1940
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Women artists Central and South Americas Mexico Miro Rockwell Art on paper Self portrait Self portrait II Bird Travel
See also : Women artists Central and South Americas Mexico Miro Rockwell Art on paper Self portrait Self portrait II Bird Travel
1940 El Sueno (La Carna) by Kahlo
2025 SOLD for $ 55M by Sotheby's
El sueño (La cama), oil on canvas 74 x 98 cm painted in 1940 by Frida Kahlo in 1940, was sold for $ 55M from a lower estimate of $ 40M for sale by Sotheby's on November 20, 2025, lot 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Asking Grok its significance in the career of the artist.
Grok thought :
Frida Kahlo's El sueño (La cama) (The Dream [The Bed]), painted in 1940, is a poignant self-portrait that encapsulates key themes in her oeuvre, including mortality, the interplay between life and death, personal suffering, and dreamlike surrealism. Measuring 74 by 98 cm and executed in oil on canvas, the work depicts Kahlo asleep in a bed floating amid clouds, her body partially entwined in thorny vines that evoke both growth and entrapment. Above her, on the bed's canopy, lies a life-sized papier-mâché skeleton (a "Judas" figure from Mexican folk tradition, which Kahlo kept in her real bedroom as a memento mori), rigged with dynamite and a lit fuse—symbolizing imminent danger and the fragility of existence. This juxtaposition of serene repose below and explosive peril above reflects Kahlo's lifelong preoccupation with death, informed by her chronic pain from a 1925 bus accident, multiple surgeries, miscarriages, and emotional turmoil.
In the context of Kahlo's career, El sueño (La cama) marks a significant moment during a period of intense personal upheaval and artistic evolution. Created shortly after her 1939 divorce from Diego Rivera (whom she remarried later in 1940) and amid her affair with Leon Trotsky, who was assassinated that year, the painting channels her psychological and physical anguish into a deeply introspective narrative. It exemplifies her shift toward more symbolic, introspective works in the late 1930s and early 1940s, blending autobiographical elements with Mexican cultural motifs and surrealist influences—though Kahlo famously rejected the Surrealist label, insisting her art depicted her reality. This piece stands out as one of her most intimate explorations of vulnerability, where the bed (a recurring motif representing confinement due to her health issues) becomes a stage for confronting mortality while asserting life's persistence through natural imagery like vines.
The painting's importance is underscored by its extensive exhibition history, including major retrospectives at Tate Modern (2005), the Walker Art Center (2007-08), and the Guggenheim Museum (1999), as well as its inclusion in seminal publications like Hayden Herrera's Frida Kahlo: The Paintings (1991) and Luis-Martín Lozano's The Complete Paintings of Frida Kahlo (2021), where it has even graced book covers. It has been analyzed as a testament to Kahlo's resilience, transforming personal trauma into universal symbols of human fragility. Provenance traces back to Galería Misrachi in Mexico City, with ownership passing through private collections before its last auction at Sotheby's in 1980; its reappearance at Sotheby's Exquisite Corpus Evening Auction on November 20, 2025 (lot 13, estimated at $40-60 million), highlights its rarity and market value, potentially shattering her auction record and affirming her status as a 20th-century icon.
Pre sale Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Sep 19
More than 80 Surrealist treasures from a Private Collection are coming to The New York Sales in November—including Frida Kahlo’s intimate self-portrait that is poised to set a new auction record. https://bit.ly/4mo8kGU
Asking Grok its significance in the career of the artist.
Grok thought :
Frida Kahlo's El sueño (La cama) (The Dream [The Bed]), painted in 1940, is a poignant self-portrait that encapsulates key themes in her oeuvre, including mortality, the interplay between life and death, personal suffering, and dreamlike surrealism. Measuring 74 by 98 cm and executed in oil on canvas, the work depicts Kahlo asleep in a bed floating amid clouds, her body partially entwined in thorny vines that evoke both growth and entrapment. Above her, on the bed's canopy, lies a life-sized papier-mâché skeleton (a "Judas" figure from Mexican folk tradition, which Kahlo kept in her real bedroom as a memento mori), rigged with dynamite and a lit fuse—symbolizing imminent danger and the fragility of existence. This juxtaposition of serene repose below and explosive peril above reflects Kahlo's lifelong preoccupation with death, informed by her chronic pain from a 1925 bus accident, multiple surgeries, miscarriages, and emotional turmoil.
