he restarts this theme on larger formats while observing its decorative effect.
Times are hard forMonet. He had lost his son Jean just before the outbreak of the First World War. His sight becomes deficient. He decides to stay in Giverny whatever the future events and compensates his isolation by declaring his patriotism alongside his friend Clémenceau.
He builds in 1915 the barn studio in which he can paint entirely indoors his largest canvases, around 2 x 2 m, which he devotes to enlargements of small details.
This decorative ambition led him in 1917 to test two new panoramic formats, 100 x 200 cm and 130 x 200 cm, the largest dimension for which he is able to paint outdoors using a system of ropes and weights. These experiments bring more sense to the focusing of the picture onto the pond with its plants and its reflections but without shore or sky. He multiplies the sketches with as ever the greatest variety of colors expressing the different lights of the day.
In the wording of his time, Monet becomes a decorator, favoring effect and atmosphere rather than the figuration. In the language of our time, he is a precursor of the abstract sensitivity.
The project of dedicating a full exhibition room to a circular view of the pond is a breakthrough. Now Monet does not express the nature but instead the feeling of serenity which had become so rare and precious in war time.
Peace is back. Under the influence of Clémenceau, the project becomes a patriotic symbol, titled Les Grandes Décorations. Completed a few months before he died in 1926, it is made of eight compositions using 22 canvases in a unique height of 2 m for a total length of 90 m.
Times are hard forMonet. He had lost his son Jean just before the outbreak of the First World War. His sight becomes deficient. He decides to stay in Giverny whatever the future events and compensates his isolation by declaring his patriotism alongside his friend Clémenceau.
He builds in 1915 the barn studio in which he can paint entirely indoors his largest canvases, around 2 x 2 m, which he devotes to enlargements of small details.
This decorative ambition led him in 1917 to test two new panoramic formats, 100 x 200 cm and 130 x 200 cm, the largest dimension for which he is able to paint outdoors using a system of ropes and weights. These experiments bring more sense to the focusing of the picture onto the pond with its plants and its reflections but without shore or sky. He multiplies the sketches with as ever the greatest variety of colors expressing the different lights of the day.
In the wording of his time, Monet becomes a decorator, favoring effect and atmosphere rather than the figuration. In the language of our time, he is a precursor of the abstract sensitivity.
The project of dedicating a full exhibition room to a circular view of the pond is a breakthrough. Now Monet does not express the nature but instead the feeling of serenity which had become so rare and precious in war time.
Peace is back. Under the influence of Clémenceau, the project becomes a patriotic symbol, titled Les Grandes Décorations. Completed a few months before he died in 1926, it is made of eight compositions using 22 canvases in a unique height of 2 m for a total length of 90 m.
1
2018 SOLD for $ 32M by Christie's
From 1914 Claude Monet conceives the project of the Grandes Décorations, which will occupy the last phase of his life and will be his artistic legation. In accordance with his signature artistic vision, these paintings will be limited to a specific theme shown in all the shades of the seasons, hours of the day and weather.
The artist is aging and suffering from cataract. This last theme is once again the nymphéas of his water garden which since 1904 satisfy his passion for gardening while being close to his workshop.
During the war years, the artist made about 60 paintings of his water lilies for trying his theme on large formats. The global design is gradually built. It then becomes necessary to test the panoramic formats. This new phase is made more challenging by his desire to concentrate the image on flowers and on reflections while eliminating the edges of the pond and the horizon.
In 1918 Monet buys the canvases necessary for this new series. He executes 14 paintings 100 x 200 cm and 5 paintings 130 x 200 cm over a short period ending in the following year. One of them is dated 1917 which is the year of the conception of this phase.
A Bassin aux Nymphéas 100 x 200 cm dated 1919 was sold for £ 41M including premium by Christie's on June 24, 2008. A few other canvases have been cut. Dated in the same year, a 100 x 100 cm fragment whose other half is in a museum was sold for $ 27M including premium by Christie's on May 12, 2016.
On November 11 in New York, Christie's sells an undated Bassin aux Nymphéas 100 x 200 cm, lot 32 A estimated $ 30M. This example offers a very pleasant homogeneity of tone between the blue reflections of the sky and the green reflections of the big trees. The flowers are rare.
The artist is aging and suffering from cataract. This last theme is once again the nymphéas of his water garden which since 1904 satisfy his passion for gardening while being close to his workshop.
