1980
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : UK II Early Freud Hockney Femme debout Man and woman Photo Photos 1970s 1980s
See also : UK II Early Freud Hockney Femme debout Man and woman Photo Photos 1970s 1980s
1980 Nichols Canyon by Hockney
2020 SOLD for $ 41M by Phillips
David Hockney could not do any more without Los Angeles. In 1978 he moves there permanently. The workshop is downside, in the plain of Santa Monica. The residence is up, in the Hollywood Hills. Everyday, morning and evening, his journey passes through Nichols Canyon. The environment is idyllic : swimming pools, palm trees, blue sky, bright colors.
The road is both winding and wide. It was built in 1925 to give the megalopolis a comfortable road escape to the north. David knows all its twists and turns. He drives with musical gestures. The melody he sings compensates for his increasing deafness.
David is not a professional musician. He is a pictorial artist. To express the pleasure of his journey, he paints in 1980 Nichols Canyon, acrylic on canvas 213 x 152 cm, with colors inspired by the vibrant exaggerations of the Fauvistes.
The musical meanders of the road cross all the space. It is a real road : its shortened name, Nichols Cyn Rd, is inscribed like on a road map. The STOP at the place where the road leaves the hills, in the foreground, marks the exit from that paradise. The red dot in the middle of the route symbolizes the artist's Mercedes-Benz.
Nichols Canyon was sold for $ 41M by Phillips on December 7, 2020, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
David had pleasure in communicating in this work his musical style of driving in the hills. Painted ten years later with the same inspiration in a more spectacular perspective, Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm, was sold for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
Grok thought :
Quote
PHILLIPS @phillipsauction Dec 8, 2020
David Hockney's monumental painting 'Nichols Canyon,' 1980 sells for $41,067,500 setting a new world auction record for a landscape by the artist #DavidHockney
The road is both winding and wide. It was built in 1925 to give the megalopolis a comfortable road escape to the north. David knows all its twists and turns. He drives with musical gestures. The melody he sings compensates for his increasing deafness.
David is not a professional musician. He is a pictorial artist. To express the pleasure of his journey, he paints in 1980 Nichols Canyon, acrylic on canvas 213 x 152 cm, with colors inspired by the vibrant exaggerations of the Fauvistes.
The musical meanders of the road cross all the space. It is a real road : its shortened name, Nichols Cyn Rd, is inscribed like on a road map. The STOP at the place where the road leaves the hills, in the foreground, marks the exit from that paradise. The red dot in the middle of the route symbolizes the artist's Mercedes-Benz.
Nichols Canyon was sold for $ 41M by Phillips on December 7, 2020, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
David had pleasure in communicating in this work his musical style of driving in the hills. Painted ten years later with the same inspiration in a more spectacular perspective, Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm, was sold for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
Grok thought :
Quote
PHILLIPS @phillipsauction Dec 8, 2020
David Hockney's monumental painting 'Nichols Canyon,' 1980 sells for $41,067,500 setting a new world auction record for a landscape by the artist #DavidHockney
- David Hockney's "Nichols Canyon" (1980) captures a winding Hollywood Hills road through vibrant, abstracted layers of color, blending real observation with memory to pioneer his 1980s panoramic landscapes.
- The Phillips auction sale for $41,067,500 in December 2020 surpassed the $35 million estimate, establishing a record for Hockney landscapes that remains unbroken as of 2025 amid rising demand for his works.
- The post underscores the 2020 art market surge during the pandemic, with a reply highlighting the painting's value exceeding one-tenth of Bob Dylan's $300 million song catalog sale that year.
1980-1981 Grande Femme Debout by Giacometti (posthumous)
2017 SOLD for € 25M by Christie's
Alberto Giacometti was enthusiastic about the project of decoration of the plaza in front of the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York which was entrusted to him in 1958 and which could be the culmination of the artistic approach of his whole life. He will install his monumental sculptures according to the design of his Places I and II of 1948 simulating by scattered characters the buzzing activity of the city.
His figures will not be new : the walking man, the standing woman and the big head. Refusing obstinately the solution of a mechanical enlargement, he works to establish new proportions that will allow his statues not to be miniaturized by the 60 floors of the bank nor to seem huge to the passers-by.
Alberto does not yet know New York. After many trials in plaster and bronze, he is discouraged by his own belief of the gigantism of the city and renounces the project in 1960. He does not however scrap everything. Four Grande Femme Debout, two Homme qui marche and one Tête de Diego are preserved.
The Homme qui marche I in life size is hardly higher than the Homme au doigt from 1947 but it is one of the best symbols of the vision of the humanity by Giacometti. The bronze 2/6 edited by Susse in 1961 was sold for £ 65M by Sotheby's on February 3, 2010.
The four women are of various heights. With her 2.75 m tall, the Grande Femme II is the giant who dominates the whole group. The number 1/6 cast by Susse in 1961 was sold for $ 27.5M by Christie's on May 6, 2008.
The Grande Femme Debout is the subject of a posthumous re-edition in 1980-1981 also by Susse in seven copies plus two artist's proofs for Annette Giacometti and plus one for the Fondation Maeght. One of the épreuves d'artiste was sold for € 25M by Christie's on October 19, 2017, lot 8.
Alberto had first visited New York City in October 1965. Suffering from cancer since 1963 he at last appreciated when it was too late how he could have integrated his ultimate work within Manhattan. He conceived an even taller sculpture and put Diego in charge of preparing the big frame but this project was stopped by his own death.
His figures will not be new : the walking man, the standing woman and the big head. Refusing obstinately the solution of a mechanical enlargement, he works to establish new proportions that will allow his statues not to be miniaturized by the 60 floors of the bank nor to seem huge to the passers-by.
Alberto does not yet know New York. After many trials in plaster and bronze, he is discouraged by his own belief of the gigantism of the city and renounces the project in 1960. He does not however scrap everything. Four Grande Femme Debout, two Homme qui marche and one Tête de Diego are preserved.
The Homme qui marche I in life size is hardly higher than the Homme au doigt from 1947 but it is one of the best symbols of the vision of the humanity by Giacometti. The bronze 2/6 edited by Susse in 1961 was sold for £ 65M by Sotheby's on February 3, 2010.
The four women are of various heights. With her 2.75 m tall, the Grande Femme II is the giant who dominates the whole group. The number 1/6 cast by Susse in 1961 was sold for $ 27.5M by Christie's on May 6, 2008.
The Grande Femme Debout is the subject of a posthumous re-edition in 1980-1981 also by Susse in seven copies plus two artist's proofs for Annette Giacometti and plus one for the Fondation Maeght. One of the épreuves d'artiste was sold for € 25M by Christie's on October 19, 2017, lot 8.
Alberto had first visited New York City in October 1965. Suffering from cancer since 1963 he at last appreciated when it was too late how he could have integrated his ultimate work within Manhattan. He conceived an even taller sculpture and put Diego in charge of preparing the big frame but this project was stopped by his own death.
1980 Day Dream by Wyeth
2022 SOLD for $ 23.3M by Christie's
Trained by his father the illustrator N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth had an early interest in the landscape and people of his very immediate vicinity in a village of Pennsylvania. This regionalist artist added another focal point in and around a family home in a village of Maine. His realistic pictures are characterized by the use of egg tempera.
His paintings look like a reality show. Over a span of 77 years he maintained the theme of the life of one neighboring family in Pennsylvania. He said : "I didn't think it a picturesque place. It just excited me, purely abstractly and purely emotionally."
His breakthrough picture, Christina's World, painted in 1948, features a day dreaming neighbor from Maine. She is semi-reclining in a white dress in an open field. The pathetic thing is that the 55 year old woman was in real life crippled from a genetic neuropathy and unable to walk.
Andrew's art is unconventional. Asked in 1977 to identify the most overrated and underrated artists, an art critic provided the same name for both categories : Andrew Wyeth.
In 1971 in Pennsylvania, the old timer of the neighboring family needed a nurse for his care. Helga, the 38 year old helper, became a new model for the artist who broke her intimacy up to 1985 in an estimated 45 paintings and more than 200 drawings.
