1924
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Miro Kandinsky Chagall Soutine O'Keeffe Photo Photos 1920s 1930s
See also : Miro Kandinsky Chagall Soutine O'Keeffe Photo Photos 1920s 1930s
1924 Portrait de Mme K by Miro
2026 SOLD for $ 54M by Christie's
Joan Miro first visited Paris in 1920 after appreciating the Dada movement in periodicals. Back to Paris in the next year, he was lent a studio by Gargallo next door to André Masson.
At that time avant-garde poets sought the automatic writing through the subconscious. At the end of 1923 Miro transposes these conceptions to pictorial art, anticipating by a few years Picasso's commitment to surrealism and Dali's obsessions.
Miro already considers his work to be anti-art, at the opposite of all conventions. He renounces all realism to express lyricism. His landscapes are populated with figures stylized like children's drawings. The eye is appealed by a few splashes of color on a pale monochrome background. Elements of body are dispersed within the dreamlike compositions.
In 1924 his preoccupation is pornographic. He is 31 years old and needs a woman.
The work titled Portrait de Mme K is prepared in Paris from March 1924. The most visible element of the disintegrated portrait is the oversized sex with pubic hair. The head is a black silhouette with a hanging cigarette holder. The burning heart is shaped like a bunch of flowing spermatozoids. A love arrow hits the body column.
Acquired from Max Ernst by René Gaffé in 1926, this charcoal, colored crayon, pastel, sanguine, white chalk and pencil on blanc de Meudon primed canvas 116 x 91 cm was sold from the latter's estate for $ 12.7M by Christie's on November 6, 2001, lot 14. It was sold for $ 54M by Christie's on May 18, 2026, lot 6A in the sale of the Newhouse collection.
Danseuse Espagnole is a simplified monochrome work of the same theme, prepared at the same time. Dominated by the black head and the diagonal cigarette holder, it includes a jeweled forearm with its hand, and a pierced breast. This monumental mixed technique on canvas 240 x 150 cm was sold by Christie's for $ 9M in the same sale of the Gaffé collection, lot 16.
He develops the symbol of the man-tree, which is a link between ground and sky. The roots are replaced by bare legs below a stretched male sex. The arms are made of small side branches. The top of the figure is a mix between head and sun, with a single eye and cat whiskers. Le Piège, painted in Miro's Montroig Catalan home farm during the summer of 1924, is a demonstrator of the new style.
The work is preceded by a preparatory drawing which facilitates its deciphering. The trap on the beach is a kind of lobster rack in the shape of a female sex. It is beyond the reach of the sperm stream but awaits the rabbit and the hen which are walking in the foreground like innocent victims.
Breton is delighted. He immediately acquires the painting that he would keep throughout his life. This 92 x 73 cm oil, charcoal and graphite on canvas was sold for £ 5.3M by Christie's on March 23, 2021, lot 115.
At that time avant-garde poets sought the automatic writing through the subconscious. At the end of 1923 Miro transposes these conceptions to pictorial art, anticipating by a few years Picasso's commitment to surrealism and Dali's obsessions.
Miro already considers his work to be anti-art, at the opposite of all conventions. He renounces all realism to express lyricism. His landscapes are populated with figures stylized like children's drawings. The eye is appealed by a few splashes of color on a pale monochrome background. Elements of body are dispersed within the dreamlike compositions.
In 1924 his preoccupation is pornographic. He is 31 years old and needs a woman.
The work titled Portrait de Mme K is prepared in Paris from March 1924. The most visible element of the disintegrated portrait is the oversized sex with pubic hair. The head is a black silhouette with a hanging cigarette holder. The burning heart is shaped like a bunch of flowing spermatozoids. A love arrow hits the body column.
Acquired from Max Ernst by René Gaffé in 1926, this charcoal, colored crayon, pastel, sanguine, white chalk and pencil on blanc de Meudon primed canvas 116 x 91 cm was sold from the latter's estate for $ 12.7M by Christie's on November 6, 2001, lot 14. It was sold for $ 54M by Christie's on May 18, 2026, lot 6A in the sale of the Newhouse collection.
Danseuse Espagnole is a simplified monochrome work of the same theme, prepared at the same time. Dominated by the black head and the diagonal cigarette holder, it includes a jeweled forearm with its hand, and a pierced breast. This monumental mixed technique on canvas 240 x 150 cm was sold by Christie's for $ 9M in the same sale of the Gaffé collection, lot 16.
He develops the symbol of the man-tree, which is a link between ground and sky. The roots are replaced by bare legs below a stretched male sex. The arms are made of small side branches. The top of the figure is a mix between head and sun, with a single eye and cat whiskers. Le Piège, painted in Miro's Montroig Catalan home farm during the summer of 1924, is a demonstrator of the new style.