In the context of Kahlo's career, El sueño (La cama) marks a significant moment during a period of intense personal upheaval and artistic evolution. Created shortly after her 1939 divorce from Diego Rivera (whom she remarried later in 1940) and amid her affair with Leon Trotsky, who was assassinated that year, the painting channels her psychological and physical anguish into a deeply introspective narrative. It exemplifies her shift toward more symbolic, introspective works in the late 1930s and early 1940s, blending autobiographical elements with Mexican cultural motifs and surrealist influences—though Kahlo famously rejected the Surrealist label, insisting her art depicted her reality. This piece stands out as one of her most intimate explorations of vulnerability, where the bed (a recurring motif representing confinement due to her health issues) becomes a stage for confronting mortality while asserting life's persistence through natural imagery like vines.
The painting's importance is underscored by its extensive exhibition history, including major retrospectives at Tate Modern (2005), the Walker Art Center (2007-08), and the Guggenheim Museum (1999), as well as its inclusion in seminal publications like Hayden Herrera's Frida Kahlo: The Paintings (1991) and Luis-Martín Lozano's The Complete Paintings of Frida Kahlo (2021), where it has even graced book covers. It has been analyzed as a testament to Kahlo's resilience, transforming personal trauma into universal symbols of human fragility. Provenance traces back to Galería Misrachi in Mexico City, with ownership passing through private collections before its last auction at Sotheby's in 1980; its reappearance at Sotheby's Exquisite Corpus Evening Auction on November 20, 2025 (lot 13, estimated at $40-60 million), highlights its rarity and market value, potentially shattering her auction record and affirming her status as a 20th-century icon.
Pre sale Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Sep 19
More than 80 Surrealist treasures from a Private Collection are coming to The New York Sales in November—including Frida Kahlo’s intimate self-portrait that is poised to set a new auction record. https://bit.ly/4mo8kGU
- Sotheby's post highlights the upcoming "Exquisite Corpus" auction in New York on November 20-21, 2025, showcasing over 80 Surrealist works from a private collection, emphasizing psychological depth in 20th-century art.
- The centerpiece is Frida Kahlo's 1940 oil "El sueño (La cama)", a dreamlike self-portrait of the artist asleep on a bed atop a barren landscape, carrying a $40-60 million estimate that could shatter her prior $34.9 million record and top the $44.4 million benchmark for any female artist.
- Amid rising demand for women-led Surrealism, the sale includes pieces by Miró, Picasso, and Kandinsky, providing collectors access to rare modernist narratives on identity and the subconscious.
'El sueño (La cama)' by Frida Kahlo soars to $54.7 million, becoming the most valuable work by a woman artist ever sold at auction.
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) November 21, 2025
Painted in 1940 during a pivotal decade in her career, marked by her turbulent relationship with Diego Rivera. pic.twitter.com/t6Sni7fIKT
1940 Constellations by Miro
2017 SOLD for £ 24.5M by Sotheby's
Joan Miro did not want to engage in politics but the tragic events forced his hand. His participation in the pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the 1937 Paris Exhibition did not go unnoticed. He feared retaliation and moved to Varengeville-sur-Mer in 1939.
Varengeville is one of the prettiest villages on the Normandy coast. Braque has his workshop and spends summers there. Calder is a frequent visitor. In this small land's end Miro calms his anxieties by contemplating the immensity of the night sky.
The personalization of the groupings of stars is one of the oldest poetic themes of our civilizations. Miro is not an astrologer but he is a poet. With the exceptional freedom of his imagination he superimposes on the sky the images of his fantasy.
In January 1940 Miro begins a series of artworks on the theme of the Constellations. They will all be on paper in the same size, 38 x 46 cm. The background is prepared by splashes of gouache and oil paint, more or less dark. The crescent moon and a few stars are the spectacular elements in bright colors accompanied by floating symbolic or abstract forms. The constellation, woman or bird, is a figure in thin lines surrounded by scrolls, scarcely more visible than a watermark.
The artist conceived from the outset this series as a coherent whole. The use of a a small and light format was premonitory. When he fled France to return to Spain in May 1940 he could take in his luggage the entire set : ten finished works and the pieces of paper that he will be use for the thirteen subsequent works.
The series of Constellations was completed in September 1941. Miro kept the secret until an exhibition in New York in 1945. Pollock was convinced by a possible non-figurative artistic transposition of an observable reality. With the Constellations of Miro modern art has just crossed the Atlantic.