Day Dream features the Pennsylvania caretaker in a bedroom of Wyeth's Maine home. The beautiful Helga in full nudity is deeply asleep on a bed which is wrapped in a transparent canopy that protects her vulnerability. This tempera on panel 48 x 69 cm painted in 1980 was sold for $ 23.3M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 33.
His paintings look like a reality show. Over a span of 77 years he maintained the theme of the life of one neighboring family in Pennsylvania. He said : "I didn't think it a picturesque place. It just excited me, purely abstractly and purely emotionally."
His breakthrough picture, Christina's World, painted in 1948, features a day dreaming neighbor from Maine. She is semi-reclining in a white dress in an open field. The pathetic thing is that the 55 year old woman was in real life crippled from a genetic neuropathy and unable to walk.
Andrew's art is unconventional. Asked in 1977 to identify the most overrated and underrated artists, an art critic provided the same name for both categories : Andrew Wyeth.
In 1971 in Pennsylvania, the old timer of the neighboring family needed a nurse for his care. Helga, the 38 year old helper, became a new model for the artist who broke her intimacy up to 1985 in an estimated 45 paintings and more than 200 drawings.
Day Dream features the Pennsylvania caretaker in a bedroom of Wyeth's Maine home. The beautiful Helga in full nudity is deeply asleep on a bed which is wrapped in a transparent canopy that protects her vulnerability. This tempera on panel 48 x 69 cm painted in 1980 was sold for $ 23.3M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 33.
1980 Tibetan Shepherds by Chen Danqing
2021 SOLD for RMB 160M by Poly
Chen Danqing graduated in 1980 with his Tibetan series at the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
This series is made of seven paintings executed in Lhassa between 1978 and 1980. Fully departing from the official propagandist art, it was featuring humanistic scenes of the harsh daily life of non-Han people. The artist had been influenced by an exhibition of French countryside artists of the 19th century including Courbet, Millet and Bastien-Lepage.
Displayed at the 1980 Exhibition of Graduates of the Academy, the series was immediately applauded as the triggering as a post Maoist art with a come back to the emotional. Chairman Mao had died in 1976. That exhibition also featured Father by Luo Zhongli.
The seventh and last opus, titled Shepherds, is the most emotional. A Tibetan man and a Tibetan woman are exchanging a loving kiss. They are standing in their heavy Tibetan coats against a parapet in the countryside near Lhassa.
This oil on panel 79 x 52 cm was sold by Poly for RMB 36M in 2007 and for RMB 160M on June 4, 2021, lot 3307.
This rendering of rustic civilizations anticipate the 1981 scene of Kirghiz wrestling by Huang Zhou, sold for RMB 130M by Poly on December 2, 2013, lot 1921, and the scenes in Tibet by Chen Yifei of which an example painted in 1994 was sold for RMB 81M by China Guardian on May 21, 2011.
Compare three regionalist paintings made in the post-Mao period :
The three paintings mentioned represent key examples of regionalist (or nativist/"native soil" 乡土) oil painting in China during the post-Mao era (after 1976), when artists began shifting away from rigid Socialist Realism and propaganda themes toward more humanistic, everyday depictions of rural and ethnic minority life. This period saw a revival of realism influenced by Western masters (e.g., Millet for Chen Danqing) but focused on China's ethnic minorities like Tibetans and Kirghiz, often portraying their dignity, vitality, and cultural authenticity without overt political messaging.
Here are the three paintings:
All three focus on ethnic minority groups in China's border regions (Tibetans for Chen Danqing and Chen Yifei; Kirghiz for Huang Zhou), emphasizing pastoral, nomadic, or communal life.
All emerged in the early post-Mao thaw (late 1970s–1990s), when artists could explore "scar art" and native soil themes, humanizing minorities rather than idealizing them for propaganda.
Auction prices reflect rising demand for post-Mao Chinese oil paintings and ethnic-themed realism:
This series is made of seven paintings executed in Lhassa between 1978 and 1980. Fully departing from the official propagandist art, it was featuring humanistic scenes of the harsh daily life of non-Han people. The artist had been influenced by an exhibition of French countryside artists of the 19th century including Courbet, Millet and Bastien-Lepage.
Displayed at the 1980 Exhibition of Graduates of the Academy, the series was immediately applauded as the triggering as a post Maoist art with a come back to the emotional. Chairman Mao had died in 1976. That exhibition also featured Father by Luo Zhongli.
The seventh and last opus, titled Shepherds, is the most emotional. A Tibetan man and a Tibetan woman are exchanging a loving kiss. They are standing in their heavy Tibetan coats against a parapet in the countryside near Lhassa.
This oil on panel 79 x 52 cm was sold by Poly for RMB 36M in 2007 and for RMB 160M on June 4, 2021, lot 3307.
This rendering of rustic civilizations anticipate the 1981 scene of Kirghiz wrestling by Huang Zhou, sold for RMB 130M by Poly on December 2, 2013, lot 1921, and the scenes in Tibet by Chen Yifei of which an example painted in 1994 was sold for RMB 81M by China Guardian on May 21, 2011.
Compare three regionalist paintings made in the post-Mao period :
- Tibetan Shepherds by Chen Danqing, last sold by Poly for RMB 160M on June 4, 2021, lot 3307
- Jubilant Grassland (Kirghiz wrestling) by Huang Zhou, sold for RMB 130M by Poly on December 2, 2013, lot 1921
- scene in Tibet by Chen Yifei, sold for RMB 81M by China Guardian on May 21, 2011.
The three paintings mentioned represent key examples of regionalist (or nativist/"native soil" 乡土) oil painting in China during the post-Mao era (after 1976), when artists began shifting away from rigid Socialist Realism and propaganda themes toward more humanistic, everyday depictions of rural and ethnic minority life. This period saw a revival of realism influenced by Western masters (e.g., Millet for Chen Danqing) but focused on China's ethnic minorities like Tibetans and Kirghiz, often portraying their dignity, vitality, and cultural authenticity without overt political messaging.
Here are the three paintings:
- Tibetan Shepherds (also called Shepherds or Tibetan Series - Shepherds) by Chen Danqing (1980, oil on board, approx. 78.6 × 52.3 cm). Last sold for RMB 161 million (approx. US$25.1 million) at Poly Beijing on June 4, 2021 (lot 3307; hammer RMB 140M + premium). This is part of Chen's iconic seven-painting Tibetan Series, created for his graduation from the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
- Jubilant Grassland (Kirghiz wrestling) by Huang Zhou (1981, ink and color on paper, large-scale composition). Sold for RMB 130 million at Poly Beijing on December 2, 2013 (lot 1921, in cooperation with the Huang Zhou Art Foundation). This is considered one of Huang's masterpieces, painted despite his partial paralysis.
- A scene in Tibet by Chen Yifei (likely Upland Wind or Mountain Wind from his "Tibet" series, painted around 1994). Sold for RMB 81.65 million at China Guardian on May 21, 2011. Chen Yifei's Tibet works are from his broader realistic series on Tibetan life.
All three focus on ethnic minority groups in China's border regions (Tibetans for Chen Danqing and Chen Yifei; Kirghiz for Huang Zhou), emphasizing pastoral, nomadic, or communal life.
- Chen Danqing's Tibetan Shepherds captures an intimate, humanistic moment: a young Tibetan couple in traditional heavy coats sharing a stolen kiss against a parapet in the Lhasa countryside, with grassland and subtle sheep in the background. It highlights personal emotion, romance, and everyday tenderness.
- Huang Zhou's Jubilant Grassland depicts dynamic communal activity: Kirghiz (a Central Asian nomadic group in Xinjiang) wrestling on horseback, involving women's teams, numerous riders, horses (around 80 depicted), sheepdogs, and vibrant energy at high altitude (around 3000m). It conveys joy, vitality, and collective festivity.
- Chen Yifei's Tibet scene (e.g., Upland Wind) typically portrays atmospheric, romanticized Tibetan landscapes and figures, often with a sense of grandeur, wind-swept plateaus, and dignified daily life or portraits, blending realism with a poetic, almost nostalgic quality.