During the war years, the artist made about 60 paintings of his water lilies for trying his theme on large formats. The global design is gradually built. It then becomes necessary to test the panoramic formats. This new phase is made more challenging by his desire to concentrate the image on flowers and on reflections while eliminating the edges of the pond and the horizon.
In 1918 Monet buys the canvases necessary for this new series. He executes 14 paintings 100 x 200 cm and 5 paintings 130 x 200 cm over a short period ending in the following year. One of them is dated 1917 which is the year of the conception of this phase.
A Bassin aux Nymphéas 100 x 200 cm dated 1919 was sold for £ 41M including premium by Christie's on June 24, 2008. A few other canvases have been cut. Dated in the same year, a 100 x 100 cm fragment whose other half is in a museum was sold for $ 27M including premium by Christie's on May 12, 2016.
On November 11 in New York, Christie's sells an undated Bassin aux Nymphéas 100 x 200 cm, lot 32 A estimated $ 30M. This example offers a very pleasant homogeneity of tone between the blue reflections of the sky and the green reflections of the big trees. The flowers are rare.
Christie’s Has $30m Monet Nymphéas from Penultimate Series https://t.co/yvnKWEfutg pic.twitter.com/T18M9LRHEs
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) September 27, 2018
2
2010 SOLD for $ 24.7M by Sotheby's
During the last twenty years of his life, Monet maintained the pond in his garden at Giverny. His paintings of nympheas, however, are not repetitive but evolving. He put his subtle vision at the service of ever-changing views on the role and techniques of art.
Around 1906, as a true magician of light and perspective, Monet uses reflection to show the position in space of the invisible surface of the water. His touchis then impressionistic, with pastel tones.
Ten years later, he turns to more decorative effects on larger areas of canvas. The surface of the water is still controlled, but the line is sharper and the colors are more vivid. The nympheas of that time made Monet being considered as a major influencer of abstract art.
On June 24, 2008, Christie's sold £ 40.9 million including premium a large 1919 painting, 100 x 201 cm. The image is focused exclusively on the pond with no shore and no horizon.
The oil on canvas for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2 has similar qualities. Painted between 1917 and 1919, 98 x 198 cm, it is less quiet, with contrasting colors and swirling lines. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
Sold to benefit a foundation helping young artists, it is estimated $ 20M.
POST SALE COMMENT
These Nymphéas were sold $ 24.7 million including premium. This result is very close to the estimate. I am not surprised as this painting did not have the same beautiful serenity as the specimen sold two years ago.
Around 1906, as a true magician of light and perspective, Monet uses reflection to show the position in space of the invisible surface of the water. His touchis then impressionistic, with pastel tones.
Ten years later, he turns to more decorative effects on larger areas of canvas. The surface of the water is still controlled, but the line is sharper and the colors are more vivid. The nympheas of that time made Monet being considered as a major influencer of abstract art.
On June 24, 2008, Christie's sold £ 40.9 million including premium a large 1919 painting, 100 x 201 cm. The image is focused exclusively on the pond with no shore and no horizon.
The oil on canvas for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2 has similar qualities. Painted between 1917 and 1919, 98 x 198 cm, it is less quiet, with contrasting colors and swirling lines. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
Sold to benefit a foundation helping young artists, it is estimated $ 20M.
POST SALE COMMENT
These Nymphéas were sold $ 24.7 million including premium. This result is very close to the estimate. I am not surprised as this painting did not have the same beautiful serenity as the specimen sold two years ago.
1918 MODIGLIANI
1
Le Fils du Concierge
2006 SOLD for $ 31M by Sotheby's
The young foreign artists who settled in Paris had not foreseen the war. Zborowski, arrived from Poland around 1910, takes their destiny in hand. Zbo and his wife organize in April 1918 the exodus to Cagnes-sur-Mer of Modigliani with his friend Jeanne and her mother, Foujita and his wife Fernande, and Soutine.
The group works for Zbo, and everyone is experimenting with new themes or styles. Soutine transfers his imbalances to the landscape. Foujita meets the old Renoir.
Modigliani observes the working classes of the Côte d'Azur, and is particularly interested in the psychological freshness of children.
