1939
See also : Picasso later 1930s Cars II Cars 1930s Cars 1938-39 Alfa Romeo Kandinsky Chagall O'Keeffe Central and South Americas Mexico
masterpiece
1939 Lobster Trap and Fish Tail by Calder
MoMA
Son of an artist, Alexander Calder is a mechanical engineer. To rebuild the world, he tries to create carousels of toys, before introducing the movement in sculpture.
The story of his visit to Mondrian in 1930 is probably true. He would like the little artworks to fly away from the wall and occupy the space. Back from Europe in 1933, he set up his workshop in Roxbury, Connecticut. He had developed in Paris his new forms of art, the figurative wire sculpture and then the abstract mobile inspired by nature.
His desire is to occupy space, as nature does. The leaves of his tree do not shade each other. In his so called mobiles, he hangs his art at the ceiling through a wire so that it moves in the air stream.
His experience accumulates over the years. In order for his hanging mobiles to be spectacular, he increases the number of plaques and enlarges the span, proportionally reducing the visibility on the single wire which links the piece to the ceiling. He sometimes gives the opus a title inspired by nature and adds poetry through the choice of colors.
Built around a stem or suspended from the ceiling by a string, these works of art move with the air flow. They are appealing by their humor but their balance that may seem precarious meets the design accuracy of the engineer. The materials are commonplace.
Alfred H. Barr Jr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, is a pioneer for the artistic relations between Europe and America. In 1939, he commissions a monumental work to Calder for the staircase of a new MoMA building. Made of steel wire and painted aluminum sheets, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail is a mobile in which the basket is made of steel wire.
The story of his visit to Mondrian in 1930 is probably true. He would like the little artworks to fly away from the wall and occupy the space. Back from Europe in 1933, he set up his workshop in Roxbury, Connecticut. He had developed in Paris his new forms of art, the figurative wire sculpture and then the abstract mobile inspired by nature.
His desire is to occupy space, as nature does. The leaves of his tree do not shade each other. In his so called mobiles, he hangs his art at the ceiling through a wire so that it moves in the air stream.
His experience accumulates over the years. In order for his hanging mobiles to be spectacular, he increases the number of plaques and enlarges the span, proportionally reducing the visibility on the single wire which links the piece to the ceiling. He sometimes gives the opus a title inspired by nature and adds poetry through the choice of colors.
Built around a stem or suspended from the ceiling by a string, these works of art move with the air flow. They are appealing by their humor but their balance that may seem precarious meets the design accuracy of the engineer. The materials are commonplace.
Alfred H. Barr Jr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, is a pioneer for the artistic relations between Europe and America. In 1939, he commissions a monumental work to Calder for the staircase of a new MoMA building. Made of steel wire and painted aluminum sheets, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail is a mobile in which the basket is made of steel wire.
Dora Maar by PICASSO
1
March 1939
2022 SOLD for HK$ 170M by Sotheby's
Throughout 1938 Picasso managed the fancy of mingling the features of his two mistresses in his Portraits de femme. When he dissociated them on two separate canvases in January 1939, it was already clear that his preference was for Dora.
A portrait of Dora Maar dated March 27, 1939, oil and Ripolin on panel 60 x 45 cm, was sold for HK $ 170M by Sotheby's on April 27, 2022, lot 1030. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The colors are bright, as usual for Picasso. The face of the selected dark haired mistress is pretty in the signature Picasso's double angle, here without an additional distorsion. She is elegantly dressed. Her gaze and lips are contemplative.
Another portrait with the same figure interchanging the colors of dress and background was made in the same day on the same format.
A portrait of Dora Maar dated March 27, 1939, oil and Ripolin on panel 60 x 45 cm, was sold for HK $ 170M by Sotheby's on April 27, 2022, lot 1030. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The colors are bright, as usual for Picasso. The face of the selected dark haired mistress is pretty in the signature Picasso's double angle, here without an additional distorsion. She is elegantly dressed. Her gaze and lips are contemplative.
Another portrait with the same figure interchanging the colors of dress and background was made in the same day on the same format.
2
October 1939 Femme assise, robe bleue
2017 SOLD for $ 45M by Christie's
While Dora Maar was doing the photographic survey of his creation of Guernica, Picasso observed her feminine hypersensitivity and conceptualized his new muse as a prophetess of the political catastrophes.
This artist's vision was incomplete and even unfair for this activist woman who loved surrealism and eccentric attires. It certainly did not help to preserve her fragile mental balance. They will terminate their affair in 1943.