- Chen Danqing employs pure realist oil painting with earthy tones, precise physiognomy (distinct Tibetan features, weathered skin, expressive eyes), and short, square brushwork influenced by French rural naturalism (e.g., Millet). The approach is direct, unidealized, and non-narrative, focusing on authentic human moments.
- Huang Zhou uses traditional Chinese ink and color on paper (gongbi-like precision with freehand vitality), creating a large, bustling composition full of movement, animals, and figures. His style bridges Chinese ink traditions with modern realism, showing energy and optimism.
- Chen Yifei applies romantic realism in oil, with lush colors, dramatic lighting, and a polished, almost cinematic quality that adds emotional depth and aesthetic beauty to Tibetan subjects.
All emerged in the early post-Mao thaw (late 1970s–1990s), when artists could explore "scar art" and native soil themes, humanizing minorities rather than idealizing them for propaganda.
- Chen Danqing's 1980 series was groundbreaking for its candid humanism and departure from theme-first art, causing controversy (e.g., the kiss was bold for the time).
- Huang Zhou, an established figure in depicting minorities since the 1950s, continued this in the 1980s with joyful, life-affirming scenes.
- Chen Yifei, trained in Socialist Realism, evolved toward romanticized ethnic portrayals in the 1990s, blending Western influences with Chinese sentiment.
Auction prices reflect rising demand for post-Mao Chinese oil paintings and ethnic-themed realism:
- Chen Danqing's Shepherds achieved the highest at RMB 161M (2021), setting a record for Chinese contemporary art at the time.
- Huang Zhou's work reached RMB 130M (2013), highlighting his enduring legacy.
- Chen Yifei's fetched RMB 81M (2011), a strong but lower figure among his Tibet series.
These sales underscore the commercial prestige of regionalist works depicting China's diverse ethnic identities.
Influence of Millet on Chinese Realism
Jean-François Millet (1814–1875), the French Barbizon School painter renowned for his dignified, unidealized depictions of peasant life, rural labor, and the nobility of everyday toil (as seen in iconic works like The Gleaners, The Sower, and The Angelus), exerted a profound influence on the development of Chinese realism, particularly in the post-Mao era (after 1976). This influence helped catalyze a shift from rigid Socialist Realism and propaganda art toward more humanistic, "native soil" (乡土) regionalist painting that emphasized authentic everyday life, emotional depth, and the intrinsic dignity of ordinary people—often ethnic minorities or rural figures—without overt ideological messaging.
Key Channel of Influence: The 1978 French Exhibition
A pivotal moment was the 1978 Exhibition of Nineteenth-Century French Rural Landscape Paintings at the National Art Museum of China (now the National Art Museum). This was one of the first major post-Cultural Revolution exposures to Western art in the PRC, featuring works by Millet alongside Corot, Courbet, Monet, and others. For Chinese artists emerging from decades of state-controlled Socialist Realism (heavily influenced by Soviet models), Millet's rejection of academic idealization, grand narratives, and Romanticism—in favor of honest, empathetic portrayals of ordinary rural subjects—was revolutionary. It encouraged a return to realism rooted in observation and human empathy rather than political exhortation.
Primary Influence on Chen Danqing and the Tibetan Series
The most direct and well-documented impact was on Chen Danqing (b. 1953), whose Tibetan Series (1978–1980, including Tibetan Shepherds) is widely regarded as a milestone in post-Mao Chinese art. Chen explicitly cited Millet as a key inspiration:
Broader Impact on Post-Mao Regionalist Realism
Millet's legacy extended beyond Chen to the revival of humanistic realism in the 1980s:
Compare Millet and Chen Danqing
Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) and Chen Danqing (b. 1953) represent two pivotal figures in the history of realist painting, separated by more than a century, different cultural contexts, and artistic purposes. Millet, a leading figure of the French Barbizon School and a founder of Realism, focused on the dignity of rural French peasants in the mid-19th century. Chen Danqing, one of China's most influential contemporary artists, drew directly from Millet to create his groundbreaking Tibetan Series (1978–1980), marking a shift in post-Mao Chinese art toward humanistic, "native soil" realism.
Similarities
Core Philosophy and Approach to Realism
Both artists rejected idealized or heroic portrayals in favor of honest, empathetic depictions of ordinary people in everyday life. Millet elevated peasants—gleaners, sowers, and shepherds—to subjects worthy of profound artistic attention, treating the commonplace with a sense of the sublime. Chen explicitly adopted this mindset, stating that Millet's "simplicity and richness" drew him in, especially after seeing Millet's works in the landmark 1978 Exhibition of Nineteenth-Century French Rural Landscape Paintings at the National Art Museum of China. Chen sought to "paint what we see" in real moments, capturing unposed, authentic glimpses of Tibetan herders and families rather than propagandistic ideals.
Dignity of Rural/Ethnic Laborers
Both emphasize fleeting, intimate human moments over grand narratives. Millet captured prayer, rest, or simple toil with emotional resonance; Chen portrayed tender interactions like a stolen kiss among shepherds or a mother with her child, conveying raw humanity and subtle tenderness in a post-Cultural Revolution context where such candor was rare.
Technical and Aesthetic Parallels
Jean-François Millet (1814–1875), the French Barbizon School painter renowned for his dignified, unidealized depictions of peasant life, rural labor, and the nobility of everyday toil (as seen in iconic works like The Gleaners, The Sower, and The Angelus), exerted a profound influence on the development of Chinese realism, particularly in the post-Mao era (after 1976). This influence helped catalyze a shift from rigid Socialist Realism and propaganda art toward more humanistic, "native soil" (乡土) regionalist painting that emphasized authentic everyday life, emotional depth, and the intrinsic dignity of ordinary people—often ethnic minorities or rural figures—without overt ideological messaging.
Key Channel of Influence: The 1978 French Exhibition
A pivotal moment was the 1978 Exhibition of Nineteenth-Century French Rural Landscape Paintings at the National Art Museum of China (now the National Art Museum). This was one of the first major post-Cultural Revolution exposures to Western art in the PRC, featuring works by Millet alongside Corot, Courbet, Monet, and others. For Chinese artists emerging from decades of state-controlled Socialist Realism (heavily influenced by Soviet models), Millet's rejection of academic idealization, grand narratives, and Romanticism—in favor of honest, empathetic portrayals of ordinary rural subjects—was revolutionary. It encouraged a return to realism rooted in observation and human empathy rather than political exhortation.
Primary Influence on Chen Danqing and the Tibetan Series
The most direct and well-documented impact was on Chen Danqing (b. 1953), whose Tibetan Series (1978–1980, including Tibetan Shepherds) is widely regarded as a milestone in post-Mao Chinese art. Chen explicitly cited Millet as a key inspiration:
- He aimed to "remind" viewers of Millet's approach, painting Tibetans (herders, mothers, pilgrims) in a non-narrative, "caught-in-the-moment" style that captured their weathered dignity, primitive vitality, and everyday humanity.
- Like Millet's peasants, Chen's figures are portrayed empathetically—solid, three-dimensional, with earthy tones and precise physiognomy—avoiding idealization or exoticization common in earlier minority depictions.
- This marked a departure from propaganda toward modern realism, influencing the broader Native Soil Painting (乡土绘画) movement by showing how Western realism could authentically represent China's diverse ethnic and rural realities.
Broader Impact on Post-Mao Regionalist Realism
Millet's legacy extended beyond Chen to the revival of humanistic realism in the 1980s:
- Artists began portraying rural and ethnic life with greater authenticity, dignity, and emotional nuance, often drawing on Millet's earth-toned palettes, sculptural figures, and emphasis on labor's quiet nobility.
- This aligned with the "scar art" and native soil trends, humanizing subjects previously rendered as heroic models.
- Millet's influence helped legitimize realism as a vehicle for personal expression rather than state ideology, contributing to the diversification of Chinese oil painting.
