1929
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : USA US painting < 1940 Hopper Mondrian Picasso 1907-31 Lempicka Sanyu Sanyu < 1950 Groups
See also : USA US painting < 1940 Hopper Mondrian Picasso 1907-31 Lempicka Sanyu Sanyu < 1950 Groups
masterpiece
1929 La Trahison des Images by Magritte
Los Angeles County Museum
From 1926 Magritte observes that an image of an object remains an image and is not the object. He begins to confront the drawing of his pipe with the word 'pipe' or with an abstraction. In 1929 La trahison des images is an artistic manifesto of a sublime simplicity, in just six words: "Ceci n'est pas une pipe."
In the same period Miro also was appreciating that the new poetic dimension of modern art was a personal work that could not be attached to a movement and even less to a political affiliation.
In the same period Miro also was appreciating that the new poetic dimension of modern art was a personal work that could not be attached to a movement and even less to a political affiliation.
1929 Chop Suey by Hopper
2018 SOLD for $ 92M by Christie's
Very francophile after a stay in Paris, Edward Hopper observes on his return to New York the differences in the art of living between the two continents. Everything is changing very quickly in the United States in the 1920s around a new organization of work that better incorporates women, respects their individuality better and gives them some freedom.
Hopper is taciturn and traditionalist. He very well appreciates that he cannot oppose these changes, just as he cannot do anything about the collapse of abandoned houses. His art is realistic but he builds his own universe like a surrealist.
Automat, painted in 1927, is a portrait of his wife Jo having a break in a self-service cafe. She is alone, pensive and a little tired, sitting in front of a round table in the back of a room without decoration.
Chop Suey, oil on canvas 81 x 96 cm painted in 1929, stages the same young woman in another cheap restaurant, seated in front of another woman who is seen from behind. Sitting at another table in the background, a couple chats.
The theme is definitely not narrative despite its appearances. We will not know who these characters are, why they are together. These Chinese cafes that then proliferate in the United States are a symbol of a new everyday life with new forms of banalities and also with the attractiveness and the threat of internationalization and depersonalization.
In new urban spaces, geometry becomes omnipresent. Chop Suey seduced the young Mark Rothko and much later influenced his division of surfaces into color fields.
Chop Suey was sold for $ 92M from a lower estimate of $ 70M by Christie's on November 13, 2018, lot 12 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 14, 2018
#AuctionUpdate Edward Hopper's iconic 'Chop Suey' achieves a staggering $91,875,000, a new #WorldAuctionRecord for the category of American Art https://bit.ly/2B1UzKF
Hopper is taciturn and traditionalist. He very well appreciates that he cannot oppose these changes, just as he cannot do anything about the collapse of abandoned houses. His art is realistic but he builds his own universe like a surrealist.
Automat, painted in 1927, is a portrait of his wife Jo having a break in a self-service cafe. She is alone, pensive and a little tired, sitting in front of a round table in the back of a room without decoration.
Chop Suey, oil on canvas 81 x 96 cm painted in 1929, stages the same young woman in another cheap restaurant, seated in front of another woman who is seen from behind. Sitting at another table in the background, a couple chats.
The theme is definitely not narrative despite its appearances. We will not know who these characters are, why they are together. These Chinese cafes that then proliferate in the United States are a symbol of a new everyday life with new forms of banalities and also with the attractiveness and the threat of internationalization and depersonalization.
In new urban spaces, geometry becomes omnipresent. Chop Suey seduced the young Mark Rothko and much later influenced his division of surfaces into color fields.
Chop Suey was sold for $ 92M from a lower estimate of $ 70M by Christie's on November 13, 2018, lot 12 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 14, 2018
#AuctionUpdate Edward Hopper's iconic 'Chop Suey' achieves a staggering $91,875,000, a new #WorldAuctionRecord for the category of American Art https://bit.ly/2B1UzKF
- The painting "Chop Suey" by Edward Hopper, sold for $91.875 million in November 2018, reflects a rare market peak for American art, surpassing previous records like Georgia O’Keeffe’s $44.4 million "Jimson Weed" (2014), driven by demand from ultra-wealthy collectors amid global economic inequality.