Attitudes are stereotypical. The model strikes a pose seated quietly in a chair, hands clasped, and looks straight ahead. The less shy have their heads bowed to a side and their eyes are more lively. The variety of faces demonstrates the intention of stylized realism. They have in common with the nude women of Montparnasse that they arouse a strong but temporary empathy in the artist.
Le Fils du Concierge is identified by his father's occupation. He is a young son of the keeper of the villa where Modigliani resides. This oil on canvas 92 x 60 cm painted in 1918 was sold for $ 31M including premium by Sotheby's on November 7, 2006 over a lower estimate of $ 14M, lot 38. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Two other portraits from the same year in the same format were sold by Sotheby's. One of them, showing a boy of about the same age, was sold for £ 18.4M including premium on June 19, 2019. Garçon à la veste bleue was sold for £ 6.2M including premium on June 21, 2004, lot 6.
The group works for Zbo, and everyone is experimenting with new themes or styles. Soutine transfers his imbalances to the landscape. Foujita meets the old Renoir.
Modigliani observes the working classes of the Côte d'Azur, and is particularly interested in the psychological freshness of children.
Attitudes are stereotypical. The model strikes a pose seated quietly in a chair, hands clasped, and looks straight ahead. The less shy have their heads bowed to a side and their eyes are more lively. The variety of faces demonstrates the intention of stylized realism. They have in common with the nude women of Montparnasse that they arouse a strong but temporary empathy in the artist.
Le Fils du Concierge is identified by his father's occupation. He is a young son of the keeper of the villa where Modigliani resides. This oil on canvas 92 x 60 cm painted in 1918 was sold for $ 31M including premium by Sotheby's on November 7, 2006 over a lower estimate of $ 14M, lot 38. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Two other portraits from the same year in the same format were sold by Sotheby's. One of them, showing a boy of about the same age, was sold for £ 18.4M including premium on June 19, 2019. Garçon à la veste bleue was sold for £ 6.2M including premium on June 21, 2004, lot 6.
2
Jeune Homme Assis
2019 SOLD for £ 18.4M by Sotheby's
It is war, and life in Paris becomes difficult. Zborowski decides to look for new customers in the Côte d'Azur. From April 1918 to May 1919, Modigliani and Jeanne accompany Zbo and his wife, sharing their time between Nice and Cagnes.
Compared to Montparnasse, the circle of friends is smaller. Zbo no longer tries the experience of the nude, which had caused a scandal in December 1917 at the Berthe Weill gallery and had been a commercial failure. Amedeo begins to paint gentle portraits of children and adolescents. Zbo encourages him or at least lets him do it.
With these young people, all of them belonging to the popular classes, Amedeo seeks once again to sort some ideal mankind. As in his sculpted heads in 1911, each opus is different. The series includes several repetitive features, partially following the model of the Garçon au gilet rouge painted by Cézanne thirty years earlier.
The child is seen from the front, sitting with his hands crossed on his lap. Modigliani has not yet solved the issue of the eyes : the gaze is blank, giving an impression of quiet waiting while the painter is at work. The head is most often leaning to the side, bringing the expression of a confident intimacy. The shape of the eyebrows, ears, chin is enough to differentiate the child. The hairstyle and clothes are not standardized.
On June 19 in London, Sotheby's sells the portrait of an unidentified young boy, lot 8 estimated £ 16M. This oil on canvas 92 x 60 cm was painted in 1918. Sold by Zbo in 1927, it had never reappeared and was only illustrated by black and white photos. Its splendid range of warm colors was not known.
Le Fils du Concierge, sold for $ 31M by Sotheby's in 2006, was painted in Cagnes in 1918 in the same format.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Compared to Montparnasse, the circle of friends is smaller. Zbo no longer tries the experience of the nude, which had caused a scandal in December 1917 at the Berthe Weill gallery and had been a commercial failure. Amedeo begins to paint gentle portraits of children and adolescents. Zbo encourages him or at least lets him do it.
With these young people, all of them belonging to the popular classes, Amedeo seeks once again to sort some ideal mankind. As in his sculpted heads in 1911, each opus is different. The series includes several repetitive features, partially following the model of the Garçon au gilet rouge painted by Cézanne thirty years earlier.