Compare Millet and Chen Danqing
Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) and Chen Danqing (b. 1953) represent two pivotal figures in the history of realist painting, separated by more than a century, different cultural contexts, and artistic purposes. Millet, a leading figure of the French Barbizon School and a founder of Realism, focused on the dignity of rural French peasants in the mid-19th century. Chen Danqing, one of China's most influential contemporary artists, drew directly from Millet to create his groundbreaking Tibetan Series (1978–1980), marking a shift in post-Mao Chinese art toward humanistic, "native soil" realism.
Similarities
Core Philosophy and Approach to Realism
Both artists rejected idealized or heroic portrayals in favor of honest, empathetic depictions of ordinary people in everyday life. Millet elevated peasants—gleaners, sowers, and shepherds—to subjects worthy of profound artistic attention, treating the commonplace with a sense of the sublime. Chen explicitly adopted this mindset, stating that Millet's "simplicity and richness" drew him in, especially after seeing Millet's works in the landmark 1978 Exhibition of Nineteenth-Century French Rural Landscape Paintings at the National Art Museum of China. Chen sought to "paint what we see" in real moments, capturing unposed, authentic glimpses of Tibetan herders and families rather than propagandistic ideals.
Dignity of Rural/Ethnic Laborers
- Millet's figures (e.g., in The Gleaners or The Sower) are weathered, hardworking rural folk shown with quiet nobility and sculptural solidity, often in earthy tones that emphasize their connection to the land.
- Chen's Tibetan subjects (e.g., in Tibetan Shepherds, Mother and Child, or Pilgrimage) mirror this: rugged, weather-beaten faces and bodies rendered with precise physiognomy, heavy traditional clothing, and a sense of enduring vitality. Both portray labor and daily routines—herding, tending animals, resting—with respect and without romantic exaggeration.
Both emphasize fleeting, intimate human moments over grand narratives. Millet captured prayer, rest, or simple toil with emotional resonance; Chen portrayed tender interactions like a stolen kiss among shepherds or a mother with her child, conveying raw humanity and subtle tenderness in a post-Cultural Revolution context where such candor was rare.
Technical and Aesthetic Parallels
- Earthy color palettes (muted browns, ochres, and grays) dominate both, grounding figures in their environments.
- Solid, three-dimensional modeling of forms and short, direct brushwork create a sense of physical presence.
- Small-to-modest scale works: Millet often used intimate canvases; Chen deliberately chose smaller boards for his Tibetan Series, inspired by the 1978 exhibition's modest French pieces, contrasting the monumental propaganda art of the era.
- Millet worked in 19th-century France amid industrialization, critiquing rural hardship subtly while aligning with Realism's social awareness (influenced by Courbet). His art challenged academic norms but remained within a Western tradition.
- Chen emerged in post-Mao China (late 1970s–1980s), after decades of Socialist Realism and Cultural Revolution propaganda that glorified model workers and revolutionary themes. His adoption of Millet's approach was subversive—humanizing ethnic minorities (Tibetans) without ideological messaging—and sparked controversy (e.g., the kiss in Shepherds was bold). Chen's work helped launch the Native Soil Painting movement, blending Western realism with Chinese ethnic subjects.
- Millet's peasants were familiar to his French audience, rooted in local rural life.
- Chen's Tibetans represented "otherness" within China—nomadic, high-altitude herders in traditional attire—adding an element of cultural distance and ethnographic interest, though Chen portrayed them empathetically rather than exotically.
- Millet primarily used oil on canvas for timeless rural scenes.
- Chen used oil on board for his early series (practical for travel/sketching in Tibet), later expanding to larger canvases, nudes, and contemporary themes (e.g., urban models in Disguise and Paintings from Life). Chen's career also includes writing, criticism, and social commentary, unlike Millet's more focused painterly path.
- Millet influenced global realism (including Van Gogh) and remains a cornerstone of 19th-century art.
- Chen's Tibetan Series became a milestone in Chinese contemporary art, with works like Shepherds fetching record prices (RMB 161 million in 2021). His Millet-inspired realism liberated Chinese oil painting from state dogma, paving the way for more personal, diverse expressions.
1980 Bridge by Ryman
2015 SOLD for $ 20.6M by Christie's
Robert Ryman is a security guard in the MoMA from 1953 to 1960. He meets the minimalists Sol LeWitt and Dan Flavin and watches the abstract expressionist paintings recently acquired by the museum.
Ryman is interested in the act of painting. By a curious coincidence Brice Marden will follow in a similar path in 1963 : guard at the Jewish Museum, Marden discovered the pop art during an exhibition dedicated to Jasper Johns.
After Johns, Ryman rejects the narrative in art. Same as Manzoni on the other side of the Atlantic he refuses all the colors because they are already loaded with symbols. He desires not to be mingled with pre-existing artistic movements such as minimalism, conceptual art or abstract expressionism.
Like Donald Judd, Ryman watches the effect of lighting on his work. For half a century he produces his paintings in full white on various supports, usually in a thick impasto that creates surface asperities and generates brightness variations under the light. He states that his art is an experience. His achievement is like a meaningless material and the title is not significant.
Bridge, 192 x 183 cm made in 1980 in oil and rust preventative paint on canvas, was sold for $ 20.6M by Christie's on May 13, 2015 from a lower estimate of $ 10M, lot 38 B.
Ryman is interested in the act of painting. By a curious coincidence Brice Marden will follow in a similar path in 1963 : guard at the Jewish Museum, Marden discovered the pop art during an exhibition dedicated to Jasper Johns.
After Johns, Ryman rejects the narrative in art. Same as Manzoni on the other side of the Atlantic he refuses all the colors because they are already loaded with symbols. He desires not to be mingled with pre-existing artistic movements such as minimalism, conceptual art or abstract expressionism.
Like Donald Judd, Ryman watches the effect of lighting on his work. For half a century he produces his paintings in full white on various supports, usually in a thick impasto that creates surface asperities and generates brightness variations under the light. He states that his art is an experience. His achievement is like a meaningless material and the title is not significant.
Bridge, 192 x 183 cm made in 1980 in oil and rust preventative paint on canvas, was sold for $ 20.6M by Christie's on May 13, 2015 from a lower estimate of $ 10M, lot 38 B.
1980 Three Studies for a Self Portrait by Bacon
2013 SOLD for £ 13.7M by Sotheby's
Throughout his career, Bacon questioned the meaning of human life and, of course, of his own life. Hypersensitive and relevant, he makes no concessions to aesthetics. His world is ugly.
He is increasingly haunted by death. Let's be honest: in the evolution offered by Bacon of his own image, we are not interested by himself but rather in the projection of his vision on our own issues. Bacon is a psychologist but not a metaphysician, and all of that fascinates us without leading to anything. He is the most disturbing of modern artists.
In his portrait format standardized by him in triptychs of elements 35 x 30 cm in oil on canvas, Francis Bacon executed eleven triptychs of his own face, starting this drama shortly before the death of George Dyer.
The penultimate tryptic made in this format was sold for £ 13.7M by Sotheby's on February 12, 2013.
It was made in 1980, when Bacon was 71 years old. His round face is recognizable throughout his work, but this time his triple mirror returns an almost realistic picture without excessive sinister deformation and without the colored spots of the necrosis of flesh. The gaze is chilling : facing an invisible mirror, the character sees only himself. Communication and commiseration are impossible.
By such a realism, Bacon wants to believe that he is not aging, so his actual age is undefined. The white collar is a sign that he continues his professional activity. Five years later, he will provide in another format the final counterpart to his illusory swan song : he will display himself in the attitude of an old man.
A Study for Self Portrait was painted in 1980 by Francis Bacon as a single picture in his signature 35 x 30 cm format mostly used for his head triptychs. This example is paradoxically a reminiscence of Francis's youth, expressing the hope of life eternity in the reverse of Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray. The unusually kind selfie displays a distorted nose reminding Dora series by Picasso and a stiff white collar of the 1950s. It was sold for £ 5.8M by Sotheby's on October 16, 2025, lot 10.