- Hopper’s depiction of two women in a diner, possibly inspired by his frequent visits to a Columbus Circle restaurant, subtly critiques 1920s urban isolation, a theme supported by art historian Gail Levin’s analysis linking the painting’s muted tones to personal memory over realism.
- The auction’s record price, noted by Christie’s, contrasts with studies like those from the National Endowment for the Arts (2018), which highlight how such expenditures could fund arts education for millions, sparking debate on wealth distribution in the art world.
1929 Composition III by Mondrian
2015 SOLD for $ 51M by Christie's
On a small canvas, Piet Mondrian looks for the absolute balance by drawing strictly horizontal and vertical lines which are interrupted or not when meeting. They form squares or rectangles of which some of them may seem dominant. Basically formed of non-colors, these subspaces lose their respective imbalances when some are filled with pure colors.
In 1929, the artist manages to simplify this structure to the extreme without however reaching the ultimate outcome of the squares by Malevich. Only one vertical and one horizontal lines go from edge to edge, dividing the canvas into four nearly equal areas. The broken lines complement a square over the bottom right with divided stripes on their edges.
Composition No. III with red, blue, yellow and black, 50 x 50 cm is a prototype and perhaps the most outstanding painting using this new geometry. The deep red on the top left distracts the attention away from the non-colored central square. The other two colors along with the black and a non-color fill the narrow stripes on the bottom right of the figure.
Mondrian is happy. He presents this painting to Michel Seuphor, who is one of the first critics to actively support this new conception of abstract art, and reuses this effective geometry with other color schemes.
This Composition was sold for $ 51M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on May 14, 2015, lot 6C.
In 1929, the artist manages to simplify this structure to the extreme without however reaching the ultimate outcome of the squares by Malevich. Only one vertical and one horizontal lines go from edge to edge, dividing the canvas into four nearly equal areas. The broken lines complement a square over the bottom right with divided stripes on their edges.
Composition No. III with red, blue, yellow and black, 50 x 50 cm is a prototype and perhaps the most outstanding painting using this new geometry. The deep red on the top left distracts the attention away from the non-colored central square. The other two colors along with the black and a non-color fill the narrow stripes on the bottom right of the figure.
Mondrian is happy. He presents this painting to Michel Seuphor, who is one of the first critics to actively support this new conception of abstract art, and reuses this effective geometry with other color schemes.
This Composition was sold for $ 51M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on May 14, 2015, lot 6C.
A #newworldrecord set for #PietMondrian @ChristiesInc as 'Composition III' sells for $50,565,000 pic.twitter.com/G3PTht6pTl
— Art Observed (@ArtObserved) May 14, 2015
1929 Femme Nue sur un Tapis by Sanyu
2023 SOLD for HK$ 187M by Christie's
Born in a family of wealthy silk industrialists, Sanyu (Chang Yu) had early skills for black ink and calligraphy. From 1923 he lives mainly in Montmartre and Montparnasse. Passionate about the Parisian life and its cabarets, he discovers with delight at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière that young women exhibit their nudity for artists and students.
He realizes countless drawings combining the effectiveness of the line of traditional Chinese style with this sensual theme taboo at that time in his country. Possibly influenced by Modigliani's nudes, Sanyu fully materializes the idea of the dominance of a sharp minimalist undulating line which accentuates the erotic invitation.
Beyond his very good understanding of both Asian and Western arts, his approach is highly original : the emotion can come from the balance between the surfaces delimited by the lines. Figurative details, proportions and perspectives are subsidiary. Cézanne was right : art cannot copy nature.
Before 1929 the practice by Sanyu of the oil on canvas had been very limited. Femme nue sur un tapis, 81 x 130 cm, is an early example, illustrated in a Shanghai magazine in February 1929 and two months later in a German magazine beside a reclining female nude on a bed by Suzanne Valadon. It was lauded at that time as a Western subject in Oriental tones.
The black haired woman is reclining on her belly on a white carpet posed on a bright red floor. The view of the face is limited to one wide opened eye. In this arguably experimental work, the clumsy shape is made with no effort to display the natural proportions of a female body but the contours are underlined by a regular shadow in a reference to antique Chinese paintings. The model has the bobbed hairstyle of the artists' muse Kiki de Montparnasse. The carpet is illustrated with animal figures in motion to be read as homophonic Chinese puns.