The work is preceded by a preparatory drawing which facilitates its deciphering. The trap on the beach is a kind of lobster rack in the shape of a female sex. It is beyond the reach of the sperm stream but awaits the rabbit and the hen which are walking in the foreground like innocent victims.
Breton is delighted. He immediately acquires the painting that he would keep throughout his life. This 92 x 73 cm oil, charcoal and graphite on canvas was sold for £ 5.3M by Christie's on March 23, 2021, lot 115.
1924 Tiefes Braun by Kandinsky
2022 SOLD for $ 23.3M by Christie's
Founded in 1919 by Gropius in Weimar, the Bauhaus first focused on a synthesis between art and crafts for an application to architecture. In keeping with the progress of that time, the technique is gradually taking the place of the craftsmanship.
The Bauhaus was the place to be for Wassily Kandinsky. Invited by Gropius, he joined that school in 1922 to reside as a Meister, teaching both the basics of design for beginners and the advanced theories.
Originally a painter of landscapes and epic improvisations, he now becomes the theoretician of abstract art, questioning the usefulness of figuration in art.
Kandinsky was throughout his career a theorist in search of the absolute art. At the time of the Blaue Reiter, the predominance of the colors and of the lines of force led him to abstraction, although he willfully ignored Malevich's Suprematism. In the Bauhaus he advances his theories by a detailed analysis of the basic forms : plane, straight line, angle, circle, semicircle, and of their relation with the colors. His own palette integrates additional colors.
Tiefes Braun was painted in 1924 by Kandinsky for his teaching. The arrangement of the figures assesses that he now integrates the Suprematism. This oil in canvas 83 x 73 cm was sold for $ 23.3M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 48.
The Bauhaus was the place to be for Wassily Kandinsky. Invited by Gropius, he joined that school in 1922 to reside as a Meister, teaching both the basics of design for beginners and the advanced theories.
Originally a painter of landscapes and epic improvisations, he now becomes the theoretician of abstract art, questioning the usefulness of figuration in art.
Kandinsky was throughout his career a theorist in search of the absolute art. At the time of the Blaue Reiter, the predominance of the colors and of the lines of force led him to abstraction, although he willfully ignored Malevich's Suprematism. In the Bauhaus he advances his theories by a detailed analysis of the basic forms : plane, straight line, angle, circle, semicircle, and of their relation with the colors. His own palette integrates additional colors.
Tiefes Braun was painted in 1924 by Kandinsky for his teaching. The arrangement of the figures assesses that he now integrates the Suprematism. This oil in canvas 83 x 73 cm was sold for $ 23.3M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 48.
Wassily Kandinsky taught at the Bauhaus from 1922 until the school closed under Nazi pressure in 1933. He joined in Weimar (initially heading the mural painting workshop and teaching form and color theory), moved with the school to Dessau in 1925, and continued until the end. This period marked a shift in his work toward greater geometric structure, influenced by Constructivism and Suprematism from his Russian years, combined with ongoing explorations of color psychology, form dynamics, and "inner necessity." He developed these ideas in teaching and in his 1926 treatise Point and Line to Plane. Both paintings in question belong firmly to this Bauhaus era, reflecting his focus on abstract elements—points, lines, planes, and their interactions with color to evoke emotional and spatial effects.
Tiefes Braun (Deep Brown), 1924
Rote Tiefe (Red Depth), 1925
Comparison
Both works date to the heart of Kandinsky's Bauhaus teaching period (1924–1925), when he lectured on color and form while producing chamber-scale abstractions that synthesized Russian avant-garde geometry with his earlier lyrical tendencies. They exemplify his shift from freer, more expressive pre-war and immediate post-Russian Revolution styles toward structured yet vibrant non-objective compositions.
Tiefes Braun (Deep Brown), 1924
- Medium and size: Oil on canvas, 32 3/4 x 28 5/8 in. (83.3 x 72.7 cm).
- Provenance and history: Extensive ownership including Karl Nierendorf, then the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1948–2000); part of the Paul G. Allen Collection at Christie's. It has a rich exhibition record (e.g., early shows in Dresden 1924, Guggenheim retrospectives) and is catalogued in major references like Roethel/Benjamin's Catalogue Raisonné (no. 714) and Guggenheim collection catalogues.
- Period and style: Painted April–June 1924 in Weimar, early in Kandinsky's Bauhaus tenure. It is listed in the artist's handlist as no. 271 and reflects his absorption of Constructivist influences while at the school.
Rote Tiefe (Red Depth), 1925
- Medium and size: Oil on canvas, 39 by 32 in. (100 by 81.3 cm).
- Auction context: Sold for $ 14.5M by Sotheby's in the Modern Evening Auction (May 19, 2026, lot 12), from the collection of Adele & Enrico Donati, with an estimate of $12,000,000–18,000,000 USD.
