Art on paper
not including China
See also : Top 10 Ancient drawing Manuscript Religious texts Flemish art Italy Italy II France George IV to Victoria Spain II Twombly Northern Europe Munch Man and woman Groups Children Christianity Animals Bird Music and dance Tabletop and still life
Chronology : 16th Century 1500-1519 1520-1539 19th Century 1870-1879 1890-1899 1892 1940-1949 1959
See also : Top 10 Ancient drawing Manuscript Religious texts Flemish art Italy Italy II France George IV to Victoria Spain II Twombly Northern Europe Munch Man and woman Groups Children Christianity Animals Bird Music and dance Tabletop and still life
Chronology : 16th Century 1500-1519 1520-1539 19th Century 1870-1879 1890-1899 1892 1940-1949 1959
1505 The Best Artists from Ghent and Bruges
2014 SOLD 13.6 M$ including premium
The printed book cannot claim to achieve the beauty of illuminated manuscripts. Under the Habsburgs, the best Flemish painters illustrate books of great luxury. They have not revealed all their secrets : the artists did not sign and the sponsors are not identified.
One of these masterpieces is known as the Rothschild Prayerbook. It was sold for £ 8.6 million including premium at Christie's on July 8, 1999. It is estimated $ 12M, for sale by Christie 's in New York on January 29.
It is a book of hours for the use of Rome (meaning that is based on Roman liturgy), made around 1505 in Ghent or Bruges. In a small format 23 x 16 cm, this book with 252 leaves in luxurious vellum includes 67 large illustrations.
From an iconographic point of view, it is a fabulous collection of religious and liturgical scenes, showing in very fresh colors the life and customs of its time. Decorative borders offer an extended variety of topics.
The styles of these images clearly show that several workshops have co-operated, and comparison with other manuscripts and paintings can identify that it was made by the most renowned artists of their time. Their co-operation in such collective artworks was an extraordinary and unique business of which no direct witnessing has surfaced.
The main illustrators of the Rothschild Prayerbook were Gerard Horenbout who worked at Ghent and Alexander Bening, a member of the guilds of Bruges and Ghent. Simon Bening, son of Alexander, to whom a few images are attributed, will be the last great Flemish illuminator. The style of Gerard David, the leading painter in Bruges at that time, is recognized on several images.
POST SALE COMMENT
This masterpiece reaches once again a great price : $ 13.6M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's :
One of these masterpieces is known as the Rothschild Prayerbook. It was sold for £ 8.6 million including premium at Christie's on July 8, 1999. It is estimated $ 12M, for sale by Christie 's in New York on January 29.
It is a book of hours for the use of Rome (meaning that is based on Roman liturgy), made around 1505 in Ghent or Bruges. In a small format 23 x 16 cm, this book with 252 leaves in luxurious vellum includes 67 large illustrations.
From an iconographic point of view, it is a fabulous collection of religious and liturgical scenes, showing in very fresh colors the life and customs of its time. Decorative borders offer an extended variety of topics.
The styles of these images clearly show that several workshops have co-operated, and comparison with other manuscripts and paintings can identify that it was made by the most renowned artists of their time. Their co-operation in such collective artworks was an extraordinary and unique business of which no direct witnessing has surfaced.
The main illustrators of the Rothschild Prayerbook were Gerard Horenbout who worked at Ghent and Alexander Bening, a member of the guilds of Bruges and Ghent. Simon Bening, son of Alexander, to whom a few images are attributed, will be the last great Flemish illuminator. The style of Gerard David, the leading painter in Bruges at that time, is recognized on several images.
POST SALE COMMENT
This masterpiece reaches once again a great price : $ 13.6M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's :
A very #MerryChristmas to all. Here’s a stunning #nativity scene from the #RothschildPrayerbook! pic.twitter.com/RIVYbiXLjC
— Christie's Books (@ChristiesBKS) December 25, 20151508-1511 Raphael and the Vatican Muse
2009 SOLD 29.1 M£ including premium
The three great Italian masters of the early sixteenth century were Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raffaello. A drawing of one of them coming on the market is an event.
The author of the work we are discussing today is Raphael, the youngest of the three. For five centuries, all the art critics have praised him and noted the perfection of his paintings. His works were the subject of preparatory drawings very sharp, detailed and contrasted, at the exact size he wanted for the final motif.
Knowing the above, we understand better why some drawings are composite, for example hand and head . But the black chalk drawing 30.5 x 22.2 cm that Christie's will sell in London on December 8 is more important.
