1941
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Picasso Picasso 1940-1960 Belgium II Animals Cats
See also : Picasso Picasso 1940-1960 Belgium II Animals Cats
1941 Femme dans un Fauteuil by PICASSO
Intro
Pablo Picasso once said that Dora Maar had personified the war. This is certainly an exaggeration following their breakup. It remains true that Pablo was reading the evolution of the horrors of war in the attitude and expression of the hypersensitive Dora.
From Guernica to the Nazi Occupation, Dora Maar is indeed a Cassandra for Picasso. He chose in 1940 to refuse the exile and stay working in his studio of the rue des Grands Augustins but he knew that he was threatened by the new authorities. He lives in lockdown with his muse, whom he adores physically but who once again becomes the symbol of resistance to horror, or even quite simply the symbol of horror.
Dora inevitably becomes his only model and his main theme. A drawing 27 x 22 cm sold for € 52K by Sotheby's on December 7, 2016 is typical of this morbid drift. Dora's face is a double blister where nose and mouth take divergent directions. The time when the cubist use of a double angle of view provided another vigor to the image is over.
Picasso marks his instability in an unusual way by changing the date of the drawing by an erasure, from May 7, 1941 to June 7, 1941. He no longer controls time. We will not know if Dora Maar au Chat, featuring the animal which symbolizes the dangers of the outside world, was painted before or after this anxious frenzy of June 1941.
From Guernica to the Nazi Occupation, Dora Maar is indeed a Cassandra for Picasso. He chose in 1940 to refuse the exile and stay working in his studio of the rue des Grands Augustins but he knew that he was threatened by the new authorities. He lives in lockdown with his muse, whom he adores physically but who once again becomes the symbol of resistance to horror, or even quite simply the symbol of horror.
Dora inevitably becomes his only model and his main theme. A drawing 27 x 22 cm sold for € 52K by Sotheby's on December 7, 2016 is typical of this morbid drift. Dora's face is a double blister where nose and mouth take divergent directions. The time when the cubist use of a double angle of view provided another vigor to the image is over.
Picasso marks his instability in an unusual way by changing the date of the drawing by an erasure, from May 7, 1941 to June 7, 1941. He no longer controls time. We will not know if Dora Maar au Chat, featuring the animal which symbolizes the dangers of the outside world, was painted before or after this anxious frenzy of June 1941.
1
Dora Maar au Chat
2006 SOLD for $ 95M by Sotheby's
Dora Maar au Chat is an oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted by Picasso in 1941. Among the many portraits that Picasso made of his mistress, it is one of the most meticulous, with vibrant colors.
Contrary to the artist's usual practice, it is dated by the year without indication of the day, thus appearing beside the rest of the work. Picasso gathered here his admiration and emotion in front of Dora. He emotionally departed from Dora in 1943 and from this specific painting before 1947.
Throughout Picasso's career, the excessively abundant work is dotted with some dazzling illuminations in which he expresses his deep feelings. Dora Maar au Chat is one of these masterpieces, alongside for example Le Garçon à la pipe, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, La Minotauromachie, La Femme qui pleure and Les Femmes d'Alger.
It is war time. The armchair is a space that might seem open but is in fact an obstacle to freedom, like the throne of Innocent X by Velazquez. Dora is willing to react, with her elegant clothes and her big hat as for going out. She smiles.
And then there is the cat. It is very small. Perched on the back of the chair, it walks towards the woman who does not care at all about it. Black in the least contrasted part of the image, it is sneaky. Pablo and Dora did not like cats, these pets that scratch for a simple change of mood. They preferred dogs. For these reasons this tiny cat cannot be a personification of the artist. It is at best an unsolicited visitor, at worst the danger of the outside world.
The amalgamation between human and animal interested Picasso. In the same phase, he paints portraits of Dora with the muzzle of their Afghan hound. Here Dora's very long nails are in some way the claws of the cat.
Dora Maar au Chat was sold for $ 95M by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006, lot 14.
Contrary to the artist's usual practice, it is dated by the year without indication of the day, thus appearing beside the rest of the work. Picasso gathered here his admiration and emotion in front of Dora. He emotionally departed from Dora in 1943 and from this specific painting before 1947.
Throughout Picasso's career, the excessively abundant work is dotted with some dazzling illuminations in which he expresses his deep feelings. Dora Maar au Chat is one of these masterpieces, alongside for example Le Garçon à la pipe, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, La Minotauromachie, La Femme qui pleure and Les Femmes d'Alger.
It is war time. The armchair is a space that might seem open but is in fact an obstacle to freedom, like the throne of Innocent X by Velazquez. Dora is willing to react, with her elegant clothes and her big hat as for going out. She smiles.