He is increasingly haunted by death. Let's be honest: in the evolution offered by Bacon of his own image, we are not interested by himself but rather in the projection of his vision on our own issues. Bacon is a psychologist but not a metaphysician, and all of that fascinates us without leading to anything. He is the most disturbing of modern artists.
In his portrait format standardized by him in triptychs of elements 35 x 30 cm in oil on canvas, Francis Bacon executed eleven triptychs of his own face, starting this drama shortly before the death of George Dyer.
The penultimate tryptic made in this format was sold for £ 13.7M by Sotheby's on February 12, 2013.
It was made in 1980, when Bacon was 71 years old. His round face is recognizable throughout his work, but this time his triple mirror returns an almost realistic picture without excessive sinister deformation and without the colored spots of the necrosis of flesh. The gaze is chilling : facing an invisible mirror, the character sees only himself. Communication and commiseration are impossible.
By such a realism, Bacon wants to believe that he is not aging, so his actual age is undefined. The white collar is a sign that he continues his professional activity. Five years later, he will provide in another format the final counterpart to his illusory swan song : he will display himself in the attitude of an old man.
A Study for Self Portrait was painted in 1980 by Francis Bacon as a single picture in his signature 35 x 30 cm format mostly used for his head triptychs. This example is paradoxically a reminiscence of Francis's youth, expressing the hope of life eternity in the reverse of Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray. The unusually kind selfie displays a distorted nose reminding Dora series by Picasso and a stiff white collar of the 1950s. It was sold for £ 5.8M by Sotheby's on October 16, 2025, lot 10.
1980 Naked Portrait with Reflection by Freud
2008 SOLD for £ 11.8M by Christie's
A young woman who is featuring her full nudity in the studio of Lucian Freud must not feel obliged to listen to his endless stories. A snooze or a sleep is instead more conducive to that intimate smiling which is a natural expectation for all women.
Naked portrait with reflection, oil on canvas 91 x 91 cm painted in 1980, was sold for £ 11.8M by Christie's on June 30, 2008, lot 18.
The fully grown nude body is comfortably laying on her back on the signature green sofa of the artist's studio. She is viewed downward in a diagonal with a relaxed position of her limbs. The right knee is resting on a small cushion while the foot is crossing the other leg. The eyes are open for some happy day dream, in a deliberate ignorance to the artist. Gradually applied swirls of oil paint are capturing the details in her curves.
The reflection addressed in the title refers to a pair of male shoed feet and lower pants behind the sofa which are considered as a selfie of that peeping artist who once said : "Living people interest me far more than anything else. I'm really interested in them as animals". That word was sometimes used by Lucian for self portraits reflected in a mirror.
Naked portrait with reflection, oil on canvas 91 x 91 cm painted in 1980, was sold for £ 11.8M by Christie's on June 30, 2008, lot 18.
The fully grown nude body is comfortably laying on her back on the signature green sofa of the artist's studio. She is viewed downward in a diagonal with a relaxed position of her limbs. The right knee is resting on a small cushion while the foot is crossing the other leg. The eyes are open for some happy day dream, in a deliberate ignorance to the artist. Gradually applied swirls of oil paint are capturing the details in her curves.
The reflection addressed in the title refers to a pair of male shoed feet and lower pants behind the sofa which are considered as a selfie of that peeping artist who once said : "Living people interest me far more than anything else. I'm really interested in them as animals". That word was sometimes used by Lucian for self portraits reflected in a mirror.
de KOONING
Special Report
Alcoholism Struggles
Willem de Kooning’s alcoholism formed a decades-long, self-destructive thread that intertwined with his chronic anxiety, depression, mood swings, and creative process. It intensified dramatically in the 1960s–1970s, reaching a near-fatal crisis by 1978, when he was in his mid-70s. This directly contextualizes the scarcity and psychological weight of works like Untitled I (1980), which emerged as a tentative artistic restart amid recovery.
Roots and Escalation
De Kooning’s struggles with alcohol dated back to the 1930s–1950s, rooted in profound anxieties, panic attacks, and a restless disdain for ordinary existence. He was prescribed brandy in the mornings to calm his nerves, and the bohemian New York art scene (especially the Cedar Tavern) normalized heavy social drinking among Abstract Expressionists. Both he and Elaine de Kooning battled alcoholism, contributing to their separation in 1957 (they never divorced and later reconciled). By the 1960s and especially the 1970s, his drinking evolved into full-blown binge alcoholism: weeklong benders, blackouts, sleeping in gutters or on city streets, and repeated hospitalizations for detoxification. In East Hampton, where he moved permanently in the early 1960s and built his studio in Springs, the isolation sometimes worsened episodes.
Alcohol served dual purposes: it dulled his inner turmoil and freed him from mundane constraints, but it increasingly eroded his health and productivity. Biographers describe him as a “drunk’s drunk”—charismatic and flamboyant when drinking, yet capable of violent or self-destructive behavior.
1977–1978 Crisis
The late 1970s marked the nadir. De Kooning produced a remarkable series of dense, turbulent abstract landscapes in 1977—energetic, interwoven forms inspired by the light, water, and marshes around East Hampton (e.g., views toward Louse Point). These works channeled his vitality despite heavy drinking. However, the deaths of two close confidants and supporters—critic Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess—in 1978 triggered a severe downward spiral. Combined with ongoing anxiety and depression, this led to intensified binges. By 1978, at around age 74, he was described as an “alcoholic wreck,” with his physical and mental health breaking down perceptibly. Production became episodic and confused; he would disappear for days, and the studio often reflected chaos.
The rarity of surviving works from 1979–1980 (perhaps only about a dozen canvases across those years, with some sources noting even fewer fully realized pieces in 1980) stems partly from this period of crisis and from de Kooning’s relentless self-criticism—he frequently scraped down or destroyed canvases that did not meet his standards. Between late 1978 and 1981, retrospectives sometimes show just a single work from the interval, underscoring how alcoholism nearly silenced his output.
Elaine’s Intervention and the Path to Sobriety
Elaine de Kooning, who had resumed closer contact around 1976–1978, played a pivotal role in his survival. She moved nearby in East Hampton, “scared him into” therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous, hired supportive studio assistants to monitor and assist him, and reportedly administered Antabuse (a drug causing severe illness if alcohol was consumed) secretly at times. The withdrawal and recovery process was grueling, lasting nearly two years (roughly 1978–1980), during which de Kooning painted very little. He attended AA meetings and had a sponsor but was not an ideal participant—relapses occurred, and sobriety was hard-won rather than absolute. By around 1980–1981 (sources vary slightly on the exact tipping point, with some pinpointing 1980 as when he was “through the worst”), he achieved a more stable sobriety at age 76.
This recovery coincided with the tentative restart seen in Untitled I. The painting’s luminous white ground, floating colored forms, and lighter, more open handling reflect a hard-won serenity and distillation—echoing his admiration for Matisse’s joyous cut-outs—yet it carries an underlying restlessness born of fragility. The shift from the denser 1977 landscapes to the looser, scraped, and transparent surfaces of 1980 works mirrors the psychological transition: from exhaustion and haze to a clearer, if still vulnerable, creative space. As one observer noted, the sober late paintings reveal a new comfort with empty space and absence, qualities linked to recovery itself.
Lasting Impact and Later Years
Sobriety enabled a surprising late flowering in the 1980s: more productive periods with elegant, ribbon-like abstractions on white grounds. However, underlying issues persisted—short-term memory loss (exacerbated by prior alcohol abuse) was evident before 1980, and what was later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease (symptoms possibly appearing in the late 1970s, severe by the late 1980s) gradually took hold. He stopped painting around 1990 and died in 1997 at 92. The 1980s output, including the restart canvases like Untitled I, stands as a testament to resilience: art as both expression of and aid against inner demons.
De Kooning’s alcoholism was never romanticized in serious accounts; it nearly killed him and devastated periods of his life and work. Yet the 1980 restart—fragile, luminous, and psychologically charged—illustrates how he channeled survival into a final, distilled phase. When Untitled I returns to auction in May 2026, it embodies not just aesthetic achievement but the quiet triumph of a restart forged in one of the darkest chapters of an artist’s long struggle.