The child is seen from the front, sitting with his hands crossed on his lap. Modigliani has not yet solved the issue of the eyes : the gaze is blank, giving an impression of quiet waiting while the painter is at work. The head is most often leaning to the side, bringing the expression of a confident intimacy. The shape of the eyebrows, ears, chin is enough to differentiate the child. The hairstyle and clothes are not standardized.
On June 19 in London, Sotheby's sells the portrait of an unidentified young boy, lot 8 estimated £ 16M. This oil on canvas 92 x 60 cm was painted in 1918. Sold by Zbo in 1927, it had never reappeared and was only illustrated by black and white photos. Its splendid range of warm colors was not known.
Le Fils du Concierge, sold for $ 31M by Sotheby's in 2006, was painted in Cagnes in 1918 in the same format.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
#AuctionUpdate Amedeo Modigliani’s sublime portrait of an anonymous youth from 1918 sells for £18.4 million. This exceptionally rare work had been in the same family collection since first acquired by Modigliani’s dealer in 1927 pic.twitter.com/8hVsSidCGj
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 19, 2019
3
Monsieur Baranowski
2017 SOLD for £ 16M by Sotheby's
The portrait by Modigliani of a young man from the circle of Zborowski went unsold at Christie's on November 5, 2013 where it had been offered with a very high estimate. It comes now for sale at Sotheby's in London on March 1, lot 10 estimated £ 10M.
I discussed it as follows in 2013 :
Leopold Zborowski was a Polish exile in Paris during the war. This very young student wanted to become an art dealer and joined the artistic community of Montparnasse.
Modigliani knows everyone and loves to paint portraits of his fellow artists. Zborowski, who himself does not yet live in ease, captures his confidence by promising to supply him with an unlimited amount of drink.
Zborowski is now controling the artistic output of the best portrait painter of their time, and he organizes his career. He pushes Amedeo to specialize in those female nudes whose exhibition made a scandal at Berthe Weill gallery in December 1917 and provided a deserved fame to the painter.
The purpose of Zborowski is commercial. He now directs Amedeo towards achieving more mundane portraits for appealing the customers. Painted in 1918, probably early in the year, the oil on canvas titled Monsieur Baranowski, 112 x 56 cm, is one from that series.
Baranowski is very young. Elegantly dressed, he wants to make a career as an artist. With his pale skin, too long hair, charming mouth and an attitude mannered to the extreme, he appears as an androgynous.
The too formal title, Monsieur Baranowski, not providing the first name nor the abbreviated 'Bara', shows that this young esthete wanted to be seriously considered, and certainly indicates that Baranowski was in the circle of Zborowski without being intimate with Amedeo. This artwork is a wonderful psychological portrait of one of those weird people who constituted the bohemian life of Montparnasse.
I discussed it as follows in 2013 :
Leopold Zborowski was a Polish exile in Paris during the war. This very young student wanted to become an art dealer and joined the artistic community of Montparnasse.
Modigliani knows everyone and loves to paint portraits of his fellow artists. Zborowski, who himself does not yet live in ease, captures his confidence by promising to supply him with an unlimited amount of drink.
Zborowski is now controling the artistic output of the best portrait painter of their time, and he organizes his career. He pushes Amedeo to specialize in those female nudes whose exhibition made a scandal at Berthe Weill gallery in December 1917 and provided a deserved fame to the painter.
The purpose of Zborowski is commercial. He now directs Amedeo towards achieving more mundane portraits for appealing the customers. Painted in 1918, probably early in the year, the oil on canvas titled Monsieur Baranowski, 112 x 56 cm, is one from that series.
Baranowski is very young. Elegantly dressed, he wants to make a career as an artist. With his pale skin, too long hair, charming mouth and an attitude mannered to the extreme, he appears as an androgynous.
The too formal title, Monsieur Baranowski, not providing the first name nor the abbreviated 'Bara', shows that this young esthete wanted to be seriously considered, and certainly indicates that Baranowski was in the circle of Zborowski without being intimate with Amedeo. This artwork is a wonderful psychological portrait of one of those weird people who constituted the bohemian life of Montparnasse.
#AuctionUpdate Modigliani’s elegant depiction of an androgynous young man with fragile good looks, Portrait de Baranowski, soars to £16.1m pic.twitter.com/ubzOb6Mhcl
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) March 1, 2017
1918 Jeune Fille assise en Chemise by Modigliani
2007 SOLD for $ 17M by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1918 A Post Mortem Portrait by Klimt
2010 SOLD 18.8 M£ including premium
In the last century, the proliferation of images has fortunately removed the need of post-mortem portrait. The sudden death of a loved one made aware that his image would disappear, and the family had recourse to a painter or a photographer to preserve his look.
