1938
See also : Picasso Picasso 1930s Miro Germany Germany II Magritte Self portrait II Music and dance Animals Bird Cars II Cars 1930s Cars 1937-39 Italian cars French cars
1938 The Two Mistresses of Pablo
2015 SOLD for $ 67M including premium
After Guernica, Picasso accepts an evidence: he now has two mistresses. He loves them for opposite reasons and decides not to choose. The sweet Marie-Thérèse is the mother of Maya. Dora invites for a passionate relationship.
Of course, the two women can not get along. Pablo is amused. He executes parallel portraits and goes to mix their features in the same figure. Presented in the anonymity of the sitter, these portraits do not reveal their identity with certainty.
On May 11 in New York, Christie's sells at lot 15A Buste de femme (femme à la résille), oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm painted in Paris on January 12, 1938.
In front of a bright red background, the colors of the skin and the clothes are also strident. In her enthusiasm, Dora insinuated that when he changed his mistress Picasso changed also his style, his life, his friends and even his dog.
The exotic funny hat and the fishnet do not belong to Marie-Thérèse but Dora is not the only desire of the artist who is embarrassed by the colorist glory of his great rival Matisse. The eyes on two different levels are not only the reconstruction of perspective in the Cubist style, they also mark the duality of this figure whose face includes some lines from Marie-Thérèse.
This painting was important to Pablo who will never parted from it. The auction house did not publish an estimate.
Of course, the two women can not get along. Pablo is amused. He executes parallel portraits and goes to mix their features in the same figure. Presented in the anonymity of the sitter, these portraits do not reveal their identity with certainty.
On May 11 in New York, Christie's sells at lot 15A Buste de femme (femme à la résille), oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm painted in Paris on January 12, 1938.
In front of a bright red background, the colors of the skin and the clothes are also strident. In her enthusiasm, Dora insinuated that when he changed his mistress Picasso changed also his style, his life, his friends and even his dog.
The exotic funny hat and the fishnet do not belong to Marie-Thérèse but Dora is not the only desire of the artist who is embarrassed by the colorist glory of his great rival Matisse. The eyes on two different levels are not only the reconstruction of perspective in the Cubist style, they also mark the duality of this figure whose face includes some lines from Marie-Thérèse.
This painting was important to Pablo who will never parted from it. The auction house did not publish an estimate.
1938 Femme assise dans un jardin by Picasso
1999 SOLD for $ 49.5M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
In 1935 Picasso was obsessed with his illusion of incarnation in the Minotaur. The sweet Marie-Thérèse, who gives birth to Maya, cannot help him in this satisfaction. He meets Dora Maar at that time.
Everything opposes the blonde and the brunette. Dora is a photographer and an artist. She is exuberant in the colors of her hats, brooches and nails, and her lipstick is too intense. As early as 1936 Picasso paints her in the nude, handed over to the Minotaur.
In 1937 Dora participates in the preparation of Guernica by Pablo and becomes his mistress. La Femme qui pleure is Dora's incorporation into the drama of Spain. From 1938 Pablo develops a new iconography of his goddess by placing her on a large armchair that looks like a throne.
On November 10, 1999, Sotheby's sold for $ 49.5M including premium Femme assise dans un jardin, which is a portrait of Dora.
This 130 x 97 cm oil on canvas is an explosion of bright colors. Pablo painted it in a single day, December 10, 1938. The garden is a naive drawing of stylized branches. The war is temporarily forgotten.
Femme assise dans un jardin is illustrated in 2006 in an article shared by Artnet, alongside Dora Maar au chat which had just been sold by Sotheby's for $ 95M including premium.
The resemblance is striking between these two works of same dimensions. The composition is similar. Dora Maar au chat, painted in 1941, is a war painting. The joyous freedom of the garden is replaced by a mere wall. This lockdown is compensated by a forced smile and the black cat, the only additional symbol that supersedes the garden, is an evil intrusion.
Everything opposes the blonde and the brunette. Dora is a photographer and an artist. She is exuberant in the colors of her hats, brooches and nails, and her lipstick is too intense. As early as 1936 Picasso paints her in the nude, handed over to the Minotaur.
In 1937 Dora participates in the preparation of Guernica by Pablo and becomes his mistress. La Femme qui pleure is Dora's incorporation into the drama of Spain. From 1938 Pablo develops a new iconography of his goddess by placing her on a large armchair that looks like a throne.
On November 10, 1999, Sotheby's sold for $ 49.5M including premium Femme assise dans un jardin, which is a portrait of Dora.