Roots and Escalation
De Kooning’s struggles with alcohol dated back to the 1930s–1950s, rooted in profound anxieties, panic attacks, and a restless disdain for ordinary existence. He was prescribed brandy in the mornings to calm his nerves, and the bohemian New York art scene (especially the Cedar Tavern) normalized heavy social drinking among Abstract Expressionists. Both he and Elaine de Kooning battled alcoholism, contributing to their separation in 1957 (they never divorced and later reconciled). By the 1960s and especially the 1970s, his drinking evolved into full-blown binge alcoholism: weeklong benders, blackouts, sleeping in gutters or on city streets, and repeated hospitalizations for detoxification. In East Hampton, where he moved permanently in the early 1960s and built his studio in Springs, the isolation sometimes worsened episodes.
Alcohol served dual purposes: it dulled his inner turmoil and freed him from mundane constraints, but it increasingly eroded his health and productivity. Biographers describe him as a “drunk’s drunk”—charismatic and flamboyant when drinking, yet capable of violent or self-destructive behavior.
1977–1978 Crisis
The late 1970s marked the nadir. De Kooning produced a remarkable series of dense, turbulent abstract landscapes in 1977—energetic, interwoven forms inspired by the light, water, and marshes around East Hampton (e.g., views toward Louse Point). These works channeled his vitality despite heavy drinking. However, the deaths of two close confidants and supporters—critic Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess—in 1978 triggered a severe downward spiral. Combined with ongoing anxiety and depression, this led to intensified binges. By 1978, at around age 74, he was described as an “alcoholic wreck,” with his physical and mental health breaking down perceptibly. Production became episodic and confused; he would disappear for days, and the studio often reflected chaos.
The rarity of surviving works from 1979–1980 (perhaps only about a dozen canvases across those years, with some sources noting even fewer fully realized pieces in 1980) stems partly from this period of crisis and from de Kooning’s relentless self-criticism—he frequently scraped down or destroyed canvases that did not meet his standards. Between late 1978 and 1981, retrospectives sometimes show just a single work from the interval, underscoring how alcoholism nearly silenced his output.
Elaine’s Intervention and the Path to Sobriety
Elaine de Kooning, who had resumed closer contact around 1976–1978, played a pivotal role in his survival. She moved nearby in East Hampton, “scared him into” therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous, hired supportive studio assistants to monitor and assist him, and reportedly administered Antabuse (a drug causing severe illness if alcohol was consumed) secretly at times. The withdrawal and recovery process was grueling, lasting nearly two years (roughly 1978–1980), during which de Kooning painted very little. He attended AA meetings and had a sponsor but was not an ideal participant—relapses occurred, and sobriety was hard-won rather than absolute. By around 1980–1981 (sources vary slightly on the exact tipping point, with some pinpointing 1980 as when he was “through the worst”), he achieved a more stable sobriety at age 76.
This recovery coincided with the tentative restart seen in Untitled I. The painting’s luminous white ground, floating colored forms, and lighter, more open handling reflect a hard-won serenity and distillation—echoing his admiration for Matisse’s joyous cut-outs—yet it carries an underlying restlessness born of fragility. The shift from the denser 1977 landscapes to the looser, scraped, and transparent surfaces of 1980 works mirrors the psychological transition: from exhaustion and haze to a clearer, if still vulnerable, creative space. As one observer noted, the sober late paintings reveal a new comfort with empty space and absence, qualities linked to recovery itself.
Lasting Impact and Later Years
Sobriety enabled a surprising late flowering in the 1980s: more productive periods with elegant, ribbon-like abstractions on white grounds. However, underlying issues persisted—short-term memory loss (exacerbated by prior alcohol abuse) was evident before 1980, and what was later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease (symptoms possibly appearing in the late 1970s, severe by the late 1980s) gradually took hold. He stopped painting around 1990 and died in 1997 at 92. The 1980s output, including the restart canvases like Untitled I, stands as a testament to resilience: art as both expression of and aid against inner demons.
De Kooning’s alcoholism was never romanticized in serious accounts; it nearly killed him and devastated periods of his life and work. Yet the 1980 restart—fragile, luminous, and psychologically charged—illustrates how he channeled survival into a final, distilled phase. When Untitled I returns to auction in May 2026, it embodies not just aesthetic achievement but the quiet triumph of a restart forged in one of the darkest chapters of an artist’s long struggle.
1980 Untitled I by de Kooning
2012 SOLD for $ 14M by Christie's
2026 for sale on May 18 by Christie's
Untitled I, 1980, oil on canvas 203 x 178 cm by de Kooning, was sold for $ 14M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on May 8, 2012, lot 21. It will be sold by Christie's on May 18, 2026, lot 29A.
Untitled I, 1980, by Willem de Kooning (oil on canvas, 203.2 × 177.8 cm / 80 × 70 in.), returns to the market in Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale in May 2026. This large-scale work belongs to the artist's preferred monumental format in his Untitled series, which he began exploring intensively around 1975.
It was sold at Christie's on May 8, 2012 (lot 21), from the collection that traced back to Xavier Fourcade, Inc., New York; the consignor had acquired it in 1982 (David Pincus Estate). It had been exhibited at Xavier Fourcade's One Major New Work Each (1980) and the Whitney Biennial (1981), and later in Philadelphia.
Psychological Context and the 1980 "Restart"
In 1977–1978, de Kooning (then in his mid-70s) produced a remarkable burst of abstract landscapes—dense, energetic, and thematically inspired by the light, water, and air around his East Hampton studio in Springs (especially views toward Louse Point). These works often featured churning, interwoven forms with a sense of landscape flux. However, heavy alcoholism, anxiety, and depression—exacerbated by the deaths of close friends Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess in 1978—led to a severe personal crisis. Production halted or became extremely sparse; by 1979–1980, only a handful of canvases (perhaps no more than a dozen in 1979, even fewer in 1980) met his rigorous self-criticism. Many works were destroyed or scraped down when they failed to satisfy him.
A turning point came around 1980 (some accounts note intervention by his wife Elaine and others, leading to sobriety efforts, though with occasional slips).
Untitled I represents a tentative but significant restart: a return to the luminous, open style glimpsed at the beginning of the mid-1970s phase (post-1975 Untitled works) after the more exhaustive, structured 1977 landscapes. The painting revives floating colored forms on an expansive, glowing white ground but with a shift toward greater fluidity and refinement. This "comeback" carries emotional weight, as it emerges from fragility—de Kooning was balancing on the edge of collapse, with underlying febrility beneath the elegance.
The rarity of surviving 1979–1980 works underscores the sustained psychological difficulties at age 76. Assistants and dealers (including Xavier Fourcade, who attributed about ten canvases to 1980) noted how few pieces endured de Kooning's self-scrutiny; he famously reworked or discarded canvases relentlessly.
Key Visual and Stylistic Features of Untitled I
The composition presents rippling, luminous surfaces with broad, energetic sweeps of emerald green, deep blue, and orange integrated into a dominant luminous white field. Raw splashes coexist with meandering ribbons, smoother passages, and effects from the scraper tool, which creates nuance, layered residues, opacity/transparency contrasts, and spatial ambiguity. An informal grid underlies the work, but pigment slips unstably across and down the canvas in a syncopated rhythm—de Kooning likened such handling to Miles Davis bending notes. A small purple vortex near center-left shifts the pace, compressing space and tightening marks.
The canvas has no fixed orientation (he often rotated it 90 degrees while working, sometimes painting sections upside-down). This produces an animate, all-over quality of shifting perspectives and "slipping glimpses," evoking flux, light on water, and emotional moods without literal representation. It hints at influences from late Matisse (cut-outs), Monet (water lilies/rippling surfaces), and especially Cézanne ("Cézannism"—fitting marks together without rigid definition). Compared to the denser, more thematically driven 1977 landscapes, Untitled I shows a loosening: structuring lines recede, allowing greater openness and a fallback toward pure abstraction, with lighter, more transparent passages foreshadowing the ribbon-like elegance of his 1980s output.