This pretty young woman head with flying hair in full frame is a preparation for a character of a Muse. It still have the perforations made by the artist to project the outline through the paper on the frescoes of the Vatican (1508 to 1511). It is estimated 12 million pounds.
This sale passionates the press. Here are the articles shared by Bloomberg, by Guardian and by Telegraph.
POST SALE COMMENT
We were here in the presence of a real historical work, because of the role played by this drawing in the process of decoration of the Vatican.
The result is also historical from the point of view of auction.
Sold £ 29.1 million including premium, it is the world record for a work on paper, and the second highest price for a work of ancient art, according to the information provided by Christie's.
The author of the work we are discussing today is Raphael, the youngest of the three. For five centuries, all the art critics have praised him and noted the perfection of his paintings. His works were the subject of preparatory drawings very sharp, detailed and contrasted, at the exact size he wanted for the final motif.
Knowing the above, we understand better why some drawings are composite, for example hand and head . But the black chalk drawing 30.5 x 22.2 cm that Christie's will sell in London on December 8 is more important.
This pretty young woman head with flying hair in full frame is a preparation for a character of a Muse. It still have the perforations made by the artist to project the outline through the paper on the frescoes of the Vatican (1508 to 1511). It is estimated 12 million pounds.
This sale passionates the press. Here are the articles shared by Bloomberg, by Guardian and by Telegraph.
POST SALE COMMENT
We were here in the presence of a real historical work, because of the role played by this drawing in the process of decoration of the Vatican.
The result is also historical from the point of view of auction.
Sold £ 29.1 million including premium, it is the world record for a work on paper, and the second highest price for a work of ancient art, according to the information provided by Christie's.
1520 Study for the Transfiguration
2012 SOLD 29.7 M£ including premium
The last twelve years of the short life of Raphael, from 1508 to 1520, marked an unprecedented success in the history of Western art.
Working directly for popes, cardinals and the powerful Medici family, Raphael manages a workshop of fifty artists whose production is prolific, but he himself designs the artworks, performs the preparation and executes the most important paintings.
The fashion of the time is for large-size frescoes and altar paintings prepared by innumerable drawings. Once the artist is satisfied with the composition, he pierces the latest drawings to transfer the lines into the final work. The pierced modello drawing of the head of a Vatican Muse was sold £ 29.1 million including premium at Christie's on December 8, 2009.
On December 5 in London, Sotheby's sells a drawing in black chalk, 38 x 28 cm, from the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire. It is illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
This head of an apostle in meditation was made during the preparation of the Transfiguration, that huge oil on canvas, 405 x 278 cm, unfinished at the untimely death of the artist.
Completed by his studio, this monumental painting marks a turning point in Western art. The composition in two registers is bold. Above, Christ enters the light. The bright representation of the event is an iconographic challenge which anticipates Rembrandt.
Down on Earth, the apostles are attending a miracle by Christ, each one reacting in his own way. The care taken in the empathy between these men is announcing Mannerism and Baroque art.
The drawing for sale is not final and has not been pierced. This is a beautiful portrait of expression, with very nice thin line. It is estimated £ 10M.
POST SALE COMMENT
On December 8, 2009, a perforated drawing by Raphael showing the head of a Muse was sold £ 29.1 million including premium.
The head of a young apostle got an almost identical price: £ 29.7 million including premium. It is a great success for its owner, the Duke of Devonshire, possessor at Chatsworth of one of the best art collections in the world.
I invite you to play the videos shared by Sotheby's.
Working directly for popes, cardinals and the powerful Medici family, Raphael manages a workshop of fifty artists whose production is prolific, but he himself designs the artworks, performs the preparation and executes the most important paintings.
The fashion of the time is for large-size frescoes and altar paintings prepared by innumerable drawings. Once the artist is satisfied with the composition, he pierces the latest drawings to transfer the lines into the final work. The pierced modello drawing of the head of a Vatican Muse was sold £ 29.1 million including premium at Christie's on December 8, 2009.
On December 5 in London, Sotheby's sells a drawing in black chalk, 38 x 28 cm, from the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire. It is illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
This head of an apostle in meditation was made during the preparation of the Transfiguration, that huge oil on canvas, 405 x 278 cm, unfinished at the untimely death of the artist.
Completed by his studio, this monumental painting marks a turning point in Western art. The composition in two registers is bold. Above, Christ enters the light. The bright representation of the event is an iconographic challenge which anticipates Rembrandt.