In 1911, the niece of a patron of Klimt makes a love suicide at the age of 24, and the painter gets the order of a portrait of the deceased. This is not an easy job, and the first two trials are rejected by the family.
At his death in 1918, Klimt left unfinished the portrait of Ria Munk III. The oil and charcoal on canvas, 181 x 90 cm, is for sale by Christie's in London on June 23. It is illustrated in the press release shared by Art Knowledge News.
By its composition, it resembles the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907). Ria is life size. The face is sharp, and the gown and the background blend into a luxurious color scheme inspired by both Orientalism and Jugendstil.
Stop here the comparison. Adele I was decorated with gold and silver. This masterpiece was sold $ 135 million in 2006 to Ronald Lauder. Ria III, which does not have this quality of materials, is estimated £ 14 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was well targeted for this work that had the qualities of composition of the best portraits of Klimt without the sumptuous materials. It was sold £ 18.8 million including premium.
In 1911, the niece of a patron of Klimt makes a love suicide at the age of 24, and the painter gets the order of a portrait of the deceased. This is not an easy job, and the first two trials are rejected by the family.
At his death in 1918, Klimt left unfinished the portrait of Ria Munk III. The oil and charcoal on canvas, 181 x 90 cm, is for sale by Christie's in London on June 23. It is illustrated in the press release shared by Art Knowledge News.
By its composition, it resembles the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907). Ria is life size. The face is sharp, and the gown and the background blend into a luxurious color scheme inspired by both Orientalism and Jugendstil.
Stop here the comparison. Adele I was decorated with gold and silver. This masterpiece was sold $ 135 million in 2006 to Ronald Lauder. Ria III, which does not have this quality of materials, is estimated £ 14 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was well targeted for this work that had the qualities of composition of the best portraits of Klimt without the sumptuous materials. It was sold £ 18.8 million including premium.
1918 The Gears of Abstract Art
2014 SOLD 12 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Back from Front, Fernand Léger restarts his career. Avant-garde artist, he had been one of the main proponents of Cubism.
The great theme of modern civilization is mechanical. The Futurists are interested in its application to speed. Léger is inspired by the assembly and even the machining of its components: cylinders, wheels, discs, gears.
In 1917, he took the cylinders as a basis to build a Partie de cartes which is one of his many tributes to Cézanne. He uses this new grammar of the cylinder to oscillate between a reconstruction of a figurative Cubist theme and total abstraction. Unlike Malevich, Mondrian and Kandinsky but same as Miro later, Léger does not fall into an exclusive abstraction.
On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les cylindres colorés, oil on canvas 54 x 50 cm painted in 1918, estimated £ 5M.
Viewed from afar, the work could display an engine and gears. However its elements are pointing in all directions without visible support and a closer inspection will consider this composition as completely abstract. Another novelty, shared with Mondrian, is the use of pure colors.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This highly rare and early abstract painting by Fernand Léger was sold for £ 12M including premium.
Back from Front, Fernand Léger restarts his career. Avant-garde artist, he had been one of the main proponents of Cubism.
The great theme of modern civilization is mechanical. The Futurists are interested in its application to speed. Léger is inspired by the assembly and even the machining of its components: cylinders, wheels, discs, gears.
In 1917, he took the cylinders as a basis to build a Partie de cartes which is one of his many tributes to Cézanne. He uses this new grammar of the cylinder to oscillate between a reconstruction of a figurative Cubist theme and total abstraction. Unlike Malevich, Mondrian and Kandinsky but same as Miro later, Léger does not fall into an exclusive abstraction.
On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les cylindres colorés, oil on canvas 54 x 50 cm painted in 1918, estimated £ 5M.
Viewed from afar, the work could display an engine and gears. However its elements are pointing in all directions without visible support and a closer inspection will consider this composition as completely abstract. Another novelty, shared with Mondrian, is the use of pure colors.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This highly rare and early abstract painting by Fernand Léger was sold for £ 12M including premium.