A comparison to Untitled VI, 1975 (sold for $12.4 million at Phillips de Pury on May 10, 2012, lot 19) holds well: both feature floating forms on luminous white, but the 1980 work feels like a distilled, post-crisis echo—less entangled, more refined and ethereal, with smoother surfaces and a gentler syncopation. The 1975 piece retains more of the mid-1970s vigor and color density; Untitled I marks a transitional serenity amid recovery.
Overall, this painting captures de Kooning's late-career paradox: a luminous "restart" born of hardship, technically masterful yet psychologically charged, with an underlying tension that keeps the surface alive. Its reappearance in 2026 offers a rare chance to reassess this pivotal moment in his twilight production, when sobriety, memory challenges, and artistic distillation converged. The market for select early-1980s works has strengthened in recent years, particularly fully realized canvases like this one.
Untitled I, 1980, by Willem de Kooning (oil on canvas, 203.2 × 177.8 cm / 80 × 70 in.), returns to the market in Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale in May 2026. This large-scale work belongs to the artist's preferred monumental format in his Untitled series, which he began exploring intensively around 1975.
It was sold at Christie's on May 8, 2012 (lot 21), from the collection that traced back to Xavier Fourcade, Inc., New York; the consignor had acquired it in 1982 (David Pincus Estate). It had been exhibited at Xavier Fourcade's One Major New Work Each (1980) and the Whitney Biennial (1981), and later in Philadelphia.
Psychological Context and the 1980 "Restart"
In 1977–1978, de Kooning (then in his mid-70s) produced a remarkable burst of abstract landscapes—dense, energetic, and thematically inspired by the light, water, and air around his East Hampton studio in Springs (especially views toward Louse Point). These works often featured churning, interwoven forms with a sense of landscape flux. However, heavy alcoholism, anxiety, and depression—exacerbated by the deaths of close friends Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess in 1978—led to a severe personal crisis. Production halted or became extremely sparse; by 1979–1980, only a handful of canvases (perhaps no more than a dozen in 1979, even fewer in 1980) met his rigorous self-criticism. Many works were destroyed or scraped down when they failed to satisfy him.
A turning point came around 1980 (some accounts note intervention by his wife Elaine and others, leading to sobriety efforts, though with occasional slips).
Untitled I represents a tentative but significant restart: a return to the luminous, open style glimpsed at the beginning of the mid-1970s phase (post-1975 Untitled works) after the more exhaustive, structured 1977 landscapes. The painting revives floating colored forms on an expansive, glowing white ground but with a shift toward greater fluidity and refinement. This "comeback" carries emotional weight, as it emerges from fragility—de Kooning was balancing on the edge of collapse, with underlying febrility beneath the elegance.
The rarity of surviving 1979–1980 works underscores the sustained psychological difficulties at age 76. Assistants and dealers (including Xavier Fourcade, who attributed about ten canvases to 1980) noted how few pieces endured de Kooning's self-scrutiny; he famously reworked or discarded canvases relentlessly.
Key Visual and Stylistic Features of Untitled I
The composition presents rippling, luminous surfaces with broad, energetic sweeps of emerald green, deep blue, and orange integrated into a dominant luminous white field. Raw splashes coexist with meandering ribbons, smoother passages, and effects from the scraper tool, which creates nuance, layered residues, opacity/transparency contrasts, and spatial ambiguity. An informal grid underlies the work, but pigment slips unstably across and down the canvas in a syncopated rhythm—de Kooning likened such handling to Miles Davis bending notes. A small purple vortex near center-left shifts the pace, compressing space and tightening marks.
The canvas has no fixed orientation (he often rotated it 90 degrees while working, sometimes painting sections upside-down). This produces an animate, all-over quality of shifting perspectives and "slipping glimpses," evoking flux, light on water, and emotional moods without literal representation. It hints at influences from late Matisse (cut-outs), Monet (water lilies/rippling surfaces), and especially Cézanne ("Cézannism"—fitting marks together without rigid definition). Compared to the denser, more thematically driven 1977 landscapes, Untitled I shows a loosening: structuring lines recede, allowing greater openness and a fallback toward pure abstraction, with lighter, more transparent passages foreshadowing the ribbon-like elegance of his 1980s output.
A comparison to Untitled VI, 1975 (sold for $12.4 million at Phillips de Pury on May 10, 2012, lot 19) holds well: both feature floating forms on luminous white, but the 1980 work feels like a distilled, post-crisis echo—less entangled, more refined and ethereal, with smoother surfaces and a gentler syncopation. The 1975 piece retains more of the mid-1970s vigor and color density; Untitled I marks a transitional serenity amid recovery.
Overall, this painting captures de Kooning's late-career paradox: a luminous "restart" born of hardship, technically masterful yet psychologically charged, with an underlying tension that keeps the surface alive. Its reappearance in 2026 offers a rare chance to reassess this pivotal moment in his twilight production, when sobriety, memory challenges, and artistic distillation converged. The market for select early-1980s works has strengthened in recent years, particularly fully realized canvases like this one.
Comparison of de Kooning’s Untitled I, 1980, with Matisse’s Cut-Outs
De Kooning openly admired Matisse’s late cut-outs (découpés), especially in 1980—the exact year of Untitled I. He remarked: “Lately I’ve been thinking that it would be nice to be influenced by Matisse. I mean, he’s so lighthearted. I have a book about how he was old and he cut out colored patterns and he made it so joyous. I would like to do that, too—not like him, but joyous, more or less.” This aspiration directly informs the luminous, open character of Untitled I as a tentative restart after crisis.
Shared Elements: Late-Career Renewal and Joyful Luminosity
Both artists produced their most radiant, simplified, and “joyous” work in old age amid physical decline:
Key Similarities in Visual Effect
Compared to the denser, more thematically driven 1977 landscapes or the earlier Untitled VI (1975), Untitled I shows a clear shift toward Matisse-like openness: lighter touch, greater transparency, and reliance on white as positive space. This direction strengthens in de Kooning’s mid-1980s ribbon paintings, where the influence becomes even more pronounced—elegant, looping lines on white grounds that feel like painted equivalents of Matisse’s scissor dances.
In summary, Untitled I represents de Kooning’s conscious (if not literal) dialogue with Matisse’s cut-outs: a late-life bid for joyous simplification and luminous freedom, achieved not through scissors but through the stubborn, scraped alchemy of oil paint. It captures the same triumphant reduction—color and shape liberated from earlier complexity—yet filters it through de Kooning’s more turbulent sensibility, resulting in a work that is both serenely floating and quietly restless. This parallel adds emotional depth to the painting’s rarity and its status as a pivotal “restart” canvas from one of the scarcest years in his career.
When it reappears in Christie’s May 2026 20th Century Evening Sale, viewers will have a fresh opportunity to see this Matisse-inspired lightness emerging from de Kooning’s personal darkness.
De Kooning openly admired Matisse’s late cut-outs (découpés), especially in 1980—the exact year of Untitled I. He remarked: “Lately I’ve been thinking that it would be nice to be influenced by Matisse. I mean, he’s so lighthearted. I have a book about how he was old and he cut out colored patterns and he made it so joyous. I would like to do that, too—not like him, but joyous, more or less.” This aspiration directly informs the luminous, open character of Untitled I as a tentative restart after crisis.
Shared Elements: Late-Career Renewal and Joyful Luminosity
Both artists produced their most radiant, simplified, and “joyous” work in old age amid physical decline:
- Matisse (in his 80s, confined to bed or wheelchair after surgery) turned to scissors and pre-painted gouache paper because painting became physically taxing. The cut-outs allowed bold, flat color, fluid contours, and a sense of liberated play.