- Period and style: Created in 1925, during Kandinsky's Weimar/Dessau Bauhaus years. This places it amid his intensified engagement with geometric abstraction and color theory at the school.
Comparison
Both works date to the heart of Kandinsky's Bauhaus teaching period (1924–1925), when he lectured on color and form while producing chamber-scale abstractions that synthesized Russian avant-garde geometry with his earlier lyrical tendencies. They exemplify his shift from freer, more expressive pre-war and immediate post-Russian Revolution styles toward structured yet vibrant non-objective compositions.
- Similarities:
- Abstract language: Both prioritize non-representational elements—geometric and organic forms, lines, and planes—to generate inner resonance and dynamism, per Kandinsky's theories.
- Color as emotional/spatial force: They use rich, modulated palettes (red-dominant in Rote Tiefe; brown with red/yellow accents in Tiefes Braun) to explore contrasts, transparency, saturation, and depth. Kandinsky viewed color as a "keyboard" vibrating on the soul; these paintings test interrelationships between hue, form, and space.
- Bauhaus context: Created while teaching, they reflect influences from the school's environment (including interactions with peers like Paul Klee) and Constructivist aesthetics, with emphasis on precision, diagonals for energy, and balanced complexity. Both fit his "Compositions" category of deliberate, structured abstractions.
- Scale and intimacy: Relatively intimate easel paintings (around 80–100 cm in one dimension) that feel exploratory rather than monumental.
- Differences:
- Dominant hue and mood: Rote Tiefe foregrounds red (often linked by Kandinsky to intensity, advance, or warmth), potentially creating a more fiery or advancing "depth." Tiefes Braun anchors in deep brown (earthy, modulating into reds and softer tones), described as an "ambitious exercise in pictorial contrasts" with a grounded yet dynamic feel—more chromatic subtlety and possible landscape echoes.
- Form emphasis: Tiefes Braun explicitly features strong diagonals, piercing angular forms on one side (with transparency effects), and balanced organic curves, building complex networks of tension. Rote Tiefe (with less detailed public description available) likely leans into red-driven spatial recession, but without the same noted zig-zag or cloud-like hints.
- Date nuance: 1924 (Tiefes Braun) is slightly earlier, during initial Weimar integration of Constructivist ideas; 1925 (Rote Tiefe) coincides with the school's move to Dessau and Kandinsky's growing "free painting" classes.
- Provenance and market: Tiefes Braun has deeper institutional history (Guggenheim) and extensive exhibition/literature trail. Rote Tiefe appears in a high-estimate private-collection sale, highlighting market interest in strong-color Bauhaus Kandinskys.
1924 MATISSE
1
La Séance du Matin
2026 SOLD for $ 20M by Sotheby's
La séance du matin (the morning session), oil on canvas 74 x 61 cm painted by Matisse in 1924, was sold by Sotheby's for $ 19.2M on May 7, 2014, lot 8 and for $ 20M on May 19, 2026, lot 22.
Henriette busy to paint is dutifully sitting in front of another chair used as an easel. She turns her back to the window through which the clear blue of the sky and the bright blue of the Mediterranea can be seen. Her garment that is undoubtedly a night dress has vertical stripes that clash with the louvered window shutter, creating the strong point of the composition and drawing the attention to the character.
La Séance du matin (The Morning Session), painted by Henri Matisse in 1924, is a beautiful example of his Nice period work.
This oil on canvas (about 72.5 × 60 cm) captures a quiet, intimate domestic scene: a woman (interpreted as a model or artist herself) in a relaxed morning setting, surrounded by the patterned interiors, light, and serene atmosphere that define Matisse's time in Nice. It was executed during his highly productive "Nice period" (roughly 1917–1930s), when he focused on luminous interiors, odalisques, and everyday moments filled with joy, color, and harmony.
Key Details from the Auction
This piece has strong auction history (last sold in 2014 for around $19.2M) and has been documented in major literature under various titles like The Morning Sitting, Femme peintre, or La femme peintre.
It's a wonderful highlight of Matisse's ability to turn an ordinary morning into something timeless and uplifting.
Henriette busy to paint is dutifully sitting in front of another chair used as an easel. She turns her back to the window through which the clear blue of the sky and the bright blue of the Mediterranea can be seen. Her garment that is undoubtedly a night dress has vertical stripes that clash with the louvered window shutter, creating the strong point of the composition and drawing the attention to the character.
La Séance du matin (The Morning Session), painted by Henri Matisse in 1924, is a beautiful example of his Nice period work.