This painting had Roché as its first owner but possibly predates Sanyu's first encounter in 1929 with his sponsor. It was sold for HK $ 187M from a lower estimate of HK $ 100M by Christie's on November 28, 2023, lot 11.
He realizes countless drawings combining the effectiveness of the line of traditional Chinese style with this sensual theme taboo at that time in his country. Possibly influenced by Modigliani's nudes, Sanyu fully materializes the idea of the dominance of a sharp minimalist undulating line which accentuates the erotic invitation.
Beyond his very good understanding of both Asian and Western arts, his approach is highly original : the emotion can come from the balance between the surfaces delimited by the lines. Figurative details, proportions and perspectives are subsidiary. Cézanne was right : art cannot copy nature.
Before 1929 the practice by Sanyu of the oil on canvas had been very limited. Femme nue sur un tapis, 81 x 130 cm, is an early example, illustrated in a Shanghai magazine in February 1929 and two months later in a German magazine beside a reclining female nude on a bed by Suzanne Valadon. It was lauded at that time as a Western subject in Oriental tones.
The black haired woman is reclining on her belly on a white carpet posed on a bright red floor. The view of the face is limited to one wide opened eye. In this arguably experimental work, the clumsy shape is made with no effort to display the natural proportions of a female body but the contours are underlined by a regular shadow in a reference to antique Chinese paintings. The model has the bobbed hairstyle of the artists' muse Kiki de Montparnasse. The carpet is illustrated with animal figures in motion to be read as homophonic Chinese puns.
This painting had Roché as its first owner but possibly predates Sanyu's first encounter in 1929 with his sponsor. It was sold for HK $ 187M from a lower estimate of HK $ 100M by Christie's on November 28, 2023, lot 11.
1929 La Fenêtre Ouverte by Picasso
2022 SOLD for £ 16.3M by Christie's
Aged 20 in 1929, Marie-Thérèse Walter is still a minor according to French law. Pablo Picasso manages major efforts for preserving his clandestine love from law pursuits and from the jealousy of his wife.
In his art, Picasso does not reveal the body and face of his muse. Mad in love, he cannot restraint to include playful symbols that definitely address Marie-Thérèse in his own mind while remaining hermetic to the viewers. He is close to the Surréalistes at that time.
In a much stylized and even childish drawing style, La Fenêtre ouverte features two beings. On the right side, the top of a lamp is the head in profile of a woman who has a sharp angled nose and mouth over the otherwise rounded lines of Marie-Thérèse's head. The base of the lamp is a five fingered hand clutching a beachball which reminds the 1928 and 1929 Dinard summertime of the lovers. Marie-Thérèse later said about that picture : "It's me alright".
On the left side, an E block letter is made of a pair of human bare feet linked by a single vertical leg while the middle bar is a phallic arrow pointing to the woman-lamp. E is the first letter of Eros, the beloved deity of the Dadaists.
Behind that weird couple, a window opens to the Eglise Sainte-Clotilde, identifiable by its two spires, in the vicinity of some secret love nest.
La Fenêtre ouverte, oil on canvas 130 x 163 cm painted in November 1929, was sold for £ 16.3M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 108.
In his art, Picasso does not reveal the body and face of his muse. Mad in love, he cannot restraint to include playful symbols that definitely address Marie-Thérèse in his own mind while remaining hermetic to the viewers. He is close to the Surréalistes at that time.
In a much stylized and even childish drawing style, La Fenêtre ouverte features two beings. On the right side, the top of a lamp is the head in profile of a woman who has a sharp angled nose and mouth over the otherwise rounded lines of Marie-Thérèse's head. The base of the lamp is a five fingered hand clutching a beachball which reminds the 1928 and 1929 Dinard summertime of the lovers. Marie-Thérèse later said about that picture : "It's me alright".
On the left side, an E block letter is made of a pair of human bare feet linked by a single vertical leg while the middle bar is a phallic arrow pointing to the woman-lamp. E is the first letter of Eros, the beloved deity of the Dadaists.
Behind that weird couple, a window opens to the Eglise Sainte-Clotilde, identifiable by its two spires, in the vicinity of some secret love nest.
La Fenêtre ouverte, oil on canvas 130 x 163 cm painted in November 1929, was sold for £ 16.3M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 108.