Down on Earth, the apostles are attending a miracle by Christ, each one reacting in his own way. The care taken in the empathy between these men is announcing Mannerism and Baroque art.
The drawing for sale is not final and has not been pierced. This is a beautiful portrait of expression, with very nice thin line. It is estimated £ 10M.
POST SALE COMMENT
On December 8, 2009, a perforated drawing by Raphael showing the head of a Muse was sold £ 29.1 million including premium.
The head of a young apostle got an almost identical price: £ 29.7 million including premium. It is a great success for its owner, the Duke of Devonshire, possessor at Chatsworth of one of the best art collections in the world.
I invite you to play the videos shared by Sotheby's.
1873 The Legend of Edward Burne-Jones
2013 SOLD 14.8 M£ including premium
Two English students meet at Oxford in 1852. William Morris is a true revolutionary in the sense that he wants to change the society. He will be an enterprising and innovative designer. Edward Coley Burne Jones (later Burne-Jones) has not yet a knowledge in art and is thus devoid of preconceived ideas on themes and technique.
The two friends were more inspired by the post-Romantic poetry, including Robert Browning, than by figurative art but they early find a fertile source of inspiration by approaching the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of Rossetti. Burne-Jones was then to discover the Italian primitives.
In their small circle, the skill of Burne-Jones is soon recognized, which commits him to try the major arts. In 1869, the Hesperides, showing three young women in an earthly paradise, is the first masterpiece of his new ambition.
From that date, Burne-Jones designed new romantic-medieval themes, but from 1870 to 1873 he devoted himself to a single painting entitled Love among the ruins, 96 x 152 cm. Two young people live their romance alone among ruins. They are idealized figures of man and woman. The brightly colored clothes and faces are probably influenced by Giorgione.
Love among the ruins is disfigured in 1893 when in loan for an exhibition. A zealous connoisseur puts a protective coating without appreciating that it is a watercolor and gouache on paper and not an oil. The work now considered as destroyed is so emotionally important for the artist that he executes almost immediately a replica in oil.
In 1898, a friend informs of a chemical formula through which Burne-Jones is able to recover almost entirely the original quality of the picture. He repairs a more damaged area with much excitement as you can imagine. He had saved his art but he died five weeks later.
This artwork that has all the qualities to become legendary is estimated £ 3M, for sale by Christie's in London on July 11.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is the perfect example of pre-Raphaelite ideas. The price could hardly be predicted. It was sold for £ 14.8 million including premium.
The two friends were more inspired by the post-Romantic poetry, including Robert Browning, than by figurative art but they early find a fertile source of inspiration by approaching the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of Rossetti. Burne-Jones was then to discover the Italian primitives.
In their small circle, the skill of Burne-Jones is soon recognized, which commits him to try the major arts. In 1869, the Hesperides, showing three young women in an earthly paradise, is the first masterpiece of his new ambition.
From that date, Burne-Jones designed new romantic-medieval themes, but from 1870 to 1873 he devoted himself to a single painting entitled Love among the ruins, 96 x 152 cm. Two young people live their romance alone among ruins. They are idealized figures of man and woman. The brightly colored clothes and faces are probably influenced by Giorgione.
Love among the ruins is disfigured in 1893 when in loan for an exhibition. A zealous connoisseur puts a protective coating without appreciating that it is a watercolor and gouache on paper and not an oil. The work now considered as destroyed is so emotionally important for the artist that he executes almost immediately a replica in oil.
In 1898, a friend informs of a chemical formula through which Burne-Jones is able to recover almost entirely the original quality of the picture. He repairs a more damaged area with much excitement as you can imagine. He had saved his art but he died five weeks later.
This artwork that has all the qualities to become legendary is estimated £ 3M, for sale by Christie's in London on July 11.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is the perfect example of pre-Raphaelite ideas. The price could hardly be predicted. It was sold for £ 14.8 million including premium.
En cette Saint Valentin, les spécialistes de @ChristiesInc reviennent sur des objets évoquant le sentiment amoureux https://t.co/HoCflsOAn8 pic.twitter.com/DUnBAVapJn
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) February 14, 2017
1877 The Enchantment of Motion
2015 SOLD for $ 17M including premium
The artistic language is experiencing a profound transformation in the 1870s. Painting is already superseded by photography for the resemblance. Edgar Degas is a great innovator who explores staging, light, shine and motion.
Degas is passionate about dance. He spends much time watching the ballerinas on stage and backstage. He does not admire their body but their flexibility, which is the ease of their limbs to reach extreme angles either in action or at rest.