This oil on canvas (about 72.5 × 60 cm) captures a quiet, intimate domestic scene: a woman (interpreted as a model or artist herself) in a relaxed morning setting, surrounded by the patterned interiors, light, and serene atmosphere that define Matisse's time in Nice. It was executed during his highly productive "Nice period" (roughly 1917–1930s), when he focused on luminous interiors, odalisques, and everyday moments filled with joy, color, and harmony.
Key Details from the Auction
- Signed lower right: Henri Matisse.
- Provenance includes direct acquisition from the artist by Valentine Dudensing, then notable collectors like Stephen C. Clark.
- Exhibitions — It appeared in key shows, including the 1925 Salon d'Automne (as Intérieur (Le modèle), le matin), the National Gallery of Art's 1986–87 Matisse retrospective, and others.
- Estimate for the May 2026 Sotheby's Modern Evening Auction: $20–30 million USD.
This piece has strong auction history (last sold in 2014 for around $19.2M) and has been documented in major literature under various titles like The Morning Sitting, Femme peintre, or La femme peintre.
It's a wonderful highlight of Matisse's ability to turn an ordinary morning into something timeless and uplifting.
With this painting, Matisse captures the Mediterranean sunlight and saves it for us. The radiant ‘La Séance du matin’ is one of the most important works from Matisse’s Nice period.
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 16, 2026
Here, Specialist Scott Niichel explores this compelling, hopeful canvas. After arriving in Nice at… pic.twitter.com/Rxqp2pStDu
2
Nu au Coussin Bleu
2010 SOLD for $ 15M by Christie's
There is a direct relationship between the arts of painting and of drawing in the work of Matisse. The drawing of female nude was another specialty of the artist, also well-popularized in prints. The sharp and precise curves give life to the subject with great clarity.
Painted in 1924, a sitting nude with a blue cushion is a synthesis of all of this. The woman is well proportioned (which is not always the case in the works of this master) and the realistic color of the flesh is highlighting the background of the apartment. The model is caught in a moment of trust and relaxation, arms crossed above her head, one leg lifted.
This appealing and friendly oil on canvas 72 x 58 cm was sold for $ 15M by Christie's on May 4, 2010.
The black and white lithograph print titled Nu au coussin bleu près d'une cheminée (Nude with blue cushion near a fireplace) is an almost identical figure as that painting. A copy edited in 1925, image size 64 x 48 cm, was sold by Christie's for £ 54K on March 31, 2010.
Painted in 1924, a sitting nude with a blue cushion is a synthesis of all of this. The woman is well proportioned (which is not always the case in the works of this master) and the realistic color of the flesh is highlighting the background of the apartment. The model is caught in a moment of trust and relaxation, arms crossed above her head, one leg lifted.
This appealing and friendly oil on canvas 72 x 58 cm was sold for $ 15M by Christie's on May 4, 2010.
The black and white lithograph print titled Nu au coussin bleu près d'une cheminée (Nude with blue cushion near a fireplace) is an almost identical figure as that painting. A copy edited in 1925, image size 64 x 48 cm, was sold by Christie's for £ 54K on March 31, 2010.
1924 SOUTINE
1
La Communiante
2015 SOLD for $ 15.6M by Christie's
A single work was made by the Jewish artist Chaim Soutine on the theme of the Christian communion, a ritual ceremony for awakening children by providing the Eucharist.
This oil on canvas 82 x 48 cm painted ca 1924 was sold for $ 15.6M from a lower estimate of $ 3M by Christie's on May 14, 2015, lot 29C.
The face of that young girl from a lower class is banal and bemused. The real theme is the application of translucent white improved by various pale hues on the wide surface of the ceremonial attire including dress, veil and gloves. Similar hues were also applied in the overcoats of the pastry cooks. This experience took place ca 1924, just after Soutine had been encouraged by the highlighting of his skills by Barnes.
Soutine never painted an identifiable Jewish subject. During his Céret phase he had observed elderly praying men as a sign of the Catholic faith in French culture. He will later paint also a few portraits of choir boys.
This oil on canvas 82 x 48 cm painted ca 1924 was sold for $ 15.6M from a lower estimate of $ 3M by Christie's on May 14, 2015, lot 29C.
The face of that young girl from a lower class is banal and bemused. The real theme is the application of translucent white improved by various pale hues on the wide surface of the ceremonial attire including dress, veil and gloves. Similar hues were also applied in the overcoats of the pastry cooks. This experience took place ca 1924, just after Soutine had been encouraged by the highlighting of his skills by Barnes.
Soutine never painted an identifiable Jewish subject. During his Céret phase he had observed elderly praying men as a sign of the Catholic faith in French culture. He will later paint also a few portraits of choir boys.