This 130 x 97 cm oil on canvas is an explosion of bright colors. Pablo painted it in a single day, December 10, 1938. The garden is a naive drawing of stylized branches. The war is temporarily forgotten.
Femme assise dans un jardin is illustrated in 2006 in an article shared by Artnet, alongside Dora Maar au chat which had just been sold by Sotheby's for $ 95M including premium.
The resemblance is striking between these two works of same dimensions. The composition is similar. Dora Maar au chat, painted in 1941, is a war painting. The joyous freedom of the garden is replaced by a mere wall. This lockdown is compensated by a forced smile and the black cat, the only additional symbol that supersedes the garden, is an evil intrusion.
1938 The Fury of the Birds
2017 SOLD for £ 36M including premium
After the First World War, German artists like Max Beckmann, Max Ernst, George Grosz and Otto Dix brought social criticism to the level of a major art far beyond caricature. Of course the Nazi regime does not agree. Beckmann is one of the targets of Hitler's furious attacks on degenerate art.
Beckmann precipitately left Germany in 1937 and settled in Amsterdam. Like Miro at the same time in Spain, he could not manage to stay away from politics. He immediately conceived a great composition, first entitled Der Land des Wahnsinningen (the country of the insane) which would express his horror of the collectivisms.
Completed at the end of the summer of 1938, Hölle der Vögel (hell of birds) is the achievement of that project. This oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm is for sale by Christie's in London on June 27, lot 11. Three days before the press release of May 8, Financial Time announced an estimate of £ 30M.
This scene mixes the medieval and the modern to better express the permanent threat of abject persecution. Tortures are inflicted by hooded birds. In a claustrophobic atmosphere with black lines and garish colors, the victim chained on an Inquisition bed is a light spot. A bird plows his back to the blood with a large knife.
This lugubrious ceremony is presided by a harpy standing out of her broken egg with a monstrous breast. The crowd of secondary characters is made up of screaming nudes who perform the Hitler Grüss, removing any possible doubt about the interpretation of this allegory in the modern world.
The narrative abundance in that work is inspired by medieval imagery. The choice of the bird as a symbol of blind fury reminds the man-swallowing bird in Bosch's Hell.
The political violence in Hölle der Vögel may be compared to Picasso's Guernica, also conceived in 1937. Beckmann's painting, cautiously preserved in a private apartment in Paris until the end of the Second World War, would have deserved a similar notoriety.
Please watch both videos shared by Christie's, one of thempositioning the artwork within Beckmann's career and the other one in which the auction house chose to accompany it by the reading of a similarly inspired poem by W. H. Auden.
Beckmann precipitately left Germany in 1937 and settled in Amsterdam. Like Miro at the same time in Spain, he could not manage to stay away from politics. He immediately conceived a great composition, first entitled Der Land des Wahnsinningen (the country of the insane) which would express his horror of the collectivisms.
Completed at the end of the summer of 1938, Hölle der Vögel (hell of birds) is the achievement of that project. This oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm is for sale by Christie's in London on June 27, lot 11. Three days before the press release of May 8, Financial Time announced an estimate of £ 30M.
This scene mixes the medieval and the modern to better express the permanent threat of abject persecution. Tortures are inflicted by hooded birds. In a claustrophobic atmosphere with black lines and garish colors, the victim chained on an Inquisition bed is a light spot. A bird plows his back to the blood with a large knife.
This lugubrious ceremony is presided by a harpy standing out of her broken egg with a monstrous breast. The crowd of secondary characters is made up of screaming nudes who perform the Hitler Grüss, removing any possible doubt about the interpretation of this allegory in the modern world.
The narrative abundance in that work is inspired by medieval imagery. The choice of the bird as a symbol of blind fury reminds the man-swallowing bird in Bosch's Hell.
The political violence in Hölle der Vögel may be compared to Picasso's Guernica, also conceived in 1937. Beckmann's painting, cautiously preserved in a private apartment in Paris until the end of the Second World War, would have deserved a similar notoriety.
Please watch both videos shared by Christie's, one of thempositioning the artwork within Beckmann's career and the other one in which the auction house chose to accompany it by the reading of a similarly inspired poem by W. H. Auden.
1938 Self Portrait with Horn by Max Beckmann
2001 SOLD 22.5 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Max Beckmann does not accept that his art is described as degenerate by Hitler. Painted in 1936, his self-portrait with a crystal ball is a poignant message : he would like to react but does not have the solution. He is only 52 but he certainly appreciates that his premature aging and his surly attitude will not help him. The shadow over the eyes does not encourage dialogue. This oil on canvas 110 x 65 cm was sold for $ 16.8M including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2005.