1918 Totentanz in Berlin
2020 SOLD for £ 9.7M including premium
Born in Berlin, George Grosz is 21 years old in 1914. Disgusted by the atrocities of war, he is twice discharged from the German army. He escapes in 1917 a scheduled execution because he is considered as insane.
The civil society disgusts him just as much. While the corpses are rotting on the barbed wire, the survivors indulge in all the sins in Friedrichstrasse. Prostitutes reign over this increasingly miserable decadence. The war will be lost but nobody pays attention to it.
Grosz protests in a proletarian caricature, violently anti-militarist and anti-bourgeois. He will try unsuccessfully to approach revolutionary and Dadaist movements and his art will be censored by all regimes. For the Nazis, he will be the worst cultural Bolshevik. Many of his works have been destroyed.
On February 5 in London, Christie's sells Gefährliche Strasse (the dangerous street), oil on canvas 47 x 65 cm painted in July 1918, lot 6 estimated £ 4.5M.
The image juxtaposes two nightmarish scenes, symbolizing sex and death. A hilarious prostitute, naked under her transparent clothes, excites a lecherous crowd. In the foreground, an austere soldier with emaciated cheeks resolutely turns his back on the rest of the action. Grosz's screams are worthy of Goya's disasters.
The scene is staged by night in dark colors, with a Futurist fragmentation in the style of Boccioni. In the bottom right, the silhouette of a head expressing repulsion or anger is considered to be a self-portrait of the artist.
The civil society disgusts him just as much. While the corpses are rotting on the barbed wire, the survivors indulge in all the sins in Friedrichstrasse. Prostitutes reign over this increasingly miserable decadence. The war will be lost but nobody pays attention to it.
Grosz protests in a proletarian caricature, violently anti-militarist and anti-bourgeois. He will try unsuccessfully to approach revolutionary and Dadaist movements and his art will be censored by all regimes. For the Nazis, he will be the worst cultural Bolshevik. Many of his works have been destroyed.
On February 5 in London, Christie's sells Gefährliche Strasse (the dangerous street), oil on canvas 47 x 65 cm painted in July 1918, lot 6 estimated £ 4.5M.
The image juxtaposes two nightmarish scenes, symbolizing sex and death. A hilarious prostitute, naked under her transparent clothes, excites a lecherous crowd. In the foreground, an austere soldier with emaciated cheeks resolutely turns his back on the rest of the action. Grosz's screams are worthy of Goya's disasters.
The scene is staged by night in dark colors, with a Futurist fragmentation in the style of Boccioni. In the bottom right, the silhouette of a head expressing repulsion or anger is considered to be a self-portrait of the artist.
1918 Under the Weeping Willow
2017 SOLD for £ 8.9M including premium
The war was a period of great concern for Claude Monet, a patriot and friend of Clemenceau. Too old for active engagement he takes refuge with some feeling of shame within his artistic occupation. With his series of paintings of water lilies that will become Les Grandes Décorations he wants to express that the beauty of nature is immutable unlike the events created by men.
Each water lily painting is a technical feat in increasingly panoramic formats. Monet also observes the shores of his pond in search of vertical themes that will bring an impression of vitality and power. The 200 x 100 cm picture of a group of mauve irises in close-up was sold for £ 10.8M including premium by Christie's on June 23, 2015.
In March 1918 the German counter-offensive threatens Amiens. After some hesitation Monet decides to remain at all costs in Giverny. He immediately begins his paintings on the theme of the weeping willows of his garden. This series will include ten artworks made in 1918 and 1919.
The weeping willow is an ornamental tree with dense and enveloping foliage. Under his tree Monet observes the subtlety of colors. The trunk and a small corner of the ground at the edge of the pond are sufficient to identify the theme. The low angle follows the trunk in bottom-up in its whole height. The leaves provide a mingling of colors treated in a heavy impasto by gestural brush strikes that deliberately ignore the perspective.
The weeping willows of Monet renew the modern art. He is aware and proud of that and wishes to present one of these paintings to France at the time of the armistice. This series opens the path to the experiments close to abstraction of his latest years.
On June 27 in London, Christie's sells a Saule pleureur by Monet, oil on canvas 130 x 110 cm, lot 14 estimated £ 15M.
Each water lily painting is a technical feat in increasingly panoramic formats. Monet also observes the shores of his pond in search of vertical themes that will bring an impression of vitality and power. The 200 x 100 cm picture of a group of mauve irises in close-up was sold for £ 10.8M including premium by Christie's on June 23, 2015.
