1941
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Picasso Picasso 1940-1960 Mondrian Belgium II Movies Animals Cats and lions
See also : Picasso Picasso 1940-1960 Mondrian Belgium II Movies Animals Cats and lions
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.
Grok thought :
Quote
Clown @ClownsTrenches Apr 27
Dora Maar au Chat – Pablo Picasso Price: $95.2 million (2006, Sotheby’s Auction)
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.
Grok thought :
Quote
Clown @ClownsTrenches Apr 27
Dora Maar au Chat – Pablo Picasso Price: $95.2 million (2006, Sotheby’s Auction)
- This X post highlights Pablo Picasso's 1941 cubist portrait "Dora Maar au Chat," depicting his muse with a cat in distorted, vibrant forms, reflecting her emotional turmoil during World War II.
- The artwork fetched $95.2 million at Sotheby's in 2006, a record for modern art then, bought anonymously after decades in private collection.
2
March 12 Femme au Chapeau
2020 SOLD for $ 9.5M by Christie's
Femme au chapeau, painted by Picasso on March 12, 1941, features Dora in an extreme simplification of geometric lines. The face in the shape of a dog's head is reduced to two eyes on perpendicular axis, a straight line for the mouth and two parallel lines for the nose.
This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for $ 9.5M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 24.
This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for $ 9.5M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 24.
3
June 19
2020 SOLD for $ 29.6M by Christie's
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1939-1941 Transatlantic Painting by Mondrian
2025 SOLD for $ 23M by Christie's
Composition in Red and Blue was painted by Mondrian in 1939 and exhibited in that year on the Galerie Charpentier in Paris. It was improved by the artist in New York in 1941, which explains the name Transatlantic attributed to a series of works with a similar history.
This oil on canvas 43.5 x 33 cm was sold for $ 23M by Christie's on November 17, 2025, lot 14A.
Asking Grok to describe Mondrian's series of so-called Transatlantic paintings by focusing on that example.
Grok thought :
Piet Mondrian's Transatlantic paintings refer to a series of 17 abstract works that he began in Europe—primarily in Paris and London—between 1935 and 1940, before fleeing the escalating dangers of World War II. He brought these unfinished or previously exhibited canvases with him when he emigrated to New York in October 1940, where he revisited and revised them over the next few years until his death in 1944. These paintings are characterized by Mondrian's signature neoplastic style: asymmetrical grids of black lines intersecting at right angles, dividing the canvas into rectangles filled with primary colors (red, blue, yellow) alongside white, black, and gray. The revisions made in America often introduced greater dynamism and complexity, reflecting the influence of New York City's urban energy, jazz music, and bustling rhythm on his evolving aesthetic. This series is significant for illustrating Mondrian's adaptive process, blending his rigid European formalism with a looser, more vibrant American phase, and has been the subject of extensive technical analysis revealing layers of changes through X-rays and other methods.
A prime example from this series is Composition with Red and Blue (also titled Composition of Red, Blue and White in some references), which is lot 14A in Christie's upcoming auction of The Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis, scheduled for November 17, 2025, in New York, with an estimate of $20 million to $30 million. This oil on canvas measures 17 1/8 x 13 inches (43.5 x 33 cm) and is signed with Mondrian's initials "PM 39-41" in the lower center, indicating it was started in Paris in 1939 and completed in New York in 1941. The work features a compact, asymmetrical composition of intersecting black lines forming a grid that encloses planes of vivid red and blue against white space, embodying Mondrian's pursuit of universal harmony through abstraction. It exists in documented "states": the first state was exhibited in Paris at Galerie Charpentier in 1939 as part of Réalités nouvelles: L'art inobjectif depuis 1910, while the final state reflects revisions made after Mondrian's transatlantic journey, such as adjustments to lines and color balances for enhanced equilibrium and rhythm.
Critically, it is highlighted in Harry Cooper and Ron Spronk's 2001 study Mondrian: The Transatlantic Paintings as the first entry in the series (no. 1), with analysis of its layered revisions revealing Mondrian's meticulous process of overpainting and refinement to achieve a sense of "dynamic equilibrium." This piece exemplifies how the Transatlantic works bridge Mondrian's pre-war European restraint with the invigorated pulse of his New York period, making it a key artifact in understanding his late career evolution.
This oil on canvas 43.5 x 33 cm was sold for $ 23M by Christie's on November 17, 2025, lot 14A.
Asking Grok to describe Mondrian's series of so-called Transatlantic paintings by focusing on that example.
Grok thought :
Piet Mondrian's Transatlantic paintings refer to a series of 17 abstract works that he began in Europe—primarily in Paris and London—between 1935 and 1940, before fleeing the escalating dangers of World War II. He brought these unfinished or previously exhibited canvases with him when he emigrated to New York in October 1940, where he revisited and revised them over the next few years until his death in 1944. These paintings are characterized by Mondrian's signature neoplastic style: asymmetrical grids of black lines intersecting at right angles, dividing the canvas into rectangles filled with primary colors (red, blue, yellow) alongside white, black, and gray. The revisions made in America often introduced greater dynamism and complexity, reflecting the influence of New York City's urban energy, jazz music, and bustling rhythm on his evolving aesthetic. This series is significant for illustrating Mondrian's adaptive process, blending his rigid European formalism with a looser, more vibrant American phase, and has been the subject of extensive technical analysis revealing layers of changes through X-rays and other methods.