In 1937 it is much worse. The Nazis confiscate 500 of his works from museums and include several in the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. Threatened with imprisonment and castration, Beckmann flees Germany and settles in his sister-in-law's home in Amsterdam.
His works mark then a desire for revenge, now with a scathing criticism of the Nazi regime. Hölle der Vögel, oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm completed in 1938, was sold for £ 36M including premium by Christie's on June 27, 2017.
On May 10, 2001 Sotheby's sold for $ 22.5M including premium a Self-portrait with horn, oil on canvas 110 x 100 cm painted in 1938.
The instrument is not played but brandished at the height of the closed mouth like a helpless challenge. The sullen mouth expresses anxiety and once again the eyes are in the shade. The striped jacket resembles the coat of a convict or a Harlequin.
In 1937 it is much worse. The Nazis confiscate 500 of his works from museums and include several in the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. Threatened with imprisonment and castration, Beckmann flees Germany and settles in his sister-in-law's home in Amsterdam.
His works mark then a desire for revenge, now with a scathing criticism of the Nazi regime. Hölle der Vögel, oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm completed in 1938, was sold for £ 36M including premium by Christie's on June 27, 2017.
On May 10, 2001 Sotheby's sold for $ 22.5M including premium a Self-portrait with horn, oil on canvas 110 x 100 cm painted in 1938.
The instrument is not played but brandished at the height of the closed mouth like a helpless challenge. The sullen mouth expresses anxiety and once again the eyes are in the shade. The striped jacket resembles the coat of a convict or a Harlequin.
1938 Elusive Dora
2015 SOLD for $ 20M including premium
Picasso's affair with Marie-Thérèse began with an aesthetic instinct: his young muse was a white-skinned variant of the African idols. Dora will shake Pablo out of his bliss by her fiery temperament.
Dora Maar became in 1937 the Weeping woman. Pablo himself felt that such an assimilation was unfair but the trauma of Guernica was too strong and he needed such a feminine symbol of misfortune.
The contrast between his two mistresses disturbs Pablo. He desires Dora but the overactive young woman is a mystery. The artist invents the dual portrait in which the face is drawn in profile with both eyes and both nostrils on the same side.
In a first phase, the choice is impossible. On January 12, 1938, he paints in his new style an amazing Woman with Mantilla which is a hybrid between Marie-Thérèse and Dora. This oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm was sold for $ 67M including premium by Christie's on May 11, 2015.
Dora gets the premiere position in the heart of Pablo but without releasing her secrets. She remains elusive. On May 7, 1938, Pablo immobilizes her on a chair to make her portrait. This oil on canvas 125 x 87 cm is estimated $ 25M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 24T.
It seems that this strategy was not winning since Pablo had to reuse that too static theme of the confinement by the chair for several years. The kitten that walks for Pablo's service on the upper bar fails to capture the attention of the desired muse. Dora Maar au Chat, painted in 1941, was sold for $ 95M including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's to introduce the lot of the next sale.
Dora Maar became in 1937 the Weeping woman. Pablo himself felt that such an assimilation was unfair but the trauma of Guernica was too strong and he needed such a feminine symbol of misfortune.
The contrast between his two mistresses disturbs Pablo. He desires Dora but the overactive young woman is a mystery. The artist invents the dual portrait in which the face is drawn in profile with both eyes and both nostrils on the same side.
In a first phase, the choice is impossible. On January 12, 1938, he paints in his new style an amazing Woman with Mantilla which is a hybrid between Marie-Thérèse and Dora. This oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm was sold for $ 67M including premium by Christie's on May 11, 2015.
Dora gets the premiere position in the heart of Pablo but without releasing her secrets. She remains elusive. On May 7, 1938, Pablo immobilizes her on a chair to make her portrait. This oil on canvas 125 x 87 cm is estimated $ 25M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 24T.
It seems that this strategy was not winning since Pablo had to reuse that too static theme of the confinement by the chair for several years. The kitten that walks for Pablo's service on the upper bar fails to capture the attention of the desired muse. Dora Maar au Chat, painted in 1941, was sold for $ 95M including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's to introduce the lot of the next sale.