Inspired by Ingres, Degas was an very good draftsman. He rediscovered pastel as a technique allowing the more vivid colors without impairing the quality of the drawing. Like the pre-impressionists, Degas executed his works in his studio from previous sketches. His spontaneity is in fact the result of a long meticulous work, like Constable's.
The dancer on pointe, pastel and gouache made in 1877, shows a ballerina leaning forward, one leg above the horizontal in a movement for which no effort is apparent. Her imbalanced attitude and the empty space in front of her bring to this graphic work an illusion of motion that is unprecedented in the history of art. The delicacy of the colors anticipates Lautrec.
The young dancer takes the same position in the same colors but now leading a group of four in Danseuses en blanc, pastel and gouache on paper 53 x 65 cm for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 32T estimated $ 18M. The four girls play a simultaneous dance step in a bold composition in which no body is seen in its entirety.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's, also introducing the pastel of a nude offered in the same sale (also discussed in my column).
Degas is passionate about dance. He spends much time watching the ballerinas on stage and backstage. He does not admire their body but their flexibility, which is the ease of their limbs to reach extreme angles either in action or at rest.
Inspired by Ingres, Degas was an very good draftsman. He rediscovered pastel as a technique allowing the more vivid colors without impairing the quality of the drawing. Like the pre-impressionists, Degas executed his works in his studio from previous sketches. His spontaneity is in fact the result of a long meticulous work, like Constable's.
The dancer on pointe, pastel and gouache made in 1877, shows a ballerina leaning forward, one leg above the horizontal in a movement for which no effort is apparent. Her imbalanced attitude and the empty space in front of her bring to this graphic work an illusion of motion that is unprecedented in the history of art. The delicacy of the colors anticipates Lautrec.
The young dancer takes the same position in the same colors but now leading a group of four in Danseuses en blanc, pastel and gouache on paper 53 x 65 cm for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 32T estimated $ 18M. The four girls play a simultaneous dance step in a bold composition in which no body is seen in its entirety.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's, also introducing the pastel of a nude offered in the same sale (also discussed in my column).
1879 Danseuse au Repos, pastel by Degas
2008 SOLD 37 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
Link to the catalogue.
1892 Studies for the Card Players
2015 SOLD for $ 21M including premium
In 1890, Paul Cézanne, sick and embittered, separated from his wife, is getting virtually alone with his art. His passion to apply his artistic theories opens a highly fruitful but insufficiently documented period. The dates and even the chronology of the five oil versions of the Joueurs de cartes are not identifiable.
He works as in the old days by executing preparatory sketches, with however a detail that changes everything. Nature can not be copied by the painter. The colors and contours express the atmosphere without requiring a preliminary drawing. This simple observation is one of the foundations of the figurative art of the following century.
In his exile away from the bourgeois society, Cézanne watches the peasants. They have differences : each one has his physical look, his straight or vaulted attitude, his behavior, his hat. The artist observes them individually before bringing them together in the group. The Joueurs de cartes are the deepest attempt by Cézanne to express, not reality, but life.
Cézanne made several preparatory watercolors for the Joueurs de cartes. Two of them, each showing one of the major players, have such a similar format and technique that they appear as pendants, certainly as the final study before one of the oils. They were made in 1892 or shortly after.
The watercolor of the smaller man, 47 x 30 cm, was sold for $ 19M including premium by Christie's on 1 May 2012. The character was identified : a gardener who worked for the artist.
The watercolor of the taller fellow, 48 x 32 cm, is estimated $ 18M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 9, lot 7A. A portrait of Père Alexandre was made by the same artist on the back of this paper.
The image below is limited to the upper part of the picture.
He works as in the old days by executing preparatory sketches, with however a detail that changes everything. Nature can not be copied by the painter. The colors and contours express the atmosphere without requiring a preliminary drawing. This simple observation is one of the foundations of the figurative art of the following century.
In his exile away from the bourgeois society, Cézanne watches the peasants. They have differences : each one has his physical look, his straight or vaulted attitude, his behavior, his hat. The artist observes them individually before bringing them together in the group. The Joueurs de cartes are the deepest attempt by Cézanne to express, not reality, but life.
Cézanne made several preparatory watercolors for the Joueurs de cartes. Two of them, each showing one of the major players, have such a similar format and technique that they appear as pendants, certainly as the final study before one of the oils. They were made in 1892 or shortly after.
The watercolor of the smaller man, 47 x 30 cm, was sold for $ 19M including premium by Christie's on 1 May 2012. The character was identified : a gardener who worked for the artist.