Another catastrophe occured. In September 1939 Picasso in fear of the aerial attacks left Paris and established his small circle at Royan in two different places so that his two rival mistresses shall not meet.
In the cyclothymia of this anxious artist the date of 25 October 1939 was a short period of lull. Pablo was celebrating his birthday in Royan with Dora. He painted Femme assise, robe bleue.
This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for £ 18M including premium by Christie's on June 21, 2011 over a lower estimate of £ 4M. The appeal to the international market from Dora's portraits is growing. It was sold for $ 45M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 12 A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On that day Pablo's mistress is no longer an allegory but a young woman loved by him. The colors are bright and cheerful and the hat is exuberant. The face in multiple perspectives according to the taste of the artist at that time reinforces the expression of a wide and friendly smile close to laughter.
This artist's vision was incomplete and even unfair for this activist woman who loved surrealism and eccentric attires. It certainly did not help to preserve her fragile mental balance. They will terminate their affair in 1943.
Another catastrophe occured. In September 1939 Picasso in fear of the aerial attacks left Paris and established his small circle at Royan in two different places so that his two rival mistresses shall not meet.
In the cyclothymia of this anxious artist the date of 25 October 1939 was a short period of lull. Pablo was celebrating his birthday in Royan with Dora. He painted Femme assise, robe bleue.
This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for £ 18M including premium by Christie's on June 21, 2011 over a lower estimate of £ 4M. The appeal to the international market from Dora's portraits is growing. It was sold for $ 45M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 12 A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On that day Pablo's mistress is no longer an allegory but a young woman loved by him. The colors are bright and cheerful and the hat is exuberant. The face in multiple perspectives according to the taste of the artist at that time reinforces the expression of a wide and friendly smile close to laughter.
1939 Le Rond Rouge by Kandinsky
2018 SOLD for $ 20.6M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
From 1922 to 1933, Wassily Kandinsky sought with his colleagues from the Bauhaus the basic elements of the pictorial creation. Nothing remains of his figurative inspiration, replaced by a balanced arrangement of geometric shapes and colors. The musical influence, triggered in 1911 by Schönberg, will never leave him.
His exile in Paris frees him from teaching, and consequently from his subjugation to geometry. The forms observed in embryology and microbiology generate an unprecedented variant of his pantheism. He admires these flexible organisms invented by nature, which move under the microscope in a harmony that had escaped human eyes.
On November 12, 2018, Sotheby's sold at lot 4 for $ 20.6M including premium Le Rond Rouge, oil on canvas 89 x 116 cm painted in 1939. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
On the top right, the picture is dominated by an intense red orb in a thick black circle. This figure is the vital source, which nourishes the rest of the surface through thick black filaments. On the bottom left, a ground in deep perspective is littered with geometric elements. An influence of Kandinsky's dodecaphonism on Mondrian's boogie-woogie deserves to be analyzed.
His exile in Paris frees him from teaching, and consequently from his subjugation to geometry. The forms observed in embryology and microbiology generate an unprecedented variant of his pantheism. He admires these flexible organisms invented by nature, which move under the microscope in a harmony that had escaped human eyes.
On November 12, 2018, Sotheby's sold at lot 4 for $ 20.6M including premium Le Rond Rouge, oil on canvas 89 x 116 cm painted in 1939. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
On the top right, the picture is dominated by an intense red orb in a thick black circle. This figure is the vital source, which nourishes the rest of the surface through thick black filaments. On the bottom left, a ground in deep perspective is littered with geometric elements. An influence of Kandinsky's dodecaphonism on Mondrian's boogie-woogie deserves to be analyzed.
1939 A Spider by Alfa Romeo and Touring
2016 SOLD for $ 19.8M including premium
Under the direct control of the Italian government, Alfa Romeo improves the performance of its luxury and sports cars throughout the 1930s. The 6-cylinder version (6C) grows in several stages from 1750 to 2500 cc. Aimed at the high end, the 8-cylinder version (8C), created in 1931 with 2300 cc, is fitted with 2900 cc from 1935. The 8C 2900B is available in two lengths from 1937 : Corto and Lungo.
Alfa Romeo has special relationships with two body shops that offer dissimilar products. A 8C 2900B assembled by Pinin Farina in cabriolet was sold for $ 4,07M including premium by Christie's on August 28, 1999, a great price for that time.
In Milan, Carrozzeria Touring patented in 1936 theSuperleggera technology. Alfa Romeo actively supports this development that must enable its Lungo variant to compete advantageously with the too massive Mercedes-Benz 540K. The war interrupted this activity. Note however that in 1939 Alfa Romeo is already offering the features that will make the success of sports cars after the war: the spider from as early as 1931, and the berlinetta.