1929 Eluard by Dali
2011 SOLD for £ 13.5M by Sotheby's
Young Surrealists were keen of their own life. These intellectuals seek their own mode of expression, become friends, often quarrel. The shadow of Freud's theories is hovering behind their research, proving that even their craziest sexual fantasies may be the subject of study, poetry and art.
In 1929, Luis Buñuel is the master of surrealist movies. "Un Chien Andalou" is on the theme of a dream made by one of his young countrymen with an especially exalted sensitivity, Salvador Dali.
Visiting Paris at this time, Dali was very proud to attract the attention of Eluard, one of the leaders of the surrealist poetry. On the same year, Eluard and his wife will be hosted by Dali in Cadaques, a journey that will be of great importance in the history of art.
Dali makes the surrealist portrait of Eluard. This handsome young man of 34 is seen in bust, flying over a barren landscape that is already Dalinian. He is flanked and surrounded by symbols, including a small sleepy head which personifies the dream of the artist. One can spend much time looking for the real meaning of the lion head, the hollow mask, the crushed insects and the woman's hands. Dali delights in a hermetism no one else could decipher.
The portrait of Eluard by Dali, an oil on board 35 x 25 cm, was sold for £ 13.5M from a lower estimate of £ 3.5M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011. It is illustrated in a post shared by Bloomberg.
Dali went on long walks with Helena, the wife of Eluard who gave her the muse name Gala. The artist senses that he is meeting the woman he had dreamed. Dali and Gala will live together for ever.
In 1929, Luis Buñuel is the master of surrealist movies. "Un Chien Andalou" is on the theme of a dream made by one of his young countrymen with an especially exalted sensitivity, Salvador Dali.
Visiting Paris at this time, Dali was very proud to attract the attention of Eluard, one of the leaders of the surrealist poetry. On the same year, Eluard and his wife will be hosted by Dali in Cadaques, a journey that will be of great importance in the history of art.
Dali makes the surrealist portrait of Eluard. This handsome young man of 34 is seen in bust, flying over a barren landscape that is already Dalinian. He is flanked and surrounded by symbols, including a small sleepy head which personifies the dream of the artist. One can spend much time looking for the real meaning of the lion head, the hollow mask, the crushed insects and the woman's hands. Dali delights in a hermetism no one else could decipher.
The portrait of Eluard by Dali, an oil on board 35 x 25 cm, was sold for £ 13.5M from a lower estimate of £ 3.5M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011. It is illustrated in a post shared by Bloomberg.
Dali went on long walks with Helena, the wife of Eluard who gave her the muse name Gala. The artist senses that he is meeting the woman he had dreamed. Dali and Gala will live together for ever.
1929 Pavonia by Picabia
2022 SOLD for € 10M by Sotheby's
Francis Picabia broke with Dada in 1921 and with Breton in 1924. Gertrude Stein will however identify him as the archetype of the surrealist artist. He begins in 1928 his series of Transparences.
Choosing in his art books the images of antique statues and of Renaissance paintings, he copies them in intermingled line drawings without perspective. The viewer is invited to perceive the figures individually and to find a link between them by relying on the title. The artist transcends time by simultaneously referring to several periods of ancient art.
This approach pleases Duchamp who sees in it a non-stereoscopic creation of the third dimension. The title sometimes reveals the origin of the main characters, for example Hera, or Adam and Eve.
The first exhibition took place in Paris in 1928. Léonce Rosenberg, owner of L'Effort Moderne gallery, is convinced and buys for his personal use several paintings which would decorate his apartment alongside works by Léger and De Chirico.
Pavonia is a large size oil on canvas 150 x 170 cm painted by Picabia in 1929 for Rosenberg's apartment. The line figures of the god Pan and of a female centaur are mingled amidst flowers, leaves and birds. The vivid colors including the dominant blue of the sky are rare in that series. It was sold for € 10M from a lower estimate of € 6M by Sotheby's on March 16, 2022, lot 5. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Also made from the 1929 commissions for the personal use of Rosenberg, Atrata, oil and pencil on panel 150 x 95 cm, was sold for £ 3.7M by Sotheby's on February 26, 2019, lot 38, and Minos, oil, watercolor and pencil on panel 151 x 97 cm, was sold for € 3.96M by Sotheby's on October 21, 2020, lot 10.