And then there is the cat. It is very small. Perched on the back of the chair, it walks towards the woman who does not care at all about it. Black in the least contrasted part of the image, it is sneaky. Pablo and Dora did not like cats, these pets that scratch for a simple change of mood. They preferred dogs. For these reasons this tiny cat cannot be a personification of the artist. It is at best an unsolicited visitor, at worst the danger of the outside world.
The amalgamation between human and animal interested Picasso. In the same phase, he paints portraits of Dora with the muzzle of their Afghan hound. Here Dora's very long nails are in some way the claws of the cat.
Dora Maar au Chat was sold for $ 95M by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006, lot 14.
2
June 13 Tête (Femme au Chapeau)
2019 SOLD for $ 9.2M CAD by Heffel
Dora Maar au Chat was not dated to the month and day by the artist. It is regrettable because the sequence of events of the German occupation and of the Vichy regime generates an increasing anxiety.
Picasso's dealer in Paris, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, is a Jew who had lost the French nationality by the decrees of July 1940. On June 13, 1941 the French government begins the deportation of the Jews. On July 1, as a precaution, Kahnweiler sells his gallery to the daughter of his wife, Louise Leiris.
On November 20, 2019, Heffel sold at lot 136 for $ 9.2M CAD from a lower estimate of $ 8M CAD a Tête later titled Femme au Chapeau. oil on canvas 61 x 38 cm dated in that bad June 13, 1941. The article shared by CTV News includes a video with the participation of David Heffel. It passed at Sotheby's on May 15, 2024, lot 29.
This portrait in double profile features Dora's strong face lines enhanced by areas of heavy impasto. Her expression, difficult to read within Picasso's multi-perspective style, seems stiff. At that time there was a growing contempt between them. The bleak white of the chair dominates the composition.
A more Cubist Femme au chapeau vert et à la broche, featuring Dora with a dog's nose, was painted on the same day.
Picasso's dealer in Paris, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, is a Jew who had lost the French nationality by the decrees of July 1940. On June 13, 1941 the French government begins the deportation of the Jews. On July 1, as a precaution, Kahnweiler sells his gallery to the daughter of his wife, Louise Leiris.
On November 20, 2019, Heffel sold at lot 136 for $ 9.2M CAD from a lower estimate of $ 8M CAD a Tête later titled Femme au Chapeau. oil on canvas 61 x 38 cm dated in that bad June 13, 1941. The article shared by CTV News includes a video with the participation of David Heffel. It passed at Sotheby's on May 15, 2024, lot 29.
This portrait in double profile features Dora's strong face lines enhanced by areas of heavy impasto. Her expression, difficult to read within Picasso's multi-perspective style, seems stiff. At that time there was a growing contempt between them. The bleak white of the chair dominates the composition.
A more Cubist Femme au chapeau vert et à la broche, featuring Dora with a dog's nose, was painted on the same day.
3
June 19
2020 SOLD for $ 29.6M by Christie's
The new configuration of Dora's face responds to the anxieties of Picasso, who has decidedly little respect for Dora. He begins a series of oils on canvas on which Dora's other usual attributes are maintained : the long black hair, the extravagant hat, the smile despite adversity.
He locks her up in an armchair which will symbolize freedom if one day she manages to escape and which anticipates the powerless Popes of Bacon. The nose, which takes its autonomy in this disaster, has been compared to a dog's muzzle or an elephant's trunk.
Another sign of the hard times is the ordinary style of the seat, making bringing the assumption that the comfortable armchair of the smiling Femme au chat had been painted before that dark phase of June 1941.
That series may be viewed as a counter-attack by Picasso against Matisse's Femme au chapeau of 1905, featuring Mme Matisse, which had been an excuse for an explosion of colors.
Femme dans un fauteuil, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted on June 19, 1941, was sold for $ 29.6M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 8.
He locks her up in an armchair which will symbolize freedom if one day she manages to escape and which anticipates the powerless Popes of Bacon. The nose, which takes its autonomy in this disaster, has been compared to a dog's muzzle or an elephant's trunk.
Another sign of the hard times is the ordinary style of the seat, making bringing the assumption that the comfortable armchair of the smiling Femme au chat had been painted before that dark phase of June 1941.
That series may be viewed as a counter-attack by Picasso against Matisse's Femme au chapeau of 1905, featuring Mme Matisse, which had been an excuse for an explosion of colors.
Femme dans un fauteuil, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted on June 19, 1941, was sold for $ 29.6M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 8.
4
June 19
2021 SOLD for $ 17.2M by Christie's
June 19, 1941, just over a year into the Nazi Occupation of Paris, was a prolific day for Pablo Picasso.