A prime example from this series is Composition with Red and Blue (also titled Composition of Red, Blue and White in some references), which is lot 14A in Christie's upcoming auction of The Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis, scheduled for November 17, 2025, in New York, with an estimate of $20 million to $30 million. This oil on canvas measures 17 1/8 x 13 inches (43.5 x 33 cm) and is signed with Mondrian's initials "PM 39-41" in the lower center, indicating it was started in Paris in 1939 and completed in New York in 1941. The work features a compact, asymmetrical composition of intersecting black lines forming a grid that encloses planes of vivid red and blue against white space, embodying Mondrian's pursuit of universal harmony through abstraction. It exists in documented "states": the first state was exhibited in Paris at Galerie Charpentier in 1939 as part of Réalités nouvelles: L'art inobjectif depuis 1910, while the final state reflects revisions made after Mondrian's transatlantic journey, such as adjustments to lines and color balances for enhanced equilibrium and rhythm.
Critically, it is highlighted in Harry Cooper and Ron Spronk's 2001 study Mondrian: The Transatlantic Paintings as the first entry in the series (no. 1), with analysis of its layered revisions revealing Mondrian's meticulous process of overpainting and refinement to achieve a sense of "dynamic equilibrium." This piece exemplifies how the Transatlantic works bridge Mondrian's pre-war European restraint with the invigorated pulse of his New York period, making it a key artifact in understanding his late career evolution.
Piet Mondrian’s ‘Composition with Red and Blue’ from the Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis achieves USD $23,060,000 in tonight’s 20th Century Evening Sale.
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) November 18, 2025
Follow along: https://t.co/wEDpSFNaaX pic.twitter.com/GsCnp4pl7h
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.
1941 Rosebud Slug from Citizen Kane
2025 SOLD for $ 14.8M by Heritage
Citizen Kane, produced by RKO and released in 1941, was the first feature film by Orson Welles. It is arguably considered as the greatest investigation film ever made.
The eponymous hero, played by Welles, is a press tycoon, in part inspired from the life of W.R. Hearst.
The opening sequence features Mr Kane in his deathbed. He clearly utters "Rosebud" in a close up of his lips, drops a snow globe from his hand and dies. The whole film narrates the investigation to understand the mysterious word.
It happens that Rosebud was the name and inscription of a snow sled happily used by the boy while an arrangement was negotiated by his parents for him to leave them for a better education. Rosebud, as well as the snow ball, is the symbol of the lost innocence.
The sled is visible twice in the film, when the boy played by child actor Buddy Swan, knocks with it to the ground his will-be guardian for defending his liberty, and when it is destructed in a bonfire after Kane's death.
Three examples are known. One of them, in balsa, was used for the incineration. It was acquired at auction in 1982 by Steven Spielberg.
Another one, in pine, had been won by a boy in an RKO contest and kept by him for half a century until it was sold for $ 234K by Christie's in 1996.
The third item, also in pine, has been picked in an RKO storage area in 1982 and presented to film director Joe Dante who hoarded it in a basement until it was sold for $ 14.8M by Heritage on July 16, 2025, lot 89108. The unrestored artifact bears signs of production wear. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The low resolution does not enable to identify which Rosebud had been screen used in the childhood sequence.
The eponymous hero, played by Welles, is a press tycoon, in part inspired from the life of W.R. Hearst.
The opening sequence features Mr Kane in his deathbed. He clearly utters "Rosebud" in a close up of his lips, drops a snow globe from his hand and dies. The whole film narrates the investigation to understand the mysterious word.
It happens that Rosebud was the name and inscription of a snow sled happily used by the boy while an arrangement was negotiated by his parents for him to leave them for a better education. Rosebud, as well as the snow ball, is the symbol of the lost innocence.
The sled is visible twice in the film, when the boy played by child actor Buddy Swan, knocks with it to the ground his will-be guardian for defending his liberty, and when it is destructed in a bonfire after Kane's death.
Three examples are known. One of them, in balsa, was used for the incineration. It was acquired at auction in 1982 by Steven Spielberg.
Another one, in pine, had been won by a boy in an RKO contest and kept by him for half a century until it was sold for $ 234K by Christie's in 1996.
The third item, also in pine, has been picked in an RKO storage area in 1982 and presented to film director Joe Dante who hoarded it in a basement until it was sold for $ 14.8M by Heritage on July 16, 2025, lot 89108. The unrestored artifact bears signs of production wear. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The low resolution does not enable to identify which Rosebud had been screen used in the childhood sequence.
1941 Les Mains by Delvaux
2011 SOLD for $ 6.6M 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.