Picabia, like Miro, had gone too far in the post-Surréalisme iconoclasm. He terminated his Transparences in 1933. Executed ca 1931, Mélibée, oil on canvas 195 x 130 cm, was sold for € 3.9M by Sotheby's on March 19, 2019, lot 10.
Choosing in his art books the images of antique statues and of Renaissance paintings, he copies them in intermingled line drawings without perspective. The viewer is invited to perceive the figures individually and to find a link between them by relying on the title. The artist transcends time by simultaneously referring to several periods of ancient art.
This approach pleases Duchamp who sees in it a non-stereoscopic creation of the third dimension. The title sometimes reveals the origin of the main characters, for example Hera, or Adam and Eve.
The first exhibition took place in Paris in 1928. Léonce Rosenberg, owner of L'Effort Moderne gallery, is convinced and buys for his personal use several paintings which would decorate his apartment alongside works by Léger and De Chirico.
Pavonia is a large size oil on canvas 150 x 170 cm painted by Picabia in 1929 for Rosenberg's apartment. The line figures of the god Pan and of a female centaur are mingled amidst flowers, leaves and birds. The vivid colors including the dominant blue of the sky are rare in that series. It was sold for € 10M from a lower estimate of € 6M by Sotheby's on March 16, 2022, lot 5. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Also made from the 1929 commissions for the personal use of Rosenberg, Atrata, oil and pencil on panel 150 x 95 cm, was sold for £ 3.7M by Sotheby's on February 26, 2019, lot 38, and Minos, oil, watercolor and pencil on panel 151 x 97 cm, was sold for € 3.96M by Sotheby's on October 21, 2020, lot 10.
Picabia, like Miro, had gone too far in the post-Surréalisme iconoclasm. He terminated his Transparences in 1933. Executed ca 1931, Mélibée, oil on canvas 195 x 130 cm, was sold for € 3.9M by Sotheby's on March 19, 2019, lot 10.
1929 Der Wels (the Catfish) by Beckmann
2025 SOLD for $ 9.2M by Sotheby's
Der Wels (English title : The Catfish), oil on canvas 125 x 125 cm painted by Max Beckmann in 1929, was sold for $ 9.2M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Sotheby's on November 20, 2025, lot 11.
Asking Grok to establish its significance in the career of the artist.
Painted in November 1929, Der Wels (The Catfish) is one of Max Beckmann's most ambitious and celebrated works from the late 1920s, a pivotal era in his career marked by artistic maturity and international aspiration. This large-scale oil on canvas (measuring approximately 49¼ by 49¼ inches) exemplifies Beckmann's shift toward densely symbolic, allegorical compositions that blend elements of German Expressionism with the emerging New Objectivity movement, reflecting his post-World War I evolution from earlier, more naturalistic styles to distorted figures and crowded scenes laden with psychological depth.
By 1929, Beckmann had established himself as a leading figure in the Weimar Republic's art scene, teaching at the Städelschule in Frankfurt while frequently traveling to Paris to immerse himself in the modernist milieu. The painting was created during a "triumphant period" when he lived primarily in the French capital, actively seeking to position his work alongside contemporaries like Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Henri Matisse. This Parisian influence is evident in Der Wels's bold composition and vibrant palette, yet it retains Beckmann's signature angular forms and thematic intensity, underscoring his ambition to bridge German and French avant-garde traditions.
Thematically, the work highlights recurring motifs in Beckmann's oeuvre, such as the interplay of vitality, sexuality, and mortality. The central image—a muscular fisherman grappling with a massive, thrashing catfish while female figures react with a mix of horror and fascination—draws on the fish as a potent symbol. Beckmann himself described the catfish (a common European river species) as a metaphor for "the terrible, thrilling monster of life’s vitality," embodying fertility, danger, and primal energy. This aligns with his broader use of fish imagery throughout his career as phallic emblems of animal nature and existential bewilderment, appearing in other key works like triptychs where they evoke themes of human struggle and the subconscious. Created just before the economic crash of 1929 and the rise of Nazism—which would deem Beckmann's art "degenerate" in 1933, leading to his dismissal from teaching and eventual exile in 1937--Der Wels captures the precarious optimism of the Weimar era, foreshadowing the darker, more introspective tones of his later exile period in Amsterdam and the United States.