In addition to the Femme assise dans un fauteuil sold by Christie's for $ 19.6M, he also painted an oil on canvas of smaller size, 100 x 81 cm, featuring the same woman in the same armchair, seated in profile instead of full front. The smile disappeared and the hands are torn in the anxiety and restrictions of the Occupation.
This Femme dans un fauteuil was sold for $ 17.2M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 32 B.
In addition to the Femme assise dans un fauteuil sold by Christie's for $ 19.6M, he also painted an oil on canvas of smaller size, 100 x 81 cm, featuring the same woman in the same armchair, seated in profile instead of full front. The smile disappeared and the hands are torn in the anxiety and restrictions of the Occupation.
This Femme dans un fauteuil was sold for $ 17.2M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 32 B.
5
October 23
2012 SOLD for $ 29M by Sotheby's
Painted on October 23, 1941 in a stylized geometry of head and body with saturated colors, Femme assise dans un fauteuil is clearly the same woman as Dora au chat although she is not named. The hat is exuberant.
This oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm was sold for $ 29M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on May 2, 2012, lot 4.
A few hours before the sale, the specialized press announced that the painting had been damaged some years ago, and that the conflict between the parties was still open. Sotheby's confirmed the story, indicating that the repair was made with the utmost professionalism. That story was narrated by Bloomberg.
This oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm was sold for $ 29M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on May 2, 2012, lot 4.
A few hours before the sale, the specialized press announced that the painting had been damaged some years ago, and that the conflict between the parties was still open. Sotheby's confirmed the story, indicating that the repair was made with the utmost professionalism. That story was narrated by Bloomberg.
6
November 3
2021 SOLD for £ 9.4M by Sotheby's
In the fall of 1941 the series of the Femme assise dans un fauteuil loses the identification of the details of woman and seat, and the psychology disappears.
An example painted on November 3 was sold for £ 9.4M from a lower estimate of £ 6M by Sotheby's on March 25, 2021, lot 120.
An example painted on November 3 was sold for £ 9.4M from a lower estimate of £ 6M by Sotheby's on March 25, 2021, lot 120.
1941 The Stolen Mirror by Max Ernst
2011 SOLD for $ 16.3M by Christie's
World War II was a great shock to the inhabitants of planet Earth. The surrealist artists, accustomed to metaphors and symbols, went to express an anguished vision of the world.
The personal circumstances of Max Ernst had become difficult. German citizens living in France were suspects and prosecuted. Bucolic life with Leonora Carrington was no more possible. In July 1941, he emigrated to the United States with the help of Peggy Guggenheim.
Like all masterpieces of surrealism, an oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm is blurring the issue. It has a tragic title, The Stolen Mirror (possibly by reference to his separation from Leonora) and a significant subtitle, Product of France.
Dated 1941, probably painted in Santa Monica, this panoramic view of a seaside bordered by a road evokes the decadence of France at war, except that the monuments are inspired by Angkor Wat, this temple which anticipates what our cities will be after the end of the living world.
The technique of decalcomania is used by Ernst to provide a petrified texture to the living beings. Monumental pillars are transformed into naked women, or possibly it is the reverse. They shelter living but decomposed birds. A couple of lovers in the meadow is in a similar altogether sharp and rotting condition.
The Stolen mirror was sold by Christie's for $ 16.3M on November 1, 2011 and for £ 7.6M on February 2, 2016, lot 106.
The personal circumstances of Max Ernst had become difficult. German citizens living in France were suspects and prosecuted. Bucolic life with Leonora Carrington was no more possible. In July 1941, he emigrated to the United States with the help of Peggy Guggenheim.
Like all masterpieces of surrealism, an oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm is blurring the issue. It has a tragic title, The Stolen Mirror (possibly by reference to his separation from Leonora) and a significant subtitle, Product of France.
Dated 1941, probably painted in Santa Monica, this panoramic view of a seaside bordered by a road evokes the decadence of France at war, except that the monuments are inspired by Angkor Wat, this temple which anticipates what our cities will be after the end of the living world.
The technique of decalcomania is used by Ernst to provide a petrified texture to the living beings. Monumental pillars are transformed into naked women, or possibly it is the reverse. They shelter living but decomposed birds. A couple of lovers in the meadow is in a similar altogether sharp and rotting condition.
The Stolen mirror was sold by Christie's for $ 16.3M on November 1, 2011 and for £ 7.6M on February 2, 2016, lot 106.
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.
1941 Les Mains by Delvaux
2011 SOLD for $ 6.6 M$ by Christie's
Paul Delvaux is a figurative painter, but not narrative. His nude women do nothing but being looked, like geishas of theWest. They stay in antique architectures that seem familiar without being identified.
Les Mains, also known as Le Songe, oil on canvas 110 x 130 cm, departs from. the usual softly erotic works of Delvaux. It was painted in Brussels in 1941, in the stifling atmosphere of war.