2
1924 La Femme en Rouge
2019 SOLD for $ 11M by Sotheby's
A highly independent artist, Chaim Soutine has his place in the creation of modern art. The distorsion of his landscapes at Céret are post-Cubist. His quest for rare colors are influenced by his late friend Modigliani. Their application in dyed fabrics, clothing and wallpaper, without a reference to nature, are reminiscent of Matisse.
Soutine also applies his distorsions to the human body, including the face. Femme en rose, oil on canvas 73 x 54 cm painted ca 1924, is kept at the Saint Louis Art Museum. It is made of red, coral and yellow within its full format.
Another seated woman from the same period was painted in a slightly larger size. That Femme en rouge, oil on canvas 91 x 65 cm, was sold for $ 11M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2019, lot 26. The colors mingle oranges and reds with additions of green. The twisted face with a large smile is friendly but does not look intelligent.
Soutine also applies his distorsions to the human body, including the face. Femme en rose, oil on canvas 73 x 54 cm painted ca 1924, is kept at the Saint Louis Art Museum. It is made of red, coral and yellow within its full format.
Another seated woman from the same period was painted in a slightly larger size. That Femme en rouge, oil on canvas 91 x 65 cm, was sold for $ 11M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2019, lot 26. The colors mingle oranges and reds with additions of green. The twisted face with a large smile is friendly but does not look intelligent.
3
1924 Le Boeuf écorché
2006 SOLD for £ 7.8M by Christie's
The views of a beef carcass are an experience by Soutine for expressing the colors of flesh and blood. A close up example without the legs, oil on canvas 81 x 60 cm painted ca 1923, was sold for $ 28M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 30A.
Displaying the same carcass in full view including the hooks and the surrounding of his new studio, Le Boeuf écorché looks like a crucifixion with its stretched limbs. This specific composition composition closely follows a slaughtered ox painted by Rembrandt.
This large size oil on canvas 130 x 75 cm painted ca 1924 was sold for £ 7.8M from a lower estimate of £ 4.2M by Christie's on February 6, 2006, lot 68. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Displaying the same carcass in full view including the hooks and the surrounding of his new studio, Le Boeuf écorché looks like a crucifixion with its stretched limbs. This specific composition composition closely follows a slaughtered ox painted by Rembrandt.
This large size oil on canvas 130 x 75 cm painted ca 1924 was sold for £ 7.8M from a lower estimate of £ 4.2M by Christie's on February 6, 2006, lot 68. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1924 Au-dessus de la Ville by Chagall
2023 SOLD for $ 15.6M by Sotheby's
Marc Chagall and Bella fell in love in 1909 in their hometown Vitebsk. They parted from one another from 1910 when Marc moved to Paris and Bella was a student in Moscow. Back in Russia in 1914, they were re-united in a still intact deep love.
Au-dessus de la Ville, conceived in 1914, expresses in joyous colors their dreamlike bliss. Marc is gently holding his fiancée in a horizontal floating in the blue sky high above the Vitebsk cityscape. Her outstretched arm is leading the way to happiness. Breton was to acknowledge Chagall as a forerunner of surréalisme. This gouache, distemper, black crayon and paper 36 x 50 cm was sold for £ 1.8M by Sotheby's on June 22, 2011, lot 4.
The couple married in 1915. A very similar remake from that year in oil on board 48 x 70 cm was sold for $ 9.9M by Christie's on May 15, 1990.
A large size oil on canvas 140 x 200 cm is dated ca 1914-1918.
Marc and Bella moved from Moscow to France in 1923. In 1924 in Paris, Marc painted a brighter remake of Au-dessus de la ville. This oil on canvas 68 x 91 cm was sold for $ 15.6M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 5.
Au-dessus de la Ville, conceived in 1914, expresses in joyous colors their dreamlike bliss. Marc is gently holding his fiancée in a horizontal floating in the blue sky high above the Vitebsk cityscape. Her outstretched arm is leading the way to happiness. Breton was to acknowledge Chagall as a forerunner of surréalisme. This gouache, distemper, black crayon and paper 36 x 50 cm was sold for £ 1.8M by Sotheby's on June 22, 2011, lot 4.
The couple married in 1915. A very similar remake from that year in oil on board 48 x 70 cm was sold for $ 9.9M by Christie's on May 15, 1990.
A large size oil on canvas 140 x 200 cm is dated ca 1914-1918.
Marc and Bella moved from Moscow to France in 1923. In 1924 in Paris, Marc painted a brighter remake of Au-dessus de la ville. This oil on canvas 68 x 91 cm was sold for $ 15.6M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 5.
Joan Miró in 1924 was deeply engaged in his "dream paintings" (peinture-poésie) period, creating highly personal, poetic works that blended abstraction, symbolism, automatism, and Catalan roots while aligning with emerging Surrealist ideas.