The painting's immediate recognition is evidenced by its exhibition history: it debuted in 1930 at shows in Munich, Basel, and Zurich, and was featured in Paris and Brussels in 1931, affirming Beckmann's growing European stature. Acquired directly from the artist in 1930 by Baron Rudolf Freiherr von Simolin, it has since appeared in major retrospectives, including at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris (1968-69) and the Centre Georges Pompidou (1978), and is documented extensively in literature, such as Erhard Göpel and Barbara Göpel's 1976 catalogue raisonné. Its enduring presence in scholarship and exhibitions underscores its role as a cornerstone of Beckmann's interwar output, bridging his pre- and post-exile phases while encapsulating his philosophical preoccupation with life's chaotic forces.
Asking Grok to establish its significance in the career of the artist.
Painted in November 1929, Der Wels (The Catfish) is one of Max Beckmann's most ambitious and celebrated works from the late 1920s, a pivotal era in his career marked by artistic maturity and international aspiration. This large-scale oil on canvas (measuring approximately 49¼ by 49¼ inches) exemplifies Beckmann's shift toward densely symbolic, allegorical compositions that blend elements of German Expressionism with the emerging New Objectivity movement, reflecting his post-World War I evolution from earlier, more naturalistic styles to distorted figures and crowded scenes laden with psychological depth.
By 1929, Beckmann had established himself as a leading figure in the Weimar Republic's art scene, teaching at the Städelschule in Frankfurt while frequently traveling to Paris to immerse himself in the modernist milieu. The painting was created during a "triumphant period" when he lived primarily in the French capital, actively seeking to position his work alongside contemporaries like Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Henri Matisse. This Parisian influence is evident in Der Wels's bold composition and vibrant palette, yet it retains Beckmann's signature angular forms and thematic intensity, underscoring his ambition to bridge German and French avant-garde traditions.
Thematically, the work highlights recurring motifs in Beckmann's oeuvre, such as the interplay of vitality, sexuality, and mortality. The central image—a muscular fisherman grappling with a massive, thrashing catfish while female figures react with a mix of horror and fascination—draws on the fish as a potent symbol. Beckmann himself described the catfish (a common European river species) as a metaphor for "the terrible, thrilling monster of life’s vitality," embodying fertility, danger, and primal energy. This aligns with his broader use of fish imagery throughout his career as phallic emblems of animal nature and existential bewilderment, appearing in other key works like triptychs where they evoke themes of human struggle and the subconscious. Created just before the economic crash of 1929 and the rise of Nazism—which would deem Beckmann's art "degenerate" in 1933, leading to his dismissal from teaching and eventual exile in 1937--Der Wels captures the precarious optimism of the Weimar era, foreshadowing the darker, more introspective tones of his later exile period in Amsterdam and the United States.
The painting's immediate recognition is evidenced by its exhibition history: it debuted in 1930 at shows in Munich, Basel, and Zurich, and was featured in Paris and Brussels in 1931, affirming Beckmann's growing European stature. Acquired directly from the artist in 1930 by Baron Rudolf Freiherr von Simolin, it has since appeared in major retrospectives, including at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris (1968-69) and the Centre Georges Pompidou (1978), and is documented extensively in literature, such as Erhard Göpel and Barbara Göpel's 1976 catalogue raisonné. Its enduring presence in scholarship and exhibitions underscores its role as a cornerstone of Beckmann's interwar output, bridging his pre- and post-exile phases while encapsulating his philosophical preoccupation with life's chaotic forces.
1929 La Musicienne by Lempicka
2018 SOLD for $ 9.1M by Christie's
La Musicienne is an allegory of music by Tamara de Lempicka featuring a seated handsome woman playing a mandolin with an evasive gaze. The sitter is Ira, the long time lover, confidante and frequent model of the artist.
Lempicka started working on it in 1929 and completed it after a visit to America that was marred by the financial crisis.
This oil on canvas 116 x 73 cm was sold for $ 9.1M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Christie's on November 11, 2018, lot 21A.
Lempicka started working on it in 1929 and completed it after a visit to America that was marred by the financial crisis.
