1937
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Picasso later 1930s Kandinsky Magritte Early Magritte Orientalism Matisse Music and dance Tabletop Bouquet Cars 1930s Cars 1936-37
See also : Picasso later 1930s Kandinsky Magritte Early Magritte Orientalism Matisse Music and dance Tabletop Bouquet Cars 1930s Cars 1936-37
1937 PICASSO
1
masterpiece
May 1 to June 4 Guernica
Museo de Arte Reina Sofia
In May 1937 Picasso designed his large mural commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the pavilion of the Universal Exhibition of Paris. He chose the unsustainable horror of the bombing of Guernica that had happened on April 26, 1937.
2
September 1, L'Arlésienne (Lee Miller)
2022 SOLD for $ 13.7M by Christie's
Picasso painted Guernica between May 1 and June 4, 1937. A few weeks later he was declared a degenerate artist by the Nazis.
Arguably needing some escape, he spent a convivial summer in a pension hotel in Mougins over Antibes with a joyous Surrealist band for a total of 11 vacationers, including Dora Maar, Paul Eluard and Man Ray. The American model and photographer Lee Miller, a former muse of Man Ray, was also there with her new lover Roland Penrose. Picasso did not omit to pay several visits to Matisse in Nice.
Pablo made playful portraits of his friends in his signature style. Seven of them feature Lee Miller as L'Arlésienne. Other fancy portraits include Paul Eluard as a peasant woman and Nusch Eluard as a Niçoise.
L'Arlésienne (Lee Miller), oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm was painted in Mougins in a glowing palette of pink, yellow, green, turquoise and red.
This portrait is made with Picasso's signature double angled head on a brilliant sun-yellow background. Her typical features are the striking eyes and the gap toothed grin. The colorful Provençal folk attire and perched ribbon trimmed headdress along with the Arlésienne shawl are obviously a tribute to the portraits of Madame Ginoux by another newly declared degenerate artist, van Gogh.
Dated and numbered 1er Septembre 37 (I) on the stretcher, it was sold for $ 13.7M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 42C.
Arguably needing some escape, he spent a convivial summer in a pension hotel in Mougins over Antibes with a joyous Surrealist band for a total of 11 vacationers, including Dora Maar, Paul Eluard and Man Ray. The American model and photographer Lee Miller, a former muse of Man Ray, was also there with her new lover Roland Penrose. Picasso did not omit to pay several visits to Matisse in Nice.
Pablo made playful portraits of his friends in his signature style. Seven of them feature Lee Miller as L'Arlésienne. Other fancy portraits include Paul Eluard as a peasant woman and Nusch Eluard as a Niçoise.
L'Arlésienne (Lee Miller), oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm was painted in Mougins in a glowing palette of pink, yellow, green, turquoise and red.
This portrait is made with Picasso's signature double angled head on a brilliant sun-yellow background. Her typical features are the striking eyes and the gap toothed grin. The colorful Provençal folk attire and perched ribbon trimmed headdress along with the Arlésienne shawl are obviously a tribute to the portraits of Madame Ginoux by another newly declared degenerate artist, van Gogh.
Dated and numbered 1er Septembre 37 (I) on the stretcher, it was sold for $ 13.7M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 42C.
3
September 2, Femme à la Coiffe d'Arlésienne (Lee Miller)
2025 SOLD for $ 28M by Christie's
The painting dated and numbered 2 Septembre 37 II is another portrait of Lee Miller, also in half length, in the same size. Titled Femme à la Coiffe d'Arlésienne sur fond vert, it is introducing a highly vibrant palette for featuring the energy, vitality and smiling temperament of the seater rather than her like. This effect is further increased by the use of green ripolin on the background.
It was sold for $ 28M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on May 12, 2025, lot 5A.
It was sold for $ 28M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on May 12, 2025, lot 5A.
4
September 11, L'Arlésienne (Lee Miller)
2023 SOLD for $ 24.6M by Christie's
A lively portrait of Lee Miller in bust as L'Arlésienne was painted by Picasso in Mougins on September 11, 1937. In his signature style, he displays altogether the full profile and the two eyes. The vibrant colors may be a response to Matisse's portraits of the time.
This opus is also experimental in terms of texture. Picasso used striations to enhance the flat areas of headdress, armchair and shawl while the position of the breasts was marked by concentric circles.
The background is made bright yellow by incorporating some Ripolin house paint which created a chance inhomogeneity and even creasing when drying in thick layer. The effect of spontaneity is increased by a few drippings of the oil paint. That use of chance in the execution anticipated by several decades Twombly and Manzoni.