On August 20 in Monterey, RM Sotheby's sells the culmination of this evolution : an 8C 2900B Lungo bodied in spider superleggera by Touring. It is estimated $ 20M, lot 234.
The authenticity of this car is the result of patient and painstaking work by the best specialists of the brand. The oldest traces of its eventful existence date back to the early 1950s in South America. As often, this car had been dismantled by owners seeking the best combination for their cars in competition.
In 1994, convinced that chassis 412041 and body 2027 may come from the same original car, the collector Sam Mann, passionate about automotive engineering, acquires both. The reassembly proves him right : the positions of the bolt holes are consistent, resulting from the work done by Touring workmen around 1939. Despite the extreme rarity of this model, Mann was able to complete this work by assembling an engine and a fuel pump from the original 8C 2900B series.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's TV and another videoshared by RM introducing five vehicles from the Mann collection.
Alfa Romeo has special relationships with two body shops that offer dissimilar products. A 8C 2900B assembled by Pinin Farina in cabriolet was sold for $ 4,07M including premium by Christie's on August 28, 1999, a great price for that time.
In Milan, Carrozzeria Touring patented in 1936 theSuperleggera technology. Alfa Romeo actively supports this development that must enable its Lungo variant to compete advantageously with the too massive Mercedes-Benz 540K. The war interrupted this activity. Note however that in 1939 Alfa Romeo is already offering the features that will make the success of sports cars after the war: the spider from as early as 1931, and the berlinetta.
On August 20 in Monterey, RM Sotheby's sells the culmination of this evolution : an 8C 2900B Lungo bodied in spider superleggera by Touring. It is estimated $ 20M, lot 234.
The authenticity of this car is the result of patient and painstaking work by the best specialists of the brand. The oldest traces of its eventful existence date back to the early 1950s in South America. As often, this car had been dismantled by owners seeking the best combination for their cars in competition.
In 1994, convinced that chassis 412041 and body 2027 may come from the same original car, the collector Sam Mann, passionate about automotive engineering, acquires both. The reassembly proves him right : the positions of the bolt holes are consistent, resulting from the work done by Touring workmen around 1939. Despite the extreme rarity of this model, Mann was able to complete this work by assembling an engine and a fuel pump from the original 8C 2900B series.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's TV and another videoshared by RM introducing five vehicles from the Mann collection.
1939 Thérèse is growing up
2019 SOLD for $ 19M including premium
The Klossowski brothers grew up in an intellectual atmosphere. Their father was an art historian. Their mother, a pupil of Pierre Bonnard, became the lover of Rainer Maria Rilke after the first world war. Gide encourages the two boys. Pierre will seek to reconcile surrealism and pornography. Balthasar will become Balthus.
In 1935 the self-portrait of Balthus as king of cats inaugurates the weird universe of the artist. The young man appears normal except for too long legs to which a cat comes to rub. Balthus will always let the observer identify the meaning of his art. The cat came for a hug, or to rid its fur from its fleas, or to worship its self-proclaimed lord.
In the following year the artist observes the children of his neighbors. Thérèse is 11 years old and Hubert is two years older. The girl wears the gloomy expression of pre-adolescence, that phase during which the body is still unfinished. From 1936 to 1939 Balthus executes ten portraits of this young sitter.
Modern influence groups vigorously protested in 2017 against the eroticism of these images of children. They looked at the bare thighs and the skirt sometimes raised up to glimpse the underwear. The girl performs a writhing that suits her age. If we put on the index the portraits of Thérèse by Balthus we must join to them the ballerinas by Degas. The perversity lies essentially in the perception made by the observer who must be protected against himself. Balthus was right.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells Thérèse sur une banquette, oil on board 73 x 92 cm painted in 1939, lot 8Aestimated $ 12M.
At the age of 14 Thérèse is still a slender child. Carefree of her own attitude, she is slumped on the bench, one hand on the floor and the other hand raised to swing a string. She looks downward. Once is not customary, another work painted in the same year provides an additional information : a kitten jumps to catch the ball hanging from the string.
In 1935 the self-portrait of Balthus as king of cats inaugurates the weird universe of the artist. The young man appears normal except for too long legs to which a cat comes to rub. Balthus will always let the observer identify the meaning of his art. The cat came for a hug, or to rid its fur from its fleas, or to worship its self-proclaimed lord.