The eighth opus of Miro's Constellations is dated 13 April 1940. Its unusually simple title, Femme et Oiseaux, prefigures the favorite themes of the artist for the rest of his career. In this sky that calls for peace, Joan Miro is not calmed : the woman howls. It was sold for £ 24.5M by Sotheby's on June 21, 2017, lot 45. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Jun 21, 2017
#AuctionUpdate Mesmerising painting from #Miró’s legendary Constellation series, Femme et oiseaux sells for £24.57m / $30.98m
Varengeville is one of the prettiest villages on the Normandy coast. Braque has his workshop and spends summers there. Calder is a frequent visitor. In this small land's end Miro calms his anxieties by contemplating the immensity of the night sky.
The personalization of the groupings of stars is one of the oldest poetic themes of our civilizations. Miro is not an astrologer but he is a poet. With the exceptional freedom of his imagination he superimposes on the sky the images of his fantasy.
In January 1940 Miro begins a series of artworks on the theme of the Constellations. They will all be on paper in the same size, 38 x 46 cm. The background is prepared by splashes of gouache and oil paint, more or less dark. The crescent moon and a few stars are the spectacular elements in bright colors accompanied by floating symbolic or abstract forms. The constellation, woman or bird, is a figure in thin lines surrounded by scrolls, scarcely more visible than a watermark.
The artist conceived from the outset this series as a coherent whole. The use of a a small and light format was premonitory. When he fled France to return to Spain in May 1940 he could take in his luggage the entire set : ten finished works and the pieces of paper that he will be use for the thirteen subsequent works.
The series of Constellations was completed in September 1941. Miro kept the secret until an exhibition in New York in 1945. Pollock was convinced by a possible non-figurative artistic transposition of an observable reality. With the Constellations of Miro modern art has just crossed the Atlantic.
The eighth opus of Miro's Constellations is dated 13 April 1940. Its unusually simple title, Femme et Oiseaux, prefigures the favorite themes of the artist for the rest of his career. In this sky that calls for peace, Joan Miro is not calmed : the woman howls. It was sold for £ 24.5M by Sotheby's on June 21, 2017, lot 45. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Jun 21, 2017
#AuctionUpdate Mesmerising painting from #Miró’s legendary Constellation series, Femme et oiseaux sells for £24.57m / $30.98m
- This 2017 Sotheby's post announces the £24.57 million sale of Joan Miró's "Femme et oiseaux," an abstract gouache from his iconic Constellations series, capturing ethereal figures and birds amid wartime exile in Normandy.
- Created in 1941 as the eighth of 23 intimate works on paper, the series reflects Miró's Surrealist symbolism of hope and renewal during World War II, with each piece measuring roughly 38x46 cm for portability and intimacy.
- The auction price, surpassing $30 million, marked a high for Miró's Constellations at the time, driven by its pristine provenance from the artist's estate and global collector interest in modernist masterpieces.
1940 PICASSO
1
Le Viol
2012 SOLD for $ 13.5M by Sotheby's
The soft beauty of Marie-Thérèse is not sufficient for calming the hot pulses of Pablo. He turns into a Minotaur for loving Dora. Unfortunately at the same time the Spanish Civil War unfolds its horrors. Picasso is possibly not far from going insane.
Four years later the whole of Europe is on fire. On May 2, 1940, Picasso draws Le Viol (the rape). Eight days later the occupation of France by the Nazis is beginning.
Le Viol is an ink drawing 38 x 46 cm in pen, brush and wash. The couple is naked. The man is worse than the Minotaur as he displays the real head of a bearded human brute. The woman tries in vain to resist.
This artwork is ambiguous. Under the threat of war it cannot only be the exacerbated carnal expression of an artist who will soon enter his sixties. It is a scream of hatred against the horrors of war. The thin and tiny signature demonstrates how deeply Picasso knows that he cannot change the course of events.
The art of Picasso is here similar as that of a Spanish genius from another difficult time : Goya. The bestiality of the raping man is the same as that of Saturn devouring one of his children.
This explicit drawing of a brutal sexual act was sold for by Sotheby's for $ 13.5M on November 5, 2012 and for $ 8.7M on November 14, 2017, lot 38.
Four years later the whole of Europe is on fire. On May 2, 1940, Picasso draws Le Viol (the rape). Eight days later the occupation of France by the Nazis is beginning.