Anti-Art Stance and "Porn Obsessed" Elements
Miró sought to challenge and "assassinate" traditional painting (a phrase he famously used around 1927, but rooted in earlier experiments). He rejected conventional representation, bourgeois aesthetics, and academic techniques in favor of spontaneous, subconscious-driven creation—drawing from Dada influences and pushing toward anti-painting methods like raw surfaces, mixed media, and schematic signs.
His 1920s works often feature explicit sexual symbolism: oversized genitals, pubic hair, phallic forms, vegetal/sexual metaphors (e.g., sex organs as bulbs or plants, flames as desire), and fragmented/eroticized bodies. Critics and analysts note a "pornographic" or ribald charge in pieces from this era, tied to his personal frustrations (he was in his early 30s, seeking connection) and a broader Surrealist interest in eroticism, the unconscious, and liberating repressed desires. This wasn't literal pornography but a poetic, sometimes grotesque or humorous assault on propriety—blending humor, violence, and the body.
Relation to Breton and the Surrealists
Miró moved to Paris around 1920 and connected with the avant-garde, including André Masson (a neighbor) and others in the Surrealist circle. He joined the Surrealist group in 1924, the year Breton published the Surrealist Manifesto. Breton later praised him as "the most Surrealist of us all" for his automatism, dream-like imagery, and poetic freedom, even though Miró never became an official/orthodox member—he valued independence and experimented across styles.
His 1924–1927 works (like Harlequin's Carnival) exemplify Surrealist psychic automatism: starting without preconception, letting forms emerge from the unconscious, mixing painting with poetry/words, and evoking the irrational. He participated in key Surrealist shows (e.g., 1925 at Galerie Pierre).
Reception in the Period
In 1920s Paris, Miró's work was polarizing but gained traction among the avant-garde. Early solo shows (e.g., 1921, 1925) drew attention for their shift from detailed realism/Cubist influences to fantastical, childlike abstraction. Supporters (poets, collectors like René Gaffé) saw magic, humor, and innovation; detractors found it childish, incomprehensible, or crude. His 1925 Surrealist exhibition appearance was a milestone. By the late 1920s, he was recognized as a key figure bridging Dada, Cubism, and Surrealism, though commercial success grew later.
Deciphering Portrait de Madame K. (1924)
This large mixed-media work (oil, charcoal, colored wax crayons on canvas, ~117 x 91 cm) was executed in Paris. It passed through Max Ernst's collection before René and Jeanne Gaffé, and later S.I. Newhouse.
Visual description and symbolism (based on analyses and typical Miró iconography of the period): It features a highly abstracted, disintegrated "portrait" with a central biomorphic/silhouetted figure against a structured yet chaotic ground (including geometric elements like set squares). Key motifs include:
Contextual note: Compare to nearby works like The Family or The Hunter, where similar schematic bodies, sexual symbols, and flames appear. Miró drew from hallucinations, Catalan folklore, and personal life.
This painting exemplifies Miró's 1924 breakthrough: anti-traditional, erotically charged, and Surrealist-adjacent, marking his move toward the lyrical abstraction that defined his career.
Anti-Art Stance and "Porn Obsessed" Elements
Miró sought to challenge and "assassinate" traditional painting (a phrase he famously used around 1927, but rooted in earlier experiments). He rejected conventional representation, bourgeois aesthetics, and academic techniques in favor of spontaneous, subconscious-driven creation—drawing from Dada influences and pushing toward anti-painting methods like raw surfaces, mixed media, and schematic signs.
His 1920s works often feature explicit sexual symbolism: oversized genitals, pubic hair, phallic forms, vegetal/sexual metaphors (e.g., sex organs as bulbs or plants, flames as desire), and fragmented/eroticized bodies. Critics and analysts note a "pornographic" or ribald charge in pieces from this era, tied to his personal frustrations (he was in his early 30s, seeking connection) and a broader Surrealist interest in eroticism, the unconscious, and liberating repressed desires. This wasn't literal pornography but a poetic, sometimes grotesque or humorous assault on propriety—blending humor, violence, and the body.
Relation to Breton and the Surrealists
Miró moved to Paris around 1920 and connected with the avant-garde, including André Masson (a neighbor) and others in the Surrealist circle. He joined the Surrealist group in 1924, the year Breton published the Surrealist Manifesto. Breton later praised him as "the most Surrealist of us all" for his automatism, dream-like imagery, and poetic freedom, even though Miró never became an official/orthodox member—he valued independence and experimented across styles.
His 1924–1927 works (like Harlequin's Carnival) exemplify Surrealist psychic automatism: starting without preconception, letting forms emerge from the unconscious, mixing painting with poetry/words, and evoking the irrational. He participated in key Surrealist shows (e.g., 1925 at Galerie Pierre).