In the following year the artist observes the children of his neighbors. Thérèse is 11 years old and Hubert is two years older. The girl wears the gloomy expression of pre-adolescence, that phase during which the body is still unfinished. From 1936 to 1939 Balthus executes ten portraits of this young sitter.
Modern influence groups vigorously protested in 2017 against the eroticism of these images of children. They looked at the bare thighs and the skirt sometimes raised up to glimpse the underwear. The girl performs a writhing that suits her age. If we put on the index the portraits of Thérèse by Balthus we must join to them the ballerinas by Degas. The perversity lies essentially in the perception made by the observer who must be protected against himself. Balthus was right.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells Thérèse sur une banquette, oil on board 73 x 92 cm painted in 1939, lot 8Aestimated $ 12M.
At the age of 14 Thérèse is still a slender child. Carefree of her own attitude, she is slumped on the bench, one hand on the floor and the other hand raised to swing a string. She looks downward. Once is not customary, another work painted in the same year provides an additional information : a kitten jumps to catch the ball hanging from the string.
1939 Three Candles against the War
2017 SOLD for $ 14.6M including premium
At the end of the 1930s the Nazis made themselves increasingly involved in French affairs. As early as 1937 they criticized the poetic art of the Belorussian immigrant Marc Chagall with his continuous evocations of Judaism and his characters floating in the air.
In 1939 Marc and Bella are worried but do not yet perceive that the Nazis will manage to physically eradicate the French Jews. They remember Vitebsk where they married in 1916 and express their roots with their skills : Bella by her stories in Yiddish and Mark by his painting.
On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells Les Trois Cierges, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted in 1939, lot 6 A estimated $ 8M.
As ever with Marc's surrealist style, the scenes are juxtaposed in various scales according to their importance conceived by the artist.
On the right side the levitating newlyweds are back to the happy time of Vitebsk. On the left, three tall candles are lit, marking the hope of the small family circle formed by Marc, Bella and their daughter Ida : the torments of the moment will be annihilated by melting in the wax. Secondary animation on the smaller scale includes flying angels, musicians and a view of the village.
In 1940 the persecution reached the whole French territory. Marc and Bella left France hurriedly. A few months later Ida and her husband joined them in the United States : in their crossing of the Atlantic that was made extremely dangerous by the war, they succeeded in transporting a large crate of artworks painted by Marc, including Les Trois Cierges which were thus saved from an inescapable destruction.
In the following year Les Trois Cierges is a major piece in the exhibition devoted to Chagall's art by Pierre Matisse in New York, one of the most important initiatives within this transitional period in which the Americans discover the European and Russian modern art.
In 1939 Marc and Bella are worried but do not yet perceive that the Nazis will manage to physically eradicate the French Jews. They remember Vitebsk where they married in 1916 and express their roots with their skills : Bella by her stories in Yiddish and Mark by his painting.
On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells Les Trois Cierges, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted in 1939, lot 6 A estimated $ 8M.
As ever with Marc's surrealist style, the scenes are juxtaposed in various scales according to their importance conceived by the artist.
On the right side the levitating newlyweds are back to the happy time of Vitebsk. On the left, three tall candles are lit, marking the hope of the small family circle formed by Marc, Bella and their daughter Ida : the torments of the moment will be annihilated by melting in the wax. Secondary animation on the smaller scale includes flying angels, musicians and a view of the village.
In 1940 the persecution reached the whole French territory. Marc and Bella left France hurriedly. A few months later Ida and her husband joined them in the United States : in their crossing of the Atlantic that was made extremely dangerous by the war, they succeeded in transporting a large crate of artworks painted by Marc, including Les Trois Cierges which were thus saved from an inescapable destruction.
In the following year Les Trois Cierges is a major piece in the exhibition devoted to Chagall's art by Pierre Matisse in New York, one of the most important initiatives within this transitional period in which the Americans discover the European and Russian modern art.
1939 Bridle Path by Hopper
2012 SOLD for $ 10.4M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Edward Hopper was a misanthropist who expressed in his art what words could not say. He was however a keen observer of the society of his time, whose developments he did not necessarily approve : he preferred the artificial world of the theater. He was looking for inspiration around him, in New York City and on the road to his summer residence at Cape Cod.
His characters are frozen in their psychological solitude, even when they are in a group. Their attitude is bored, often without any movement. Bridle Path, oil on canvas 59 x 107 cm painted in 1939, is an exception, and also a very rare example of surrealism at that time in his work.