1938 The Response of Milan to the Silver Arrows
2019 SOLD for € 16.7M including premium
At the time of totalitarianism, motor racing became a major showcase of high-tech know-how. To compete with the Silver Arrows, Alfa Romeo develops a stiffened chassis and an independent suspension with which it equips the Tipo C for the grand prix and the 6C 2300 B for grand touring. Introduced in 1935 the 8C 2900 A targets the endurance racing.
In Milan also, Carrozzeria Touring patented its Superleggera technology : after advanced aerodynamic studies, this company offers all-metal bodies, a novelty at that time.
In 1937 Touring designs two bodies for the new 8C 2900 B : a spider for the short chassis and a berlinetta for the long chassis. The closed cockpit allows a body made entirely of aluminum unlike the spider which requires reinforcements in steel. For this reason the spider is heavier than the coupe. It will also be built for the long chassis.
The total population of 8C 2900 B Touring berlinettas is five units. The second, built in 1938, is titled 1939, the date of its registration in the United Kingdom. It was used sparingly except for a brief period in the 1950s and was carefully maintained by its successive owners without ever being disassembled.
Remaining since 1976 in a single collection, it is estimated € 16M for sale by Artcurial in Paris on February 8, lot 20. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Two other 8C 2900 B berlinettas were awarded the highly prestigious Best Of Show of Pebble Beach's Concours d'elegance, in 2008 and 2018 respectively. An 8C 2900 B Lungo Spider by Touring was sold for $ 19.8M including premium by RM Sotheby's on August 20, 2016.
In Milan also, Carrozzeria Touring patented its Superleggera technology : after advanced aerodynamic studies, this company offers all-metal bodies, a novelty at that time.
In 1937 Touring designs two bodies for the new 8C 2900 B : a spider for the short chassis and a berlinetta for the long chassis. The closed cockpit allows a body made entirely of aluminum unlike the spider which requires reinforcements in steel. For this reason the spider is heavier than the coupe. It will also be built for the long chassis.
The total population of 8C 2900 B Touring berlinettas is five units. The second, built in 1938, is titled 1939, the date of its registration in the United Kingdom. It was used sparingly except for a brief period in the 1950s and was carefully maintained by its successive owners without ever being disassembled.
Remaining since 1976 in a single collection, it is estimated € 16M for sale by Artcurial in Paris on February 8, lot 20. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Two other 8C 2900 B berlinettas were awarded the highly prestigious Best Of Show of Pebble Beach's Concours d'elegance, in 2008 and 2018 respectively. An 8C 2900 B Lungo Spider by Touring was sold for $ 19.8M including premium by RM Sotheby's on August 20, 2016.
1938 La Caresse des Etoiles by Miro
2008 SOLD for $ 17M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1938 A Catalan Sky
2019 SOLD for £ 12M including premium
Joan Miro is a poet of graphic art. He would have liked his bright colors to express hopes in front of the social difficulties of Spain, but a poet cannot be a warrior. In October 1936, just after the outbreak of the civil war, he goes into exile in Paris.
In the following year, his political commitment becomes visible. In the pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, he paints El Segador, a set of panels of 5.5m total height. The reaper is a symbol of Catalan nationalism. He screams his desperation, not far from the horse of Guernica.
L'Air is an oil on canvas painted in 1938. Its small size, 55 x 46 cm, is probably correlated with the difficulties of working in exile in an exiguous studio.
The composition is divided into two registers. The lower part is red and gold, the colors of the Catalan flag, slightly different from the red and yellow of Spain. The golden landscape is inhabited by an ugly red snake with a simplified effigy of Franco that approaches a biomorphic creature to swallow or despoil it.
The horizon is composed of three volcanoes, two of which have open craters. They project in the night blue sky other biomorphic emanations that float freely therein. In this Air of hope, a human face smiles, hardly visible in the eye of a sort of giant chimera.
L'Air was discussed in this column before being sold for $ 10.3M including premium by Christie's on November 3, 2010, lot 25. It is estimated £ 10M for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 19, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the following year, his political commitment becomes visible. In the pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, he paints El Segador, a set of panels of 5.5m total height. The reaper is a symbol of Catalan nationalism. He screams his desperation, not far from the horse of Guernica.
L'Air is an oil on canvas painted in 1938. Its small size, 55 x 46 cm, is probably correlated with the difficulties of working in exile in an exiguous studio.
The composition is divided into two registers. The lower part is red and gold, the colors of the Catalan flag, slightly different from the red and yellow of Spain. The golden landscape is inhabited by an ugly red snake with a simplified effigy of Franco that approaches a biomorphic creature to swallow or despoil it.