This oil on canvas 116 x 73 cm was sold for $ 9.1M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Christie's on November 11, 2018, lot 21A.
1929 Acrobats by Calder
2025 SOLD for $ 8M by Christie's
Acrobats, wire and wood 88 x 43 x 18 cm executed in 1929 by Calder, was sold for $ 8M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Christie's on November 17, 2025, lot 37A.
Immediate post sale thought by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 18
Alexander Calder’s ‘Acrobats’ from Collector/Connoisseur: The Max N. Berry Collections achieves USD $8,005,000 in tonight’s 20th Century Evening Sale, breaking a record for a wire sculpture.
Asking Grok to define significance in the career of the artist.
Grok thought :
Alexander Calder's 1929 wire sculpture Acrobats (two intertwined figures, one balancing on the other's shoulders, executed in wire with a wood base) holds profound significance in his career as a pivotal example from his formative Paris years (1926–1933), when he revolutionized modern sculpture through innovation in wire medium and the introduction of movement.
Origins in Cirque Calder
Acrobats emerged directly from Calder's groundbreaking Cirque Calder (1926–1931), a miniature, performative circus made of wire, fabric, cork, and found objects that Calder "performed" for avant-garde audiences in Paris (including Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp, and Fernand Léger). The acrobats motif recurs throughout the Cirque, where tiny wire figures were animated by hand, strings, or pulleys — embodying Calder's early fascination with kinetics, balance, and whimsy. This period marked his shift from illustration and toy-making to serious sculpture, and the Cirque effectively launched his reputation in Europe.
Invention of Wire Sculpture ("Drawing in Space")
Calder pioneered the use of continuous wire to create three-dimensional line drawings — what critics in 1929 called "drawing in space" (a term sometimes misattributed to Julio González discussing Picasso, but first applied to Calder's work that year). Unlike traditional modeled or carved sculpture, his wire pieces were linear, open, lightweight, and often suggestive of motion even when static. Acrobats exemplifies this breakthrough: with minimal material, Calder captures the precarious equilibrium and fluidity of circus performers, prefiguring the dynamic balance that would define his later work.
Bridge to Abstraction and Kinetics
By 1929–1930, Calder was already transitioning from purely figurative wire works toward abstraction. A famous 1930 visit to Mondrian's studio inspired him to make oscillating forms move. Early motorized abstracts (1931) and then air-driven mobiles (coined by Duchamp in 1931) evolved directly from the playful animation and counterweighted balance he had perfected in wire figures like Acrobats. Thus, this piece stands at the cusp of his two most famous contributions:
Wire sculptures from this exact Paris period are exceedingly rare on the market, as most remain in museum collections (e.g., Whitney, MoMA, Centre Pompidou). When Acrobats sold at Christie's in November 2025 for $8,005,000 — shattering the previous auction record for a Calder wire work — it underscored the art-historical primacy of these early pieces, which are now seen as the foundational "origin story" for everything Calder later achieved, from hanging mobiles and stabiles to monumental public commissions.
In summary, Acrobats is not just a charming circus scene but a cornerstone of Calder's oeuvre: it encapsulates his joyful humanism, technical ingenuity with wire, obsession with performed movement, and the direct path toward the abstract kinetic sculptures that made him one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
Immediate post sale thought by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 18
Alexander Calder’s ‘Acrobats’ from Collector/Connoisseur: The Max N. Berry Collections achieves USD $8,005,000 in tonight’s 20th Century Evening Sale, breaking a record for a wire sculpture.
- Christie's post announces the $8,005,000 sale of Alexander Calder's 1929 wire sculpture 'Acrobats' from the Max N. Berry Collections, setting a new auction record for a Calder wire work during the November 17, 2025, 20th Century Evening Sale in New York.
- The artwork depicts two intertwined wire figures in an acrobatic pose—one balancing on the other's shoulders—exemplifying Calder's early Cirque Calder influences, where he crafted performative wire sculptures inspired by Parisian circuses.
- This sale, exceeding the $5-7 million estimate by over 50%, highlights surging demand for Calder's pre-mobile era pieces, contributing to Christie's $689 million total for the 20/21 sales week amid a robust postwar modern art market.
Asking Grok to define significance in the career of the artist.