The watercolor of the taller fellow, 48 x 32 cm, is estimated $ 18M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 9, lot 7A. A portrait of Père Alexandre was made by the same artist on the back of this paper.
The image below is limited to the upper part of the picture.
Paul #Cézanne, L'homme à la pipe, is another highlight from our Nov 9 Artist's Muse sale: https://t.co/K1dfaeJjwa pic.twitter.com/8dyzQjVSHv
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) October 23, 20151892 Only One Card Player
2012 SOLD 19 M$ including premium
One of the five versions of Cézanne's Joueurs de cartes (Card Players) became the most expensive work of art in the world when the news was published in February 2012: Qatar has paid $ 250M for it in a private sale.
Yet the study of the implementation of this theme by Cézanne is an uninterrupted series of questionmarks.
The artist is somehow isolated from the world at his home in Aix-en-Provence. He is an experimenter of the colors. Shaded, they form flat areas that come together to build the figurative scene. He painted the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, and self-portraits, and still lifes, and bathers.
Around 1890, he became interested in card players. He observes these humble men, a worker or a gardener of his house. They do not cheat, do not joke, they smoke and drink peacefully. They no longer need to understand the universe: they are totally focused on their unuseful game.
Cézanne selected that theme clearly for his own use, perhaps to counter his mystical doubts of an aging man in relatively poor health. We do not know the exact date of the five paintings, nor their precedence.
Made around 1892, a watercolor, 47 x 30 cm, is estimated $ 15M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 1. This preliminary study shows the man who will be sitting on the right in the least animated three paintings, those showing only two players, which probably are the final versions.
POST SALE COMMENT
Great price for this watercolor : $ 19M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
Yet the study of the implementation of this theme by Cézanne is an uninterrupted series of questionmarks.
The artist is somehow isolated from the world at his home in Aix-en-Provence. He is an experimenter of the colors. Shaded, they form flat areas that come together to build the figurative scene. He painted the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, and self-portraits, and still lifes, and bathers.
Around 1890, he became interested in card players. He observes these humble men, a worker or a gardener of his house. They do not cheat, do not joke, they smoke and drink peacefully. They no longer need to understand the universe: they are totally focused on their unuseful game.
Cézanne selected that theme clearly for his own use, perhaps to counter his mystical doubts of an aging man in relatively poor health. We do not know the exact date of the five paintings, nor their precedence.
Made around 1892, a watercolor, 47 x 30 cm, is estimated $ 15M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 1. This preliminary study shows the man who will be sitting on the right in the least animated three paintings, those showing only two players, which probably are the final versions.
POST SALE COMMENT
Great price for this watercolor : $ 19M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
1893-1894 Cézanne's Table
2010 SOLD 11.8 M£ including premium
On January 23, 2009, I wrote in this column :
"His subjects are humble. The line does not matter, because the composition and color make objects so present in his art. He was not the first to paint still lifes, of course. But his genius is to remove all the symbols in favour of a simple sentimental or sensual search. And he succeeds because he is a great artist. In the same idea, the environment disappears: the background is flat, not located. Only remains the subject."
Hereabove I discussed Chardin. Cézanne's painting for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 3 deserves similar comments. This oil on paper laid down on panel, 41 x 72 cm, painted in 1893 or 1894, shows a pitcher and fruit on a bare table. Some of these fruits are on a saucer. On the left, a curtain caresses the table. We see it, held by two employees, on the image shared by Guardian.
Cézanne was a master of perspective, better than Chardin on this point. He had great care to distribute his subject on the table before composing the painting. This is why his projection of a space composition on the surface of the paper anticipates the work of the Cubists, who are known to have seen him as a precursor.
This painting, which was formerly part of the Barnes collection, is estimated £ 10 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting has been sold around the expected price. Result: £ 11.8 million including premium. Note that this price is remarkable for a work on paper.
"His subjects are humble. The line does not matter, because the composition and color make objects so present in his art. He was not the first to paint still lifes, of course. But his genius is to remove all the symbols in favour of a simple sentimental or sensual search. And he succeeds because he is a great artist. In the same idea, the environment disappears: the background is flat, not located. Only remains the subject."
Hereabove I discussed Chardin. Cézanne's painting for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 3 deserves similar comments. This oil on paper laid down on panel, 41 x 72 cm, painted in 1893 or 1894, shows a pitcher and fruit on a bare table. Some of these fruits are on a saucer. On the left, a curtain caresses the table. We see it, held by two employees, on the image shared by Guardian.