Dated and numbered 11 septembre 37 (I), this oil and Ripolin on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for $ 24.6M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 3A.
Back in October from these playful holidays, Picasso achieved the development of his new theme featuring his muse Dora as the haunting Femme qui pleure.
This opus is also experimental in terms of texture. Picasso used striations to enhance the flat areas of headdress, armchair and shawl while the position of the breasts was marked by concentric circles.
The background is made bright yellow by incorporating some Ripolin house paint which created a chance inhomogeneity and even creasing when drying in thick layer. The effect of spontaneity is increased by a few drippings of the oil paint. That use of chance in the execution anticipated by several decades Twombly and Manzoni.
Dated and numbered 11 septembre 37 (I), this oil and Ripolin on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for $ 24.6M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 3A.
Back in October from these playful holidays, Picasso achieved the development of his new theme featuring his muse Dora as the haunting Femme qui pleure.
5
December, Femme au Béret et à la Robe Quadrillée
2018 SOLD for £ 50M by Sotheby's
In 1937 Picasso is deeply saddened by the Spanish war. He is no longer the matamore disguised as a Minotaur. The impromptu meeting of his two mistresses in his workshop during the preparation of Guernica also opens a major sentimental dilemma. He makes his choice : his fate attracts him to Dora but he will not break with Marie-Thérèse.
He tries by their portraits to compare the opposite temperaments of his two mistresses. Two paintings dated in the same day, December 4, 1937, displays them separately. The contours of the faces are identical, in his signature style defining altogether front side and profile. The eyes, nose, mouth and even the big heart-shaped tear that covers the entire cheek are similar.
Beyond such a similarity the differences are all the more significant, as for example between the white skin of Marie-Thérèse and the bright yellow of Dora. Maya's young mother is nicely dressed in a checkered dress and wears a beret. The new mistress has a circus hat and a fur collar.
Pablo has hidden his dual love in both individual portraits. The oval shadow that appears between Dora's face and her dark hair is Marie-Thérèse's cheek. On the dark background of Marie-Thérèse's portrait a black shadow is barely discernible. This one follows the right profile of the head in an angular line that evokes Dora.
This interpretation is not exaggerated. The symbolic use of shadow had already been practiced by Pablo as a self-portrait behind Olga in 1931 when he was still trying to hide his relationship with Marie-Thérèse but had already decided to part from his wife.
On January 12, 1938 Picasso gives a continuation to the double portrait of the previous month by amalgamating the features of Dora and Marie-Thérèse in a single figure. Buste de femme (femme à la résille) was sold for $ 67M by Christie's on May 11, 2015. These three artworks of 1937 and 1938 were highly important for Picasso seeking to control his own emotional crisis : he kept them until his death 35 years later.
On February 28, 2018,Sotheby's sold for £ 50M as lot 7 Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter), the oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm painted on December 4, 1937. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
He tries by their portraits to compare the opposite temperaments of his two mistresses. Two paintings dated in the same day, December 4, 1937, displays them separately. The contours of the faces are identical, in his signature style defining altogether front side and profile. The eyes, nose, mouth and even the big heart-shaped tear that covers the entire cheek are similar.
Beyond such a similarity the differences are all the more significant, as for example between the white skin of Marie-Thérèse and the bright yellow of Dora. Maya's young mother is nicely dressed in a checkered dress and wears a beret. The new mistress has a circus hat and a fur collar.
Pablo has hidden his dual love in both individual portraits. The oval shadow that appears between Dora's face and her dark hair is Marie-Thérèse's cheek. On the dark background of Marie-Thérèse's portrait a black shadow is barely discernible. This one follows the right profile of the head in an angular line that evokes Dora.
This interpretation is not exaggerated. The symbolic use of shadow had already been practiced by Pablo as a self-portrait behind Olga in 1931 when he was still trying to hide his relationship with Marie-Thérèse but had already decided to part from his wife.
On January 12, 1938 Picasso gives a continuation to the double portrait of the previous month by amalgamating the features of Dora and Marie-Thérèse in a single figure. Buste de femme (femme à la résille) was sold for $ 67M by Christie's on May 11, 2015. These three artworks of 1937 and 1938 were highly important for Picasso seeking to control his own emotional crisis : he kept them until his death 35 years later.
On February 28, 2018,Sotheby's sold for £ 50M as lot 7 Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter), the oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm painted on December 4, 1937. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1937 MATISSE
1
Odalisque Harmonie Bleue
2007 SOLD for $ 33.6M by Christie's
Completed in 1932 for Barnes, la Danse is a key step in the career of Matisse who appreciates that the simplicity of the drawing brings power and emotion to the artwork.