Le Viol is an ink drawing 38 x 46 cm in pen, brush and wash. The couple is naked. The man is worse than the Minotaur as he displays the real head of a bearded human brute. The woman tries in vain to resist.
This artwork is ambiguous. Under the threat of war it cannot only be the exacerbated carnal expression of an artist who will soon enter his sixties. It is a scream of hatred against the horrors of war. The thin and tiny signature demonstrates how deeply Picasso knows that he cannot change the course of events.
The art of Picasso is here similar as that of a Spanish genius from another difficult time : Goya. The bestiality of the raping man is the same as that of Saturn devouring one of his children.
This explicit drawing of a brutal sexual act was sold for by Sotheby's for $ 13.5M on November 5, 2012 and for $ 8.7M on November 14, 2017, lot 38.
2
January 11, Buste de Femme
2001 SOLD for $ 4M by Christie's
Buste de Femme, gouache on paper 46 x 38 cm executed by Picasso in Royan on January 11, 1940, comes into his endless series of portraits of Dora in a wide extent of styles. This one has fully distorted face lines over a weird pattern of parallel lines that replace the skin. It was sold for $ 4M by Christie's on May 9, 2001, lot 31.
Buste de Femme, oil on canvas 74 x 60 cm cm painted by Picasso in Paris on April 14, 1940, is one of eighteen oil portraits of Dora executed in the first eight months of that year. The face is split in two halves inspired by Cubism. The frontal right side displays a vulnerable woman with a tear filled eye and a sensual mouth. The other side is a destroyed profile in the wartime ambiance with a dilated eye and the snout of his Afghan hound Kasbec.
This painting was sold for $ 3.3M by Christie's on May 12, 1998, lot 26.
Buste de Femme, oil on canvas 74 x 60 cm cm painted by Picasso in Paris on April 14, 1940, is one of eighteen oil portraits of Dora executed in the first eight months of that year. The face is split in two halves inspired by Cubism. The frontal right side displays a vulnerable woman with a tear filled eye and a sensual mouth. The other side is a destroyed profile in the wartime ambiance with a dilated eye and the snout of his Afghan hound Kasbec.
This painting was sold for $ 3.3M by Christie's on May 12, 1998, lot 26.
1940-1941 Garden in Sochi by Gorky
2021 SOLD for £ 8.6M by Sotheby's
The Armenian born Arshile Gorky arrived in New York in 1925. His early paintings are influenced by Miro and Cézanne.
A series of eight paintings and three gouaches painted in the early 1940s with the generic title Garden in Sochi express a wonderful childhood' time in his father's garden. Sochi is the Armenian word for the poplar and a resort on the Black Sea, without relationship with the artist's life but the artist is a prose-poet in the following of Miro, and Gorky was a self coined name.
An oil on canvas 64 x 74 cm painted ca 1940-1941 opens the series with highly stylized human, vegetal and animal forms including a woman, a flower, a leaf, a bird and a cat in vivid colors over a bright yellow background that reminds Miro. This example was sold for £ 8.6M from a lower estimate of £ 2.2M by Sotheby's on March 25, 2021, lot 104. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A series of eight paintings and three gouaches painted in the early 1940s with the generic title Garden in Sochi express a wonderful childhood' time in his father's garden. Sochi is the Armenian word for the poplar and a resort on the Black Sea, without relationship with the artist's life but the artist is a prose-poet in the following of Miro, and Gorky was a self coined name.
An oil on canvas 64 x 74 cm painted ca 1940-1941 opens the series with highly stylized human, vegetal and animal forms including a woman, a flower, a leaf, a bird and a cat in vivid colors over a bright yellow background that reminds Miro. This example was sold for £ 8.6M from a lower estimate of £ 2.2M by Sotheby's on March 25, 2021, lot 104. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1940 The Little Cowboy by Fechin
2010 SOLD for £ 7M by Macdougall's
The Little Cowboy, oil on canvas 76 x 51 cm painted in 1940 by Fechin while in the USA, was sold for £ 7M from a lower estimate of £ 500K by Macdougall's on December 1, 2010, lot 313.
In this spontaneous portrait in impressionist touch, a young riding boy in the clothes, scarf and hat of a cowboy from Arizona or New Mexico is holding a rifle in a serious but gentle concentration to some distant point. The horse is not visible and may hav been a toy.