The horizon is composed of three volcanoes, two of which have open craters. They project in the night blue sky other biomorphic emanations that float freely therein. In this Air of hope, a human face smiles, hardly visible in the eye of a sort of giant chimera.
L'Air was discussed in this column before being sold for $ 10.3M including premium by Christie's on November 3, 2010, lot 25. It is estimated £ 10M for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 19, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1938 The Home of the Eagle
2017 SOLD for £ 10.2M including premium
I recently observed that the titles of René Magritte's artworks are the result of chance. Le Domaine d'Arnheim is a sensational counter-example.
The composition shows a large snowy mountain seen from a chalet. Everything is normal except that the horizon is centered on a bird's head whose details are zoomorphic. The surprise occasioned by this discovery leads the viewer to perceive the landscape as the extended wings of an eagle. In the foreground two beautiful eggs are placed on a low wall.
The artist has thus grouped two dualities which are among the permanent themes of his surreal world : the living and the rock form an impossible pair while egg to bird is somehow a metamorphosis similar as caterpillar to butterfly. From 1932 the artist placed eggs in bird cages.
The title also has a double meaning. Arnhem in the Netherlands has as its etymological origin 'the home of the eagle' from an Old German word. The Domain of Arnheim is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe in which a man with unlimited wealth remodels the landscape to make it more beautiful than what nature alone can do. This title chosen by Magritte is also an acknowledgment of Poe as a forerunner of Surrealism.
From 1938 to 1962 Magritte built his sublime landscape ten times, always with the same title : three paintings and seven gouaches. The original version, oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm, is estimated £ 6.5M for sale by Christie's in London on February 28, lot 112. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The composition shows a large snowy mountain seen from a chalet. Everything is normal except that the horizon is centered on a bird's head whose details are zoomorphic. The surprise occasioned by this discovery leads the viewer to perceive the landscape as the extended wings of an eagle. In the foreground two beautiful eggs are placed on a low wall.
The artist has thus grouped two dualities which are among the permanent themes of his surreal world : the living and the rock form an impossible pair while egg to bird is somehow a metamorphosis similar as caterpillar to butterfly. From 1932 the artist placed eggs in bird cages.
The title also has a double meaning. Arnhem in the Netherlands has as its etymological origin 'the home of the eagle' from an Old German word. The Domain of Arnheim is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe in which a man with unlimited wealth remodels the landscape to make it more beautiful than what nature alone can do. This title chosen by Magritte is also an acknowledgment of Poe as a forerunner of Surrealism.
From 1938 to 1962 Magritte built his sublime landscape ten times, always with the same title : three paintings and seven gouaches. The original version, oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm, is estimated £ 6.5M for sale by Christie's in London on February 28, lot 112. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1938 The Art of Giuseppe Figoni
2013 SOLD 7.1 M$ including premium
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 the support of the automotive artist Géo Ham.
At the same time, two new high-end chassis appear on the French market : the Type 135 by Delahaye and the T150 by Talbot-Lago. Each of them is also available in a short wheel base version specifically designed for competition.
The new company Figoni et Falaschi developed for these two brands a range of bodies unique in their kind known as Goutte d'eau for the teardrop shape of the interior. The Goutte d'eau is contemporary with the Bugatti Atlantic and, more generally, with the best Art Déco style of Paris.
While a production line is established for long chassis, a very small number of Goutte d'eau were assembled over the short chassis, mainly as prototypes or demonstrators. Two of these wonders are included in the sale on the theme of Art of the Automobile, by RM Auctions and Sotheby's in New York on November 21.
The earliest is a Delahaye Type 135 Compétition Court coupe made in 1936, estimated $ 3 million.
The Talbot-Lago T150-CSS cabriolet is the rarest and most spectacular among the bodies made by Figoni et Falaschi. Made in 1938 on chassis number 90111 and painted in cream color, it is estimated $ 8 million.
Note that the next number, 90112, was discussed earlier in this column. This T150-CSS bodied in goutte d'eau coupe by Figoni et Falaschi with a rare sunroof variant was sold for € 3.1 million including premium by RM Auctions on May 21, 2011.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimates of these two cars had been ambitious and they were not met, but both were sold.
$ 7.1 million including premium is indeed a great result for the Talbot-Lago cabriolet. The Delahaye coupe was sold for $ 2.4 million including premium.
At the same time, two new high-end chassis appear on the French market : the Type 135 by Delahaye and the T150 by Talbot-Lago. Each of them is also available in a short wheel base version specifically designed for competition.