Reception in the Period
In 1920s Paris, Miró's work was polarizing but gained traction among the avant-garde. Early solo shows (e.g., 1921, 1925) drew attention for their shift from detailed realism/Cubist influences to fantastical, childlike abstraction. Supporters (poets, collectors like René Gaffé) saw magic, humor, and innovation; detractors found it childish, incomprehensible, or crude. His 1925 Surrealist exhibition appearance was a milestone. By the late 1920s, he was recognized as a key figure bridging Dada, Cubism, and Surrealism, though commercial success grew later.
Deciphering Portrait de Madame K. (1924)
This large mixed-media work (oil, charcoal, colored wax crayons on canvas, ~117 x 91 cm) was executed in Paris. It passed through Max Ernst's collection before René and Jeanne Gaffé, and later S.I. Newhouse.
Visual description and symbolism (based on analyses and typical Miró iconography of the period): It features a highly abstracted, disintegrated "portrait" with a central biomorphic/silhouetted figure against a structured yet chaotic ground (including geometric elements like set squares). Key motifs include:
- Oversized sex organ with pubic hair as a dominant, explicit element—blatantly overt sexuality.
- Black silhouette head (possibly with a cigarette holder or accessories).
- Burning heart (flames or spermatozoid-like forms symbolizing passion/desire).
- Arrow (jewelry or piercing motif, hitting the body—echoing amatory themes in contemporary works like family portraits).
- Other schematic lines, shapes, and possibly vegetal/organic forms tying into Miró's sex-vegetation metaphors.
Contextual note: Compare to nearby works like The Family or The Hunter, where similar schematic bodies, sexual symbols, and flames appear. Miró drew from hallucinations, Catalan folklore, and personal life.
This painting exemplifies Miró's 1924 breakthrough: anti-traditional, erotically charged, and Surrealist-adjacent, marking his move toward the lyrical abstraction that defined his career.
1924 From the Old Garden by O'Keeffe
2026 SOLD for $ 13M by Christie's
Evolution from 1919 Canna Series to 1925 Pink Tulip
The 1919 Canna series marked O'Keeffe's breakthrough into oil with vibrant, close studies of red canna lilies. Works like Red Canna (1919, oil on board) featured fluid, curving forms and intense pigmentation in modest scales, highlighting structure against stylized backgrounds while retaining recognizable botanical elements. These established her serial method—dozens of variations on a motif—and treated flowers as vehicles for color significance and rhythmic organic shapes, creating a "new kind of modern still life."
By the early 1920s, her florals grew more ambitious in scale and abstraction. Compositions filled the canvas edge-to-edge, with aggressive cropping that eliminated context, influenced by photographic techniques. She expanded to other blooms, prioritizing immersive perceptual experience over literal depiction.
A transitional highlight is the 1924 From the Old Garden No. I (oil on canvas), a garden-inspired abstraction with swirling, stylized floral forms in vivid palettes against simplified grounds. Related to From the Old Garden No. 2 (oil on canvas, 35 x 18 inches, private collection), which features bright purple, yellow, and blue swirling shapes with dotted accents and a central form on pale blue, it demonstrates dynamic, hole-punctured rhythms and Precisionist clarity. This work was sold for $ 13M at Christie's May 18, 2026 20th Century Evening Sale, lot 25A, against an estimate of USD 7,000,000 – 10,000,000, underscoring its rarity during a period when her flower paintings first caused a sensation in Stieglitz's exhibitions (beginning 1923). The video is shared by the auction house.
By 1925, with Pink Tulip (Abstraction - #77 Tulip) (oil on canvas, 32 x 12 inches / 81.3 x 30.5 cm, signed with her star device "OK" and dated 1925 on the backing), O'Keeffe achieved refined, highly cropped essences. One of only four tulip subjects from 1925–1926, it magnifies a draped petal section in high-key pinks within a narrow vertical format, reducing the subject to rhythmic color fields and organic suggestion while retaining subtle floral identity. O'Keeffe kept it for about 60 years; it later entered the Emily Fisher Landau collection and sold at Sotheby's in 2023 for $5,734,800 (estimate $3–5 million). This narrow, edge-to-edge composition exemplifies her mature method: making the small monumental so viewers "take time to look." Overall, the progression shows increasing scale, bolder cropping, heightened abstraction (from billowing details to simplified shapes bordering non-objective), and emphasis on personal color harmonies—shifting from intimate 1919 studies to dynamic 1924 garden abstractions to essentialized 1925 forms.
The 1919 Canna series marked O'Keeffe's breakthrough into oil with vibrant, close studies of red canna lilies. Works like Red Canna (1919, oil on board) featured fluid, curving forms and intense pigmentation in modest scales, highlighting structure against stylized backgrounds while retaining recognizable botanical elements. These established her serial method—dozens of variations on a motif—and treated flowers as vehicles for color significance and rhythmic organic shapes, creating a "new kind of modern still life."