Response by Grok 4 about Fechin's artistic influences :
Nikolai Fechin (1881–1955), a Russian-American artist renowned for his portraits, landscapes, and depictions of indigenous peoples, drew from a rich array of influences that blended traditional Russian academic training with European modernism and Impressionist techniques.
Styles and Movements
Fechin's style evolved from strict academic realism toward a more expressive and modern approach. He was significantly influenced by Russian Impressionism, combining classical discipline with dynamic, loose brushwork and vibrant color. The Peredvizhniki (Wanderers) movement, which integrated elements of Impressionism, Expressionism, and Realism, left a lasting impact, as did broader early 20th-century Russian art themes encountered during his academy years. Modern Art and European Impressionism further shaped his technique, leading to bold use of impasto, palette knives, and even fingers for applying paint—described by his friend Leon Gaspard as making his canvas "as rough as a heavy sea." Fechin's work also incorporated elements of modernism, creating an "exuberant style of Impressionism" that excited viewers, as noted by art specialist Eric Widing.
Key Artists and Inspirations
Fechinis often compared to or grouped with artists like John Singer Sargent, Joaquín Sorolla, and Anders Zorn for his painterly style and masterful portraiture. His friend and fellow artist Leon Gaspard influenced his appreciation for cultural authenticity, particularly in depicting indigenous subjects. After emigrating to the United States in 1923, Fechin's time in Taos, New Mexico, and connections to the local art community—including links to California Impressionism through subjects like painter William Ritschel—further enriched his work with American Southwest inspirations, focusing on the "soulfulness" of Native American and Mexican rural life. Overall, Fechin's art represented a syncretism of traditions, as he himself emphasized technique's role in freeing the artist: "The more consummate the technique, the easier the artist will find it to free himself from all dependence on a subject."
In this spontaneous portrait in impressionist touch, a young riding boy in the clothes, scarf and hat of a cowboy from Arizona or New Mexico is holding a rifle in a serious but gentle concentration to some distant point. The horse is not visible and may hav been a toy.
Response by Grok 4 about Fechin's artistic influences :
Nikolai Fechin (1881–1955), a Russian-American artist renowned for his portraits, landscapes, and depictions of indigenous peoples, drew from a rich array of influences that blended traditional Russian academic training with European modernism and Impressionist techniques.
Styles and Movements
Fechin's style evolved from strict academic realism toward a more expressive and modern approach. He was significantly influenced by Russian Impressionism, combining classical discipline with dynamic, loose brushwork and vibrant color. The Peredvizhniki (Wanderers) movement, which integrated elements of Impressionism, Expressionism, and Realism, left a lasting impact, as did broader early 20th-century Russian art themes encountered during his academy years. Modern Art and European Impressionism further shaped his technique, leading to bold use of impasto, palette knives, and even fingers for applying paint—described by his friend Leon Gaspard as making his canvas "as rough as a heavy sea." Fechin's work also incorporated elements of modernism, creating an "exuberant style of Impressionism" that excited viewers, as noted by art specialist Eric Widing.
Key Artists and Inspirations
Fechinis often compared to or grouped with artists like John Singer Sargent, Joaquín Sorolla, and Anders Zorn for his painterly style and masterful portraiture. His friend and fellow artist Leon Gaspard influenced his appreciation for cultural authenticity, particularly in depicting indigenous subjects. After emigrating to the United States in 1923, Fechin's time in Taos, New Mexico, and connections to the local art community—including links to California Impressionism through subjects like painter William Ritschel—further enriched his work with American Southwest inspirations, focusing on the "soulfulness" of Native American and Mexican rural life. Overall, Fechin's art represented a syncretism of traditions, as he himself emphasized technique's role in freeing the artist: "The more consummate the technique, the easier the artist will find it to free himself from all dependence on a subject."
1940 Blacksmith's Boy by Rockwell
2018 SOLD for $ 8.1M by Sotheby's
New Rochelle, a northern suburb of New York, is developing an intense cultural activity. A film production company is created there as early as 1909. Several illustrators and poster designers have their workshops in the town. Leyendecker, who was then the most prolific supplier of cover art for the Saturday Evening Post, set up his workshop there in 1914.
Norman Rockwell joins this informal brotherhood in 1915. Aged 21, he is already the artistic editor of the magazine of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1916 the Post publishes for the first time one of his pictures on the cover, in a duotone impression. The theme, Boy with Baby Carriage, is family oriented.