The new company Figoni et Falaschi developed for these two brands a range of bodies unique in their kind known as Goutte d'eau for the teardrop shape of the interior. The Goutte d'eau is contemporary with the Bugatti Atlantic and, more generally, with the best Art Déco style of Paris.
While a production line is established for long chassis, a very small number of Goutte d'eau were assembled over the short chassis, mainly as prototypes or demonstrators. Two of these wonders are included in the sale on the theme of Art of the Automobile, by RM Auctions and Sotheby's in New York on November 21.
The earliest is a Delahaye Type 135 Compétition Court coupe made in 1936, estimated $ 3 million.
The Talbot-Lago T150-CSS cabriolet is the rarest and most spectacular among the bodies made by Figoni et Falaschi. Made in 1938 on chassis number 90111 and painted in cream color, it is estimated $ 8 million.
Note that the next number, 90112, was discussed earlier in this column. This T150-CSS bodied in goutte d'eau coupe by Figoni et Falaschi with a rare sunroof variant was sold for € 3.1 million including premium by RM Auctions on May 21, 2011.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimates of these two cars had been ambitious and they were not met, but both were sold.
$ 7.1 million including premium is indeed a great result for the Talbot-Lago cabriolet. The Delahaye coupe was sold for $ 2.4 million including premium.
1938 The Dry Planet
2019 SOLD for £ 3.13M including premium
Yves Tanguy met Jacques Prévert during their military period, just after the First World War. Back in Paris, they begin together to join the surrealist group.
Tanguy is captivated by De Chirico's stagings where smooth spaces are populated with indefinable objects and robotic characters, under a bright light that generates their much elongated shadows. To create his own universe, he avidly reads books of psychiatry and metaphysics, encouraged by Breton. He has his first solo exhibition in 1927.
Tanguy constructs each artwork without preparatory plan and without preconceived idea, as if he was attending the automatic development of his mental landscape, with a total concentration that probably leads to physical exhaustion.
On June 18 in London, Christie's sells L'extinction des espèces, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted in 1938, lot 14 estimated £ 2.5M.
The artist offers his dreamlike space, dry and bright, populated with scattered robotic elements amidst the shadows of clouds. The ambiguity of the horizon generates an imbalance. The further the objects are, the more they seem to levitate. The title reflects a desire to express an extreme situation, without specific blackness and therefore without premonition of the current-day anxieties about biodiversity.
In the same year, Tanguy meets Kay Sage, an American artist visiting Paris whose surrealist approach is similar to his. After the beginning of the war, Yves joins Kay in the United States where they get married. Their life as a couple is a mixture of exclusive mutual admiration and of violence aggravated by alcohol, exacerbating the psychiatric issues of this artist whose universe had looked like no other.
Yves dies in 1955. Kay is desperate. Le Passage, oil on canvas 91 x 71 cm painted in the following year by Kay Sage, was sold for £ 4.3M including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014 over a lower estimate of £ 70K. Viewed from behind, a shirtless woman looks at an unlimited space.
Tanguy is captivated by De Chirico's stagings where smooth spaces are populated with indefinable objects and robotic characters, under a bright light that generates their much elongated shadows. To create his own universe, he avidly reads books of psychiatry and metaphysics, encouraged by Breton. He has his first solo exhibition in 1927.
Tanguy constructs each artwork without preparatory plan and without preconceived idea, as if he was attending the automatic development of his mental landscape, with a total concentration that probably leads to physical exhaustion.
On June 18 in London, Christie's sells L'extinction des espèces, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted in 1938, lot 14 estimated £ 2.5M.
The artist offers his dreamlike space, dry and bright, populated with scattered robotic elements amidst the shadows of clouds. The ambiguity of the horizon generates an imbalance. The further the objects are, the more they seem to levitate. The title reflects a desire to express an extreme situation, without specific blackness and therefore without premonition of the current-day anxieties about biodiversity.
In the same year, Tanguy meets Kay Sage, an American artist visiting Paris whose surrealist approach is similar to his. After the beginning of the war, Yves joins Kay in the United States where they get married. Their life as a couple is a mixture of exclusive mutual admiration and of violence aggravated by alcohol, exacerbating the psychiatric issues of this artist whose universe had looked like no other.
Yves dies in 1955. Kay is desperate. Le Passage, oil on canvas 91 x 71 cm painted in the following year by Kay Sage, was sold for £ 4.3M including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014 over a lower estimate of £ 70K. Viewed from behind, a shirtless woman looks at an unlimited space.