In March 1918 the German counter-offensive threatens Amiens. After some hesitation Monet decides to remain at all costs in Giverny. He immediately begins his paintings on the theme of the weeping willows of his garden. This series will include ten artworks made in 1918 and 1919.
The weeping willow is an ornamental tree with dense and enveloping foliage. Under his tree Monet observes the subtlety of colors. The trunk and a small corner of the ground at the edge of the pond are sufficient to identify the theme. The low angle follows the trunk in bottom-up in its whole height. The leaves provide a mingling of colors treated in a heavy impasto by gestural brush strikes that deliberately ignore the perspective.
The weeping willows of Monet renew the modern art. He is aware and proud of that and wishes to present one of these paintings to France at the time of the armistice. This series opens the path to the experiments close to abstraction of his latest years.
On June 27 in London, Christie's sells a Saule pleureur by Monet, oil on canvas 130 x 110 cm, lot 14 estimated £ 15M.
Saule pleureur de #Monet : une peinture chargée d’histoire exécutée à l’aube de la fin de la 1ère GM https://t.co/v9exCXAJkq pic.twitter.com/yG83YVjden
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) June 14, 2017
1918 Flags by Childe Hassam
2021 SOLD for $ 12.3M by Sotheby's
In 1916 President Wilson is still expecting to maintain the USA out of the First World War, but he nevertheless consolidates the US Army.
The Preparedness movement, supported by former President Roosevelt, manages a campaign for entering the Americans in the war beside the Allies against the Germans. Specific Preparedness days are organized to gather crowds of many thousands around the waving US flags.
Childe Hassam is recognized as the leader of the small group of US Impressionist painters. His style was influenced by the French Impressionnisme. His preferred theme was the everyday life of the crowd in the avenues, in a variety of bright colors. He was a keen Francophile and became early committed to the Preparedness and then to the US Army in war from the formal involvement in April 1917.
From 1916 to 1919, Hassam executed a patriotic set of about thirty views of New York City entitled Flags, displaying crowds and flags in various angles of view, moments and climatic conditions.
The most famous opus from Hassam's Flags is subtitled The Avenue in the Rain. Painted in 1917 in a style close to the French Impressionnisme, it belongs to the White House and was displayed by President Obama on the wall of the Oval Office.
On May 12, 2021, Sotheby's sold for $ 12.3M Flags on 57th Street, Winter 1918, oil on canvas 72 x 61 cm, lot 1026 estimated $ 12M, previously owned by the New York Historical Society. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The scene is a rare top to down view without horizon from the window of Hassam's studio. It is the only snowy scenery in the series, with a nice foreground effect of flags stiffened by frost.
The Preparedness movement, supported by former President Roosevelt, manages a campaign for entering the Americans in the war beside the Allies against the Germans. Specific Preparedness days are organized to gather crowds of many thousands around the waving US flags.
Childe Hassam is recognized as the leader of the small group of US Impressionist painters. His style was influenced by the French Impressionnisme. His preferred theme was the everyday life of the crowd in the avenues, in a variety of bright colors. He was a keen Francophile and became early committed to the Preparedness and then to the US Army in war from the formal involvement in April 1917.
From 1916 to 1919, Hassam executed a patriotic set of about thirty views of New York City entitled Flags, displaying crowds and flags in various angles of view, moments and climatic conditions.
The most famous opus from Hassam's Flags is subtitled The Avenue in the Rain. Painted in 1917 in a style close to the French Impressionnisme, it belongs to the White House and was displayed by President Obama on the wall of the Oval Office.
On May 12, 2021, Sotheby's sold for $ 12.3M Flags on 57th Street, Winter 1918, oil on canvas 72 x 61 cm, lot 1026 estimated $ 12M, previously owned by the New York Historical Society. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The scene is a rare top to down view without horizon from the window of Hassam's studio. It is the only snowy scenery in the series, with a nice foreground effect of flags stiffened by frost.
#AuctionUpdate: On offer from the New-York Historical Society and sold to benefit museum collections, Childe Hassam’s 'Flags on 57th Street, Winter 1918' achieves $12.3 million - a new auction record for the American artist. pic.twitter.com/32tlAQvDep
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 13, 2021