The scene shows three riders in full action, on a wide path that leads straight to a dark tunnel. The place is recognizable : we see in the background the Dakota building, recognizable by its incongruous neo-Renaissance architecture on the edge of Central Park.
The artist plays on a confusion between bridle (the rein) and bridal (relating to the bride). The three riders are not on the same level. The man and one of the women are almost in the entrance to the tunnel, somehow a hole to hell. The man, most certainly a self-portrait, reacts to the imminent danger by pulling on the bridle, which rears up his beautiful white horse.
For once, Jo Hopper's notebooks do not help to decode although she indicates her enthusiasm for this work. The theme of the danger of marriage was perhaps still sensitive in this atypical couple. The gallop of the two women towards hell and the ultimate attempt of the man to escape it are undoubtedly also a reference to the anxiogenic international events of April 1939.
Bridle Path was sold for $ 10.4M including premium by Sotheby's on May 17, 2012 over a lower estimate of $ 5M, lot 10.
His characters are frozen in their psychological solitude, even when they are in a group. Their attitude is bored, often without any movement. Bridle Path, oil on canvas 59 x 107 cm painted in 1939, is an exception, and also a very rare example of surrealism at that time in his work.
The scene shows three riders in full action, on a wide path that leads straight to a dark tunnel. The place is recognizable : we see in the background the Dakota building, recognizable by its incongruous neo-Renaissance architecture on the edge of Central Park.
The artist plays on a confusion between bridle (the rein) and bridal (relating to the bride). The three riders are not on the same level. The man and one of the women are almost in the entrance to the tunnel, somehow a hole to hell. The man, most certainly a self-portrait, reacts to the imminent danger by pulling on the bridle, which rears up his beautiful white horse.
For once, Jo Hopper's notebooks do not help to decode although she indicates her enthusiasm for this work. The theme of the danger of marriage was perhaps still sensitive in this atypical couple. The gallop of the two women towards hell and the ultimate attempt of the man to escape it are undoubtedly also a reference to the anxiogenic international events of April 1939.
Bridle Path was sold for $ 10.4M including premium by Sotheby's on May 17, 2012 over a lower estimate of $ 5M, lot 10.
1939 Le Violoncelliste by Chagall
2014 SOLD for £ 7M by Sotheby's
Marc Chagall is the artist of his poetic dreams inspired by his Jewish childhood. Le Violoniste, painted in Paris in 1912-1913, features a full frontal oversized fiddler flying in the air surrounded by small houses evoking Vitebsk. This street musician has a dark green face. The right foot just over a roof will inspire in 1964 a Broadway musical.
A new Violoniste is painted in 1923-1924. The re-arranged cityscape is not untidy. The feet of the green fiddler are posed on two roofs. A raised donkey appealed by the music is a symbol of the artist.
The version painted in 1928-1929, now titled Musicien, is also much modified. The fiddler is now a white bearded old man. His light green face is a more pleasant color and is cleverly opposed by the crimson violet of the coat. This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for $ 6.9M by Christie's on May 9, 2007, lot 31.
Le Violoncelliste was painted in dense colors in 1939. The handsome standing cellist is full size of the picture. His feet out of field are certainly on the ground. Beside him the seated donkey selfie plays a tiny violin with a raised smiling head. The Vitebsk cityscape is much detailed.
The cellist has two faces, possibly inspired by the dual angle in Picasso's portraits, for altogether looking straight and sideways. His instrument takes the size and shape of his body in a similar surrealist experience as the two bodies in Les Jours Gigantesques by Magritte. The scenery is well lit below a night sky. He appears concerned, certainly by the threat of war : Chagall moved from Paris to the Val de Loire in that year.
This oil on canvas 100 x 74 cm was sold for £ 7M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 46.
A new Violoniste is painted in 1923-1924. The re-arranged cityscape is not untidy. The feet of the green fiddler are posed on two roofs. A raised donkey appealed by the music is a symbol of the artist.
The version painted in 1928-1929, now titled Musicien, is also much modified. The fiddler is now a white bearded old man. His light green face is a more pleasant color and is cleverly opposed by the crimson violet of the coat. This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for $ 6.9M by Christie's on May 9, 2007, lot 31.
Le Violoncelliste was painted in dense colors in 1939. The handsome standing cellist is full size of the picture. His feet out of field are certainly on the ground. Beside him the seated donkey selfie plays a tiny violin with a raised smiling head. The Vitebsk cityscape is much detailed.