Coming back to a Fauviste expression, he then seeks to associate the rarest and most spectacular colors which he uses to display the clothes of his sitters and the wallpapers. The effect is more important than the image, and the composition has the audacity of a Degas.
This trend results in 1937 in a restart of the Odalisques as a series of five paintings.
L'Odalisque, Harmonie bleue, oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm, was sold for $ 33.6M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 6, 2007, lot 24. The title of the artwork had been defined by the artist.
The young woman is surrounded with decorative elements, without the titillation generally associated with the odalisques.. She looks with a close attention at a big bouquet of anemones which may be the major theme of the composition. Its vase is posed beside two oranges and one lemon on the top of a low octagonal column.
Coming back to a Fauviste expression, he then seeks to associate the rarest and most spectacular colors which he uses to display the clothes of his sitters and the wallpapers. The effect is more important than the image, and the composition has the audacity of a Degas.
This trend results in 1937 in a restart of the Odalisques as a series of five paintings.
L'Odalisque, Harmonie bleue, oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm, was sold for $ 33.6M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 6, 2007, lot 24. The title of the artwork had been defined by the artist.
The young woman is surrounded with decorative elements, without the titillation generally associated with the odalisques.. She looks with a close attention at a big bouquet of anemones which may be the major theme of the composition. Its vase is posed beside two oranges and one lemon on the top of a low octagonal column.
2
Boléro Violet
2014 SOLD for £ 9.2 M by Sotheby's
In 1937 the favorite models of Matisse are the Princess Hélène Galitzine, not yet 18, and her cousin Lydia.
Boléro violet, oil on canvas 55 x 33 cm, is a close-up portrait of Hélène. The young dark haired woman is sitting and slightly leaning as to exit out of the frame, creating a nice intimate effect. The decoration of the jacket is inspired by Romanian clothing.
This painting was sold for £ 9.2M from a lower estimate of £ 6.5M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 45.
Boléro violet, oil on canvas 55 x 33 cm, is a close-up portrait of Hélène. The young dark haired woman is sitting and slightly leaning as to exit out of the frame, creating a nice intimate effect. The decoration of the jacket is inspired by Romanian clothing.
This painting was sold for £ 9.2M from a lower estimate of £ 6.5M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 45.
1937 Tensions Calmées by Kandinsky
2021 SOLD for £ 21.2M by Sotheby's
In 1933, when the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis, Wassily Kandinsky moved to an apartment in Neuilly-sur-Seine where he was to reside until his death. Now freed from teaching, he went into a creative anonymity, keeping himself far away from the Surrealists but enjoying Miro's mingling of poetry and abstraction.
In that new phase, he got rid of the geometric symbols that populated his art at the time of the Bauhaus. He could instead revisit the basic ideas of his early career about the pre-eminence of colors and the link between pictorial creation and music. At that time he took also an interest in micro-biomorphic forms.
Rigide et courbé, painted in 1935 and sold by Christie's for $ 23.3M in 2016, is typical of the new style with the melody simulated by the curves of its central ribbon.
On June 29, 2021, Sotheby's sold for £ 21.2M Tensions calmées, oil on canvas 90 x 116 cm painted in 1937, lot 116. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The title reveals the desire of the artist to express the complexity of the emotions through opposite concepts. It may be a precursor to his L'Elan tempéré of 1944, where the abstract figures are also musicalist.
Details in Tensions calmées may evoke a performing pianist with his keyboard and four converging strings of a violin. Curved figures are joyous, in an obvious desire to express an orchestration.
In that new phase, he got rid of the geometric symbols that populated his art at the time of the Bauhaus. He could instead revisit the basic ideas of his early career about the pre-eminence of colors and the link between pictorial creation and music. At that time he took also an interest in micro-biomorphic forms.
Rigide et courbé, painted in 1935 and sold by Christie's for $ 23.3M in 2016, is typical of the new style with the melody simulated by the curves of its central ribbon.
On June 29, 2021, Sotheby's sold for £ 21.2M Tensions calmées, oil on canvas 90 x 116 cm painted in 1937, lot 116. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The title reveals the desire of the artist to express the complexity of the emotions through opposite concepts. It may be a precursor to his L'Elan tempéré of 1944, where the abstract figures are also musicalist.
Details in Tensions calmées may evoke a performing pianist with his keyboard and four converging strings of a violin. Curved figures are joyous, in an obvious desire to express an orchestration.