- De Kooning (aged 76 in 1980, battling alcoholism, anxiety, and the onset of what would later be linked to dementia) sought a similar lightness after the dense, exhausting abstract landscapes of 1977 and the sparse, self-destructive period of 1978–79. Untitled I marks a deliberate return to floating, luminous forms on a dominant white ground—echoing the openness and vitality Matisse achieved in works like The Swimming Pool (1952), La Perruche et la Sirène (1952), or the Blue Nudes.
Key Similarities in Visual Effect
- Floating colored forms on luminous white: Matisse’s cut-outs often place vibrant, scissor-cut shapes (organic, vegetal, or abstract) against white walls or grounds, creating a sense of weightless dance and spatial breathing room. Untitled I similarly deploys broad sweeps of emerald, blue, orange, and other hues that appear to float or ripple across an expansive, glowing white field. The white is not mere background but an active, structuring presence—much as negative space activates Matisse’s compositions.
- Fluidity and rhythm: Matisse’s scissors produced continuous, flowing contours with a dance-like energy. De Kooning, using brushes, scrapers, and fluid oil paint, achieves analogous meandering ribbons and slipping glimpses. The syncopated rhythm in Untitled I (with its small purple vortex tightening the pace) recalls the lively, improvisational placement in Matisse’s cut-outs.
- All-over openness and non-hierarchical composition: Both reject heavy centering or traditional depth. Matisse’s works feel decorative yet profound; de Kooning’s canvas (rotatable during painting) creates an animate, shifting “all-over” quality without fixed orientation.
- Technique and materiality: Matisse’s cut-outs are flat, crisp-edged, and collage-like—pre-painted paper cut and pinned/ glued, emphasizing bold silhouette and pure color planes. De Kooning’s Untitled I remains painterly: built through layered, scraped, and reworked oil, with nuances of transparency/opacity, drips, residues, and blended passages. The forms in Untitled I are softer, more atmospheric, and less sharply delineated; they “slip” and dissolve rather than snap into place. Critics sometimes describe late de Kooning as painting “the offcuts or the space around Matisse’s cutouts.”
- Emotional tone and energy: Matisse’s late cut-outs radiate unburdened joy, Mediterranean light, and decorative harmony (often evoking dance, nature, or circus). De Kooning’s 1980 restart carries underlying tension—febrility beneath the elegance, born from psychological fragility and the memory of scraping failed canvases. While aspiring to Matisse’s lightness, Untitled I retains a more restless, American Abstract Expressionist pulse: the forms feel less stable, more syncopated and slippery.
- Abstraction vs. suggestion: Matisse’s cut-outs frequently suggest recognizable motifs (figures, leaves, fish) even when abstracted. Untitled I leans further into pure abstraction, with only vague landscape echoes (light on water, East Hampton air) dissolved into non-representational flux. The structuring lines that once anchored 1977 landscapes largely recede here, mirroring your point about a fallback to “mere abstractions.”
Compared to the denser, more thematically driven 1977 landscapes or the earlier Untitled VI (1975), Untitled I shows a clear shift toward Matisse-like openness: lighter touch, greater transparency, and reliance on white as positive space. This direction strengthens in de Kooning’s mid-1980s ribbon paintings, where the influence becomes even more pronounced—elegant, looping lines on white grounds that feel like painted equivalents of Matisse’s scissor dances.
In summary, Untitled I represents de Kooning’s conscious (if not literal) dialogue with Matisse’s cut-outs: a late-life bid for joyous simplification and luminous freedom, achieved not through scissors but through the stubborn, scraped alchemy of oil paint. It captures the same triumphant reduction—color and shape liberated from earlier complexity—yet filters it through de Kooning’s more turbulent sensibility, resulting in a work that is both serenely floating and quietly restless. This parallel adds emotional depth to the painting’s rarity and its status as a pivotal “restart” canvas from one of the scarcest years in his career.
When it reappears in Christie’s May 2026 20th Century Evening Sale, viewers will have a fresh opportunity to see this Matisse-inspired lightness emerging from de Kooning’s personal darkness.
1980 05.06.80 Triptyque by Zao Wou-Ki
2024 SOLD for HK$ 95M by Christie's
Contemporary art is a dramatic evolution toward gigantic formats. Zao Wou-Ki buys in 1977 a 15th century fortified house near Beaune-la-Rolande 100 km south of Paris. He installs his studio in an outbuilding. In this room 8 meters high, he opens windows in the attic and creates a mezzanine to check the effect of his work.
These new conditions are a challenge that delights the artist. The coverage of the whole space becomes a gradual exercise in which planning and instinct are competing. It is in this quiet shelter that the artist paints his large triptychs of the 1980s. The man is welcomed by his neighbors for his courtesy but they do not know about his industry. He keeps in parallel his Parisian workshop.
Zao painted 20 large scale oil paintings during his whole career. Some of these abstract works evoking the magnificence of nature were inspired by the effect of the traditional Chinese technique of splashed ink.
The Triptyque 5.6.80, oil on canvas 195 x 380 cm overall, was one of two large scale triptychs specially prepared for the major solo exhibition of the artist to happen in 1981 at the Grand Palais. It evokes a scenery of rocks bathing in a sea of clouds.
It was sold for HK $ 95M from a lower estimate of HK $ 78M by Christie's on September 26, 2024, lot 9.
The Triptyque 15.1.82, on the same size as the example above, was executed a few months after the Grand Palais exhibition. It features an ascending composition within an ochre yellow background, altogether infinite and empty. It was also sold for HK $ 95M, by Christie's on December 2, 2020, lot 143.
These new conditions are a challenge that delights the artist. The coverage of the whole space becomes a gradual exercise in which planning and instinct are competing. It is in this quiet shelter that the artist paints his large triptychs of the 1980s. The man is welcomed by his neighbors for his courtesy but they do not know about his industry. He keeps in parallel his Parisian workshop.
Zao painted 20 large scale oil paintings during his whole career. Some of these abstract works evoking the magnificence of nature were inspired by the effect of the traditional Chinese technique of splashed ink.
The Triptyque 5.6.80, oil on canvas 195 x 380 cm overall, was one of two large scale triptychs specially prepared for the major solo exhibition of the artist to happen in 1981 at the Grand Palais. It evokes a scenery of rocks bathing in a sea of clouds.
It was sold for HK $ 95M from a lower estimate of HK $ 78M by Christie's on September 26, 2024, lot 9.
The Triptyque 15.1.82, on the same size as the example above, was executed a few months after the Grand Palais exhibition. It features an ascending composition within an ochre yellow background, altogether infinite and empty. It was also sold for HK $ 95M, by Christie's on December 2, 2020, lot 143.
1980 The New Jeff Koons
2013 SOLD for $ 9.4M by Sotheby's
Jeff Koons' first solo exhibition, titled The New, took place in May and June 1980 in New York at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. It consists of Hoover and Shelton vacuum cleaners and household items installed individually in plexiglass display cases, with fluorescent lighting by spotlights and through the rear.
Another step is immediately taken. If a vacuum cleaner is a work of art, the artist himself is also worthy to be admired.
Under the title The New Jeff Koons, he introduces in his series The New a photographic portrait of himself at the age of 4, which he assembles in a fluorescent light box 103 x 78 x 20 cm. This piece will remain unique in its kind, as if it were a prototype intended to explore new avenues of creativity.
Koons is ambitious. The image he displays of himself is a model of kindness devoid of shyness : calm, smiling amiably, dressed and combed neatly. The felt-tip pens symbolize the birth of his artistic genius.
The New Jeff Koons was sold for $ 9.4M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2013, lot 9.
Another step is immediately taken. If a vacuum cleaner is a work of art, the artist himself is also worthy to be admired.
Under the title The New Jeff Koons, he introduces in his series The New a photographic portrait of himself at the age of 4, which he assembles in a fluorescent light box 103 x 78 x 20 cm. This piece will remain unique in its kind, as if it were a prototype intended to explore new avenues of creativity.
Koons is ambitious. The image he displays of himself is a model of kindness devoid of shyness : calm, smiling amiably, dressed and combed neatly. The felt-tip pens symbolize the birth of his artistic genius.
The New Jeff Koons was sold for $ 9.4M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2013, lot 9.