The topic of the innocent occupations which respect the family values is suitable for the readers. Now often published by the Post, Rockwell also works for several other magazines. He was capturing America not at it was but as it ought to be.
Norman Rockwell left New Rochelle NY in 1939 and set up his studio in Arlington, Vermont. He enjoys watching and photographing the faces of boys and the picturesque ruddy features of old men.
His job for the Saturday Evening Post remains just as regular. Around that time the magazine covers are modernized, gradually giving up their traditional white background. The characters are best staged in such a colorful surrounding and Rockwell more regularly offers groups on the cover including his Willie Gillis war series in 1941.
The covers made by Rockwell are of course the most visible elements of his art but he also works to illustrate the inside pages.
The image of Blacksmith's Boy - Heel and Toe is published on a double page in the Saturday Evening Post of November 2, 1940. The short story narrates a contest in a forge between the local blacksmith and a young itinerant champion. The very excited villagers are betting on the result.
The artist can better express his verve than on a cover because the image is printed in double page without inscriptions. It shows the two champions in full effort encouraged by 21 often excessive characters, including within this crowd a self-portrait gently turned towards the spectator.
Under both anvils the accumulation of horseshoes indicates a tie in the competition. The story exalts this moment when the endurance of the old craftsman allows him to catch up and surpass his rival.
The oil on canvas 89 x 178 cm is very large for this artist. It is part of an important group of artworks offered in de-accessioning by the Berkshire Museum. Originally scheduled by Sotheby's for November 13, 2017, the sale had been suspended. A compromise was found. The masterpiece of this operation, Shuffleton's Barbershop also by Rockwell, was purchased privately for the museum being built by George Lucas in Los Angeles.
Blacksmith's Boy was sold for $ 8.1M by Sotheby's on May 23, 2018, lot 43. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Norman Rockwell joins this informal brotherhood in 1915. Aged 21, he is already the artistic editor of the magazine of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1916 the Post publishes for the first time one of his pictures on the cover, in a duotone impression. The theme, Boy with Baby Carriage, is family oriented.
The topic of the innocent occupations which respect the family values is suitable for the readers. Now often published by the Post, Rockwell also works for several other magazines. He was capturing America not at it was but as it ought to be.
Norman Rockwell left New Rochelle NY in 1939 and set up his studio in Arlington, Vermont. He enjoys watching and photographing the faces of boys and the picturesque ruddy features of old men.
His job for the Saturday Evening Post remains just as regular. Around that time the magazine covers are modernized, gradually giving up their traditional white background. The characters are best staged in such a colorful surrounding and Rockwell more regularly offers groups on the cover including his Willie Gillis war series in 1941.
The covers made by Rockwell are of course the most visible elements of his art but he also works to illustrate the inside pages.
The image of Blacksmith's Boy - Heel and Toe is published on a double page in the Saturday Evening Post of November 2, 1940. The short story narrates a contest in a forge between the local blacksmith and a young itinerant champion. The very excited villagers are betting on the result.
The artist can better express his verve than on a cover because the image is printed in double page without inscriptions. It shows the two champions in full effort encouraged by 21 often excessive characters, including within this crowd a self-portrait gently turned towards the spectator.
Under both anvils the accumulation of horseshoes indicates a tie in the competition. The story exalts this moment when the endurance of the old craftsman allows him to catch up and surpass his rival.
The oil on canvas 89 x 178 cm is very large for this artist. It is part of an important group of artworks offered in de-accessioning by the Berkshire Museum. Originally scheduled by Sotheby's for November 13, 2017, the sale had been suspended. A compromise was found. The masterpiece of this operation, Shuffleton's Barbershop also by Rockwell, was purchased privately for the museum being built by George Lucas in Los Angeles.
Blacksmith's Boy was sold for $ 8.1M by Sotheby's on May 23, 2018, lot 43. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
PICABIA
1
1940-1941 Deux Amies
2025 SOLD for £ 3.3M by Sotheby's
Francis Picabia turned 60 years old in 1939. His style from the mid 1930s was made of flat colors and simplified forms with strong outlines, not far from Lempicka and from the ligne claire in Hergé's comics.
The aging artist is taking an interest in erotic magazines. From two separate photos certainly of the same woman in a 1937 magazine, he imagines joining them in an ambiguous Lesbian embrace. They are bare breasted in a light underwear, exposing also the skin below the buttocks.