1937 Le Principe du Plaisir by Magritte
2018 SOLD for $ 27M by Sotheby's
Edward James is the son of an American railroad boss and of a supposed natural daughter of King Edward VII. He lives in England. He is a wealthy poet, and his interest in psychoanalysis is transformed into a passion for surrealist art.
In 1937 James is 30 years old. Dali introduces him to Magritte. Their connivance is immediate and perfect. Magritte proposes to make two surrealist portraits of his new patron.
Magritte sends a preparatory drawing to his model. He has chosen the theme of the portrait whose head is entirely replaced by a dazzling light. To make sure of James' enthusiasm, Magritte asks him to take care of the photographic preparation in the pose that matches the drawing. James has the picture taken by Man Ray.
On November 12, 2018, Sotheby's sold for $ 27M from a lower estimate of $ 15M this portrait of James by Magritte, oil on canvas 73 x 55 cm painted in 1937, lot 35. Magritte has friendly chosen a Freudian title, Le Principe du Plaisir. The outline of the head is embedded in a halo that makes the image even more laudative.
The provenance testifies to the lasting success of this portrait. It belonged to James and then to his foundation until 1978 and remained in another collection since 1979.
The second portrait, also painted in 1937, is titled La Reproduction Interdite. It is another development of the theme of the visible and the hidden. James looks at himself in a large mirror in which his reflection is seen from behind.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
In 1937 James is 30 years old. Dali introduces him to Magritte. Their connivance is immediate and perfect. Magritte proposes to make two surrealist portraits of his new patron.
Magritte sends a preparatory drawing to his model. He has chosen the theme of the portrait whose head is entirely replaced by a dazzling light. To make sure of James' enthusiasm, Magritte asks him to take care of the photographic preparation in the pose that matches the drawing. James has the picture taken by Man Ray.
On November 12, 2018, Sotheby's sold for $ 27M from a lower estimate of $ 15M this portrait of James by Magritte, oil on canvas 73 x 55 cm painted in 1937, lot 35. Magritte has friendly chosen a Freudian title, Le Principe du Plaisir. The outline of the head is embedded in a halo that makes the image even more laudative.
The provenance testifies to the lasting success of this portrait. It belonged to James and then to his foundation until 1978 and remained in another collection since 1979.
The second portrait, also painted in 1937, is titled La Reproduction Interdite. It is another development of the theme of the visible and the hidden. James looks at himself in a large mirror in which his reflection is seen from behind.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS Coupe
2022 SOLD for $ 13.4M by Gooding
An Italian-born coachbuilder working in Boulogne-sur-Seine, Giuseppe Figoni associates in 1935 with the businessman Ovidio Falaschi. This co-operation allows Figoni to devote entirely to his art, perhaps with some support from the automotive artist Géo Ham.
In 1935 also, Bugatti introduces at the Salon de l'Auto a prototype named "Aérolithe". The quest for obtaining high speed from aerodynamic features have led to a style all in curves, with a semi-spheric cockpit. The catalogued model will be the Bugatti Atlantic, made in three units in 1936.
At the same time, two new high-end chassis appear on the French market : the Type 135 by Delahaye and the T150 by the recently incorporated Talbot-Lago. Each of them is also available in a short wheel base version specifically designed for competition.
Figoni et Falaschi developed for these two types a range of bodies unique in their kind known as Goutte d'eau for the teardrop shape of the inner contour. This rolling work of art with a lowered center of gravity, referred by its carrossier as a faux cabriolet, is indeed contemporary with the culmination of the Parisian Art Déco style.
While a production line is established for the Delahaye long chassis, a very small number of Goutte d'eau were assembled over the Delahaye short chassis, mainly as prototypes or demonstrators.
Only 16 Talbot-Lago chassis were assembled with a Figoni et Falaschi teardrop, in two series. The first series referred as Coupé Jeancart was made of three on the four-litre T150-C SS chassis, one on the three-litre T23 chassis and one on the T150-C Lago Speciale 30 cm longer chassis. C SS refers to the Super Sport Competition short chassis. The model embeds a 4 liter 6 cylinder engine.
Only two Talbot-Lago T150-C SS coupes, both from 1937, have been fitted in period with the spectacular variant of the Goutte d'Eau with fully enclosed front fenders, a feature which is less uncommon on the Delahaye teardrops.
Only one is retaining its original body, with which it won the Prix d'Excellence at the 1938 Concours d’Elegance Fémina in Paris where it had been featured by former cabaret dancer Princess Stella de Kapurthala. Its aluminum alloy coachwork belongs to the second series of Talbot-Lago teardrops, also referred as Modèle New York. This example has a sunroof.