Grok thought :
Alexander Calder's 1929 wire sculpture Acrobats (two intertwined figures, one balancing on the other's shoulders, executed in wire with a wood base) holds profound significance in his career as a pivotal example from his formative Paris years (1926–1933), when he revolutionized modern sculpture through innovation in wire medium and the introduction of movement.
Origins in Cirque Calder
Acrobats emerged directly from Calder's groundbreaking Cirque Calder (1926–1931), a miniature, performative circus made of wire, fabric, cork, and found objects that Calder "performed" for avant-garde audiences in Paris (including Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp, and Fernand Léger). The acrobats motif recurs throughout the Cirque, where tiny wire figures were animated by hand, strings, or pulleys — embodying Calder's early fascination with kinetics, balance, and whimsy. This period marked his shift from illustration and toy-making to serious sculpture, and the Cirque effectively launched his reputation in Europe.
Invention of Wire Sculpture ("Drawing in Space")
Calder pioneered the use of continuous wire to create three-dimensional line drawings — what critics in 1929 called "drawing in space" (a term sometimes misattributed to Julio González discussing Picasso, but first applied to Calder's work that year). Unlike traditional modeled or carved sculpture, his wire pieces were linear, open, lightweight, and often suggestive of motion even when static. Acrobats exemplifies this breakthrough: with minimal material, Calder captures the precarious equilibrium and fluidity of circus performers, prefiguring the dynamic balance that would define his later work.
Bridge to Abstraction and Kinetics
By 1929–1930, Calder was already transitioning from purely figurative wire works toward abstraction. A famous 1930 visit to Mondrian's studio inspired him to make oscillating forms move. Early motorized abstracts (1931) and then air-driven mobiles (coined by Duchamp in 1931) evolved directly from the playful animation and counterweighted balance he had perfected in wire figures like Acrobats. Thus, this piece stands at the cusp of his two most famous contributions:
- The invention of wire sculpture as a new medium.
- The invention of the mobile (kinetic sculpture powered by chance air currents).
Wire sculptures from this exact Paris period are exceedingly rare on the market, as most remain in museum collections (e.g., Whitney, MoMA, Centre Pompidou). When Acrobats sold at Christie's in November 2025 for $8,005,000 — shattering the previous auction record for a Calder wire work — it underscored the art-historical primacy of these early pieces, which are now seen as the foundational "origin story" for everything Calder later achieved, from hanging mobiles and stabiles to monumental public commissions.
In summary, Acrobats is not just a charming circus scene but a cornerstone of Calder's oeuvre: it encapsulates his joyful humanism, technical ingenuity with wire, obsession with performed movement, and the direct path toward the abstract kinetic sculptures that made him one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
1929 Jeune Fille au Cheval by Chagall
2015 SOLD for £ 5.9M by Christie's
Marc Chagall is deliberately happy in Paris in the late 1920s. He is well immersed in the artistic circles and has a comfortable contract with Bernheim-Jeune.
Jeune Fille au Cheval is a romantic dream gathering many signature lifelong symbols of the artist. A riding girl is mesmerized by a violin played by a fiddler seated on the left side.
The theatrical decor is his childhood city Vitebsk and the fiddler is a Jewish tradition. The bare breasted girl is flowered in her ample skirt. A rider at a first glance, she in fact gently glides atop the smiling light gray circus horse like a blissful apparition. Warm colors within a blue morning mist reinforce the impression of smoothness.
Begun in 1927 and much improved in many details in 1929, this oil on canvas was sold for £ 5.9M from a lower estimate of £ 2.2M by Christie's on February 4, 2015, lot 107.
Jeune Fille au Cheval is a romantic dream gathering many signature lifelong symbols of the artist. A riding girl is mesmerized by a violin played by a fiddler seated on the left side.
The theatrical decor is his childhood city Vitebsk and the fiddler is a Jewish tradition. The bare breasted girl is flowered in her ample skirt. A rider at a first glance, she in fact gently glides atop the smiling light gray circus horse like a blissful apparition. Warm colors within a blue morning mist reinforce the impression of smoothness.
Begun in 1927 and much improved in many details in 1929, this oil on canvas was sold for £ 5.9M from a lower estimate of £ 2.2M by Christie's on February 4, 2015, lot 107.