Deux amies, oil on board 76 x 106 cm painted in Paris ca 1940-1941, was sold for £ 3.3M by Sotheby's on September 17, 2025, lot 17. The theme and the title remind Lautrec. In his colored interpretation of the black and white photos, he provides the characters with tunics of contrasting bright hues.
The aging artist is taking an interest in erotic magazines. From two separate photos certainly of the same woman in a 1937 magazine, he imagines joining them in an ambiguous Lesbian embrace. They are bare breasted in a light underwear, exposing also the skin below the buttocks.
Deux amies, oil on board 76 x 106 cm painted in Paris ca 1940-1941, was sold for £ 3.3M by Sotheby's on September 17, 2025, lot 17. The theme and the title remind Lautrec. In his colored interpretation of the black and white photos, he provides the characters with tunics of contrasting bright hues.
2
1940-1942 Nu de Dos
2022 SOLD for € 3.3M by Sotheby's
Nu de Dos, oil on cardboard 108 x 78 cm painted by Picabia ca 1940-1942, was sold for € 3.3M by Sotheby's on March 16, 2022, lot 8.
The woman is seated on the floor and lit from behind, leaving in the shadow the turned face and the right arm.
The woman is seated on the floor and lit from behind, leaving in the shadow the turned face and the right arm.
1940 General Motors Futurliner
2006 SOLD for $ 4.3M by Barrett-Jackson
The Parade of Progress is an idea of the engineer and inventor Charles F. 'Boss Ket' Kettering, head of research at General Motors since 1920. He had conceived this great tour dedicated to technical progress when he visited the 1933 World Exposition in Chicago.
The first parade starts in 1936. The exhibitions are installed for two to four days in small towns in North America. They look like a circus. The lectures are made in a large tent with more than 1200 seats. The parade buses display the equipment.
The idea of Boss Ket was educational and generous. The themes were not limited to automobiles, but this great marketing operation enabled General Motors to meet in three years 12.5 million visitors in 251 towns in USA, Canada, Mexico and Cuba.
The Parade of Progress was a great success, which enabled GM to organize their sales network throughout North America. In 1940, the original eight buses are replaced by twelve huge vehicles 3.5 m high and 10 m long manufactured by GMC Trucks and bodyworked by Fisher : the Futurliners.
The war interrupted the operation, and the Futurliners waited until 1953 to go on parade. Communication techniques had changed in the meantime and the operation, now less efficient than the direct exhibition of cars in the GM Motoramas, was stopped in 1956.
The Futurliners were dispersed. GM offered two of them to the Michigan State Police, who used them for awareness of road safety under the name of Safetyliners.
A Futurliner was sold for $ 4.3M by Barrett-Jackson on January 21, 2006. This bus carefully restored in its original GM colors and inscriptions was sold at no reserve to benefit the Armed Forces Foundation by the same auction house on January 17, 2015, lot 2501. The total raised for this lot including additional charities was $ 4.6M. The hammer price was $ 4M with no fees applied.
The first parade starts in 1936. The exhibitions are installed for two to four days in small towns in North America. They look like a circus. The lectures are made in a large tent with more than 1200 seats. The parade buses display the equipment.
The idea of Boss Ket was educational and generous. The themes were not limited to automobiles, but this great marketing operation enabled General Motors to meet in three years 12.5 million visitors in 251 towns in USA, Canada, Mexico and Cuba.
The Parade of Progress was a great success, which enabled GM to organize their sales network throughout North America. In 1940, the original eight buses are replaced by twelve huge vehicles 3.5 m high and 10 m long manufactured by GMC Trucks and bodyworked by Fisher : the Futurliners.
The war interrupted the operation, and the Futurliners waited until 1953 to go on parade. Communication techniques had changed in the meantime and the operation, now less efficient than the direct exhibition of cars in the GM Motoramas, was stopped in 1956.
The Futurliners were dispersed. GM offered two of them to the Michigan State Police, who used them for awareness of road safety under the name of Safetyliners.
A Futurliner was sold for $ 4.3M by Barrett-Jackson on January 21, 2006. This bus carefully restored in its original GM colors and inscriptions was sold at no reserve to benefit the Armed Forces Foundation by the same auction house on January 17, 2015, lot 2501. The total raised for this lot including additional charities was $ 4.6M. The hammer price was $ 4M with no fees applied.