This car was sold for $ 13.4M by Gooding on March 4, 2022, lot 54. It is illustrated in the pre sale press release. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In 1935 also, Bugatti introduces at the Salon de l'Auto a prototype named "Aérolithe". The quest for obtaining high speed from aerodynamic features have led to a style all in curves, with a semi-spheric cockpit. The catalogued model will be the Bugatti Atlantic, made in three units in 1936.
At the same time, two new high-end chassis appear on the French market : the Type 135 by Delahaye and the T150 by the recently incorporated Talbot-Lago. Each of them is also available in a short wheel base version specifically designed for competition.
Figoni et Falaschi developed for these two types a range of bodies unique in their kind known as Goutte d'eau for the teardrop shape of the inner contour. This rolling work of art with a lowered center of gravity, referred by its carrossier as a faux cabriolet, is indeed contemporary with the culmination of the Parisian Art Déco style.
While a production line is established for the Delahaye long chassis, a very small number of Goutte d'eau were assembled over the Delahaye short chassis, mainly as prototypes or demonstrators.
Only 16 Talbot-Lago chassis were assembled with a Figoni et Falaschi teardrop, in two series. The first series referred as Coupé Jeancart was made of three on the four-litre T150-C SS chassis, one on the three-litre T23 chassis and one on the T150-C Lago Speciale 30 cm longer chassis. C SS refers to the Super Sport Competition short chassis. The model embeds a 4 liter 6 cylinder engine.
Only two Talbot-Lago T150-C SS coupes, both from 1937, have been fitted in period with the spectacular variant of the Goutte d'Eau with fully enclosed front fenders, a feature which is less uncommon on the Delahaye teardrops.
Only one is retaining its original body, with which it won the Prix d'Excellence at the 1938 Concours d’Elegance Fémina in Paris where it had been featured by former cabaret dancer Princess Stella de Kapurthala. Its aluminum alloy coachwork belongs to the second series of Talbot-Lago teardrops, also referred as Modèle New York. This example has a sunroof.
This car was sold for $ 13.4M by Gooding on March 4, 2022, lot 54. It is illustrated in the pre sale press release. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1937 Couple aux Têtes pleines de Nuages by Dali
2020 SOLD for £ 8.2M by Bonhams
The art of Millet fascinated Van Gogh, who in his early days wanted to become the painter of rural life. From 1932 Dali, researching how virtue hides vice and shame, tries Freudian interpretations of the Angélus.
Painted in 1936, Couple aux Têtes pleines de Nuages is a diptych whose frames are the outlines of two heads seen from behind. The influence of the Angélus is obvious in the position of the heads. The interior of the image is a continuous desert landscape, with Dalinian symbols and a sky in the style of Magritte.
On October 15, 2020, Bonhams sold at lot 14 for £ 8.2M a diptych in oil on panels painted with the same title in 1937, 95 x 75 cm for the man and 88 x 66 cm for the woman. These dimensions include the frames.
This replica signed Gala Salvador Dali has notable differences with the 1936 diptych. The heads are gently leaning towards each other, evoking the mutual love of Salvador and Gala and removing the reference to the Angélus. The landscape is illustrated by the rock shapes of Cadaqués.
This work could be a souvenir of Cadaqués painted for a friend. Indeed the surrealist musician Giacinto Scelsi, who hung it in his living room for several decades, claimed that its first owner had been Eluard, the former cuckold husband of Gala.
Painted in 1936, Couple aux Têtes pleines de Nuages is a diptych whose frames are the outlines of two heads seen from behind. The influence of the Angélus is obvious in the position of the heads. The interior of the image is a continuous desert landscape, with Dalinian symbols and a sky in the style of Magritte.
On October 15, 2020, Bonhams sold at lot 14 for £ 8.2M a diptych in oil on panels painted with the same title in 1937, 95 x 75 cm for the man and 88 x 66 cm for the woman. These dimensions include the frames.
This replica signed Gala Salvador Dali has notable differences with the 1936 diptych. The heads are gently leaning towards each other, evoking the mutual love of Salvador and Gala and removing the reference to the Angélus. The landscape is illustrated by the rock shapes of Cadaqués.
This work could be a souvenir of Cadaqués painted for a friend. Indeed the surrealist musician Giacinto Scelsi, who hung it in his living room for several decades, claimed that its first owner had been Eluard, the former cuckold husband of Gala.