The cellist has two faces, possibly inspired by the dual angle in Picasso's portraits, for altogether looking straight and sideways. His instrument takes the size and shape of his body in a similar surrealist experience as the two bodies in Les Jours Gigantesques by Magritte. The scenery is well lit below a night sky. He appears concerned, certainly by the threat of war : Chagall moved from Paris to the Val de Loire in that year.
This oil on canvas 100 x 74 cm was sold for £ 7M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 46.
1939 Put Down your Whip by Xu Beihong
2007 SOLD for HK$ 72M by Sotheby's
April 7, 2007, lot 29.
1939 The Doubling of Frida Kahlo
2016 SOLD for $ 8M including premium
The life of Frida Kahlo was always difficult but 1939 was particularly painful and distressing both physically and psychologically. She is 32 years old. Nothing goes right with her husband and idol Diego Rivera who had been accepting her homosexual desires but is jealous of her men.
Frida needs some comforting and eventually considers that she can only find it within herself in a pathetic doubling of her personality. Las Dos Fridas is a double self portrait by the artist commented by herself as a symbol of her loneliness, broken by the fact that the two women are holding their hands.
This artwork helps to understand Dos desnudos en el bosque, oil on metal 25 x 30 cm painted in the same year, estimated $ 8M byChristie's in New York on May 12, lot 21C.
A woman with dark skin is lovingly caressing a lying white woman. They are nude in a calm attitude but in the surrounding of a torrid vegetation loaded with sexual symbols. The sniper monkey plays the role of the male who will not be rejected by this Sapphic couple.
The seated woman has one leg that hangs into a seismic ravine. She fertilizes the soil through her long scarf and an almost imperceptible bleeding. Rooting is a recurring theme of the artist in her search for the mystery of human life and her need for a shelter against all the threats of the world.
The faces are not identifiable and Dos desnudos can be a double self portrait. If this is not the case, one of the women is the first owner of this painting, the Mexican film star Dolores del Río who was probably one of the targets of Frida's bisexuality.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
Frida needs some comforting and eventually considers that she can only find it within herself in a pathetic doubling of her personality. Las Dos Fridas is a double self portrait by the artist commented by herself as a symbol of her loneliness, broken by the fact that the two women are holding their hands.
This artwork helps to understand Dos desnudos en el bosque, oil on metal 25 x 30 cm painted in the same year, estimated $ 8M byChristie's in New York on May 12, lot 21C.
A woman with dark skin is lovingly caressing a lying white woman. They are nude in a calm attitude but in the surrounding of a torrid vegetation loaded with sexual symbols. The sniper monkey plays the role of the male who will not be rejected by this Sapphic couple.
The seated woman has one leg that hangs into a seismic ravine. She fertilizes the soil through her long scarf and an almost imperceptible bleeding. Rooting is a recurring theme of the artist in her search for the mystery of human life and her need for a shelter against all the threats of the world.
The faces are not identifiable and Dos desnudos can be a double self portrait. If this is not the case, one of the women is the first owner of this painting, the Mexican film star Dolores del Río who was probably one of the targets of Frida's bisexuality.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
1939 Crab's Claw Ginger by O'Keeffe
2021 SOLD for $ 7.7M by Phillips
The highly independent Georgia O'Keeffe was reluctant to work on order. In 1939 she nevertheless accepted a commission from a New York advertising firm to make images for the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. She expected discovering the lush aspects of tropical flora.
She made a nine week stay in Hawaii in February and March and was not disappointed. She created 22 paintings either in the islands or at home from memory and sketches. Crab's Claw Ginger, featuring a variant of ginger also named heliconia, was one of two images accepted by the customer for the print campaign including ads in Vogue, The Saturday Evening Post and other magazines.
This oil on canvas 48 x 41 cm was sold for $ 7.7M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Phillips on November 17, 2021, lot 9. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The spectacular red flower with a large green leaf is set against an open landscape made of the clouded blue sky, the deep blue ocean and an abstract shore, in opposition of the usual practice of the artist for close surroundings.
She made a nine week stay in Hawaii in February and March and was not disappointed. She created 22 paintings either in the islands or at home from memory and sketches. Crab's Claw Ginger, featuring a variant of ginger also named heliconia, was one of two images accepted by the customer for the print campaign including ads in Vogue, The Saturday Evening Post and other magazines.
This oil on canvas 48 x 41 cm was sold for $ 7.7M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Phillips on November 17, 2021, lot 9. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The spectacular red flower with a large green leaf is set against an open landscape made of the clouded blue sky, the deep blue ocean and an abstract shore, in opposition of the usual practice of the artist for close surroundings.