By the early 1920s, her florals grew more ambitious in scale and abstraction. Compositions filled the canvas edge-to-edge, with aggressive cropping that eliminated context, influenced by photographic techniques. She expanded to other blooms, prioritizing immersive perceptual experience over literal depiction.
A transitional highlight is the 1924 From the Old Garden No. I (oil on canvas), a garden-inspired abstraction with swirling, stylized floral forms in vivid palettes against simplified grounds. Related to From the Old Garden No. 2 (oil on canvas, 35 x 18 inches, private collection), which features bright purple, yellow, and blue swirling shapes with dotted accents and a central form on pale blue, it demonstrates dynamic, hole-punctured rhythms and Precisionist clarity. This work was sold for $ 13M at Christie's May 18, 2026 20th Century Evening Sale, lot 25A, against an estimate of USD 7,000,000 – 10,000,000, underscoring its rarity during a period when her flower paintings first caused a sensation in Stieglitz's exhibitions (beginning 1923). The video is shared by the auction house.
By 1925, with Pink Tulip (Abstraction - #77 Tulip) (oil on canvas, 32 x 12 inches / 81.3 x 30.5 cm, signed with her star device "OK" and dated 1925 on the backing), O'Keeffe achieved refined, highly cropped essences. One of only four tulip subjects from 1925–1926, it magnifies a draped petal section in high-key pinks within a narrow vertical format, reducing the subject to rhythmic color fields and organic suggestion while retaining subtle floral identity. O'Keeffe kept it for about 60 years; it later entered the Emily Fisher Landau collection and sold at Sotheby's in 2023 for $5,734,800 (estimate $3–5 million). This narrow, edge-to-edge composition exemplifies her mature method: making the small monumental so viewers "take time to look." Overall, the progression shows increasing scale, bolder cropping, heightened abstraction (from billowing details to simplified shapes bordering non-objective), and emphasis on personal color harmonies—shifting from intimate 1919 studies to dynamic 1924 garden abstractions to essentialized 1925 forms.
1924 Le Violon d'Ingres by Man Ray
2022 SOLD for $ 12.4M by Christie's
Le Violon d'Ingres, a surrealist photo conceived by Man Ray in 1924, has a striking impact by its simple geometry, glamorous display and intriguing title.
It features his model and lover Kiki de Montparnasse seated from the back. The head turned to her left is wearing a Turkish turban and an ear pendant. The voluptuous body in strong contrast with the black background is naked down to the draped hips.
Kiki is here performing the nude Grande Baigneuse by Ingres, later a central figure in le Bain Turc. The title of Man Ray's photo refers to the skill of Ingres for playing the violin, that became a French expression equivalent to the English 'hobby'.
The comparison of the female shape with a violin is reinforced by the fact that the arms are hidden and by the f-holes impressed on her back by reprocessing the original state with Man Ray's own rayograph technique.
The original print finished with the f-holes is a unique gelatin silver print 48.5 x 37.5 cm ink signed and dated 1924 by Man Ray. After being kept for half a century in the collection of its late owners, it was sold for $ 12.4M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Christie's on May 14, 2022, lot 615.
For further prints the artist rephotographed the original rayogramme with a 5 x 7 inch camera. One of them was used by André Breton to illustrate his dada oriented Littérature magazine in 1924. A silver copy 31 x 25 cm that belonged to Breton was purchased in 1993 by Centre Pompidou.
It was to participate to the tattoo craze when young women had applied Man Ray's f-holes on their back.
It features his model and lover Kiki de Montparnasse seated from the back. The head turned to her left is wearing a Turkish turban and an ear pendant. The voluptuous body in strong contrast with the black background is naked down to the draped hips.
Kiki is here performing the nude Grande Baigneuse by Ingres, later a central figure in le Bain Turc. The title of Man Ray's photo refers to the skill of Ingres for playing the violin, that became a French expression equivalent to the English 'hobby'.
The comparison of the female shape with a violin is reinforced by the fact that the arms are hidden and by the f-holes impressed on her back by reprocessing the original state with Man Ray's own rayograph technique.
The original print finished with the f-holes is a unique gelatin silver print 48.5 x 37.5 cm ink signed and dated 1924 by Man Ray. After being kept for half a century in the collection of its late owners, it was sold for $ 12.4M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Christie's on May 14, 2022, lot 615.
For further prints the artist rephotographed the original rayogramme with a 5 x 7 inch camera. One of them was used by André Breton to illustrate his dada oriented Littérature magazine in 1924. A silver copy 31 x 25 cm that belonged to Breton was purchased in 1993 by Centre Pompidou.
It was to participate to the tattoo craze when young women had applied Man Ray's f-holes on their back.