Women are shown in three distances. Two are close. Two are intertwined in the background landscape. The other two, naked only above the waist, are each on the arm of a man with a bowler hat who seems to come straight from Magritte.
The two women in the foreground wish to communicate. Subtly, their anguish is only reflected by the twisting of the hands. A man, half-over on the left, could help but they do not look at him: it is one of very few paintings in which Delvaux has introduced his self-portrait.
Les Mains was sold for $ 6.6M by Christie's on November 1, 2011, lot 55.
Les Mains, also known as Le Songe, oil on canvas 110 x 130 cm, departs from. the usual softly erotic works of Delvaux. It was painted in Brussels in 1941, in the stifling atmosphere of war.
Women are shown in three distances. Two are close. Two are intertwined in the background landscape. The other two, naked only above the waist, are each on the arm of a man with a bowler hat who seems to come straight from Magritte.
The two women in the foreground wish to communicate. Subtly, their anguish is only reflected by the twisting of the hands. A man, half-over on the left, could help but they do not look at him: it is one of very few paintings in which Delvaux has introduced his self-portrait.
Les Mains was sold for $ 6.6M by Christie's on November 1, 2011, lot 55.
1941 L'Aimant by Magritte
2011 SOLD for £ 4.75M by Christie's
Under the title La Magie noire, René Magritte displays in 1934 his wife Georgette as a naked woman, like a Venus of Milo who would have retrieved her arms, in frontal view. The head and torso imitate the cerulean blue of the evening sky behind her, in contradiction with the lower body treated in the color of the flesh. A white dove is tenderly resting on a shoulder, beak near cheek.
This work had a lot of followings. Le Miroir universel begins its exhibition history in 1938 but is dated 1939 possibly after a rework. The image is revealed as a wall paper, half torn before an interior boiserie. This jagged shearing may refer to the estrangement of the artist with his wife at that time. The dove is absent.
This oil on canvas 116 x 89 cm was sold for $ 6.7M by Christie's on November 12, 2015, lot 22C.
Magritte and Georgette reconcile in 1940. A variant 73 x 54 cm painted in 1942 of La Magie noire reusing that title was sold for £ 4.6M by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 112. Le Beau navire, 93 x 70 cm painted ca 1946, was sold for £ 3.8M by Sotheby's on February 3, 2010, lot 30. The dove has not reappeared. The hand holds an ephemeral rose.
Another version of La Magie noire, oil on canvas 81 x 60 cm, was sold for £ 4.2M by Sotheby's on June 19, 2019, lot 17. This remake painted in 1946 for his brother Raymond includes the main elements of the previous versions : the two-colored woman with empty eyes, a hand on a rock serving as a guéridon. Peace has come back, same for the dove.
Variants in other staging of the full front nude standing woman with a hand on a rock include L'Aimant, oil on canvas 130 x 90 cm painted in 1941, sold for £ 4.75M from a lower estimate of £ 3.5M by Christie's on February 9, 2011, lot 104, with a heavy red curtain, and L'Ingénue, oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm painted in 1945, sold for € 5.5M by Sotheby's in October 26, 2021, lot 5, within a crowd of stupid zoomorphic bilboquets. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.
This work had a lot of followings. Le Miroir universel begins its exhibition history in 1938 but is dated 1939 possibly after a rework. The image is revealed as a wall paper, half torn before an interior boiserie. This jagged shearing may refer to the estrangement of the artist with his wife at that time. The dove is absent.
This oil on canvas 116 x 89 cm was sold for $ 6.7M by Christie's on November 12, 2015, lot 22C.
Magritte and Georgette reconcile in 1940. A variant 73 x 54 cm painted in 1942 of La Magie noire reusing that title was sold for £ 4.6M by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 112. Le Beau navire, 93 x 70 cm painted ca 1946, was sold for £ 3.8M by Sotheby's on February 3, 2010, lot 30. The dove has not reappeared. The hand holds an ephemeral rose.
Another version of La Magie noire, oil on canvas 81 x 60 cm, was sold for £ 4.2M by Sotheby's on June 19, 2019, lot 17. This remake painted in 1946 for his brother Raymond includes the main elements of the previous versions : the two-colored woman with empty eyes, a hand on a rock serving as a guéridon. Peace has come back, same for the dove.
Variants in other staging of the full front nude standing woman with a hand on a rock include L'Aimant, oil on canvas 130 x 90 cm painted in 1941, sold for £ 4.75M from a lower estimate of £ 3.5M by Christie's on February 9, 2011, lot 104, with a heavy red curtain, and L'Ingénue, oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm painted in 1945, sold for € 5.5M by Sotheby's in October 26, 2021, lot 5, within a crowd of stupid zoomorphic bilboquets. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.