Cézanne was a master of perspective, better than Chardin on this point. He had great care to distribute his subject on the table before composing the painting. This is why his projection of a space composition on the surface of the paper anticipates the work of the Cubists, who are known to have seen him as a precursor.
This painting, which was formerly part of the Barnes collection, is estimated £ 10 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting has been sold around the expected price. Result: £ 11.8 million including premium. Note that this price is remarkable for a work on paper.
1895 The Scream of Nature
2012 SOLD 120 M$ including premium
The Scream by Edvard Munch has every reason to be the most famous image of modern art.
The artist, exalted by the meaning of life, is constantly navigating the limits of a morbid insanity. In 1889, during the Exposition Universelle in Paris, he is fascinated by the intensity of emotions expressed by Van Gogh, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec.
In early 1892, Munch lives his own road to Damascus. He sees the sky ablaze at sunset, like an indomitable force of nature which has invaded the fjord in a terrible explosion of colors. He writes in his notebook a short poem stating that the happening had generated an intense fatigue to him.
No doubt he will be mesmerized by this vision for over a year, before daring to translate the memory of his anxiety as a painting and a pastel with a title evocating his inspiration: the Scream of Nature.
It took him another two years to exorcise his anxiety. In 1895, he made a second pastel, 79 x 59 cm, to be sold by Sotheby's in New York on May 2. Now conscious of having created a masterpiece, he prepares on the same year the first lithography. The fourth and last version of Munch's Scream is much later.
The pastel of 1895 is exceptional, and Sotheby's expects $ 80M. This is the only version where the artist has included the poem, hand painted into the frame. The two friends are still there in the distance, but are not any more interested in the scene, leaving the main character lonely struggling with his own dehumanization.
This is the only one of the four artworks to be still in private hands, and it had been little seen outside Norway. It is illustrated on Sotheby's page announcing the sale.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's International Realty.
POST SALE COMMENT
Ite missa est. In a few words, everything is told: world record for a work of art, $ 120M including premium.
Rarely a record has been so deserved: last original in private hands, this pastel also marks the top of the emotional maturity of the artist on this theme, with dazzling colors.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The artist, exalted by the meaning of life, is constantly navigating the limits of a morbid insanity. In 1889, during the Exposition Universelle in Paris, he is fascinated by the intensity of emotions expressed by Van Gogh, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec.
In early 1892, Munch lives his own road to Damascus. He sees the sky ablaze at sunset, like an indomitable force of nature which has invaded the fjord in a terrible explosion of colors. He writes in his notebook a short poem stating that the happening had generated an intense fatigue to him.
No doubt he will be mesmerized by this vision for over a year, before daring to translate the memory of his anxiety as a painting and a pastel with a title evocating his inspiration: the Scream of Nature.
It took him another two years to exorcise his anxiety. In 1895, he made a second pastel, 79 x 59 cm, to be sold by Sotheby's in New York on May 2. Now conscious of having created a masterpiece, he prepares on the same year the first lithography. The fourth and last version of Munch's Scream is much later.
The pastel of 1895 is exceptional, and Sotheby's expects $ 80M. This is the only version where the artist has included the poem, hand painted into the frame. The two friends are still there in the distance, but are not any more interested in the scene, leaving the main character lonely struggling with his own dehumanization.
This is the only one of the four artworks to be still in private hands, and it had been little seen outside Norway. It is illustrated on Sotheby's page announcing the sale.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's International Realty.
POST SALE COMMENT
Ite missa est. In a few words, everything is told: world record for a work of art, $ 120M including premium.
Rarely a record has been so deserved: last original in private hands, this pastel also marks the top of the emotional maturity of the artist on this theme, with dazzling colors.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1902-1906 Nature morte au melon vert, watercolor and pencil by Cézanne
2007 SOLD 25.5 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
1940 Poetry of the Constellations
2017 SOLD for £ 24.5M including premium
Joan Miro did not want to engage in politics but the tragic events forced his hand. His participation in the pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the 1937 Paris Exhibition did not go unnoticed. He feared retaliation and moved to Varengeville-sur-Mer in 1939.
Varengeville is one of the prettiest villages on the Normandy coast. Braque has his workshop and spends summers there. Calder is a frequent visitor. In this small land's end Miro calms his anxieties by contemplating the immensity of the night sky.
The personalization of the groupings of stars is one of the oldest poetic themes of our civilizations. Miro is not an astrologer but he is a poet. With the exceptional freedom of his imagination he superimposes on the sky the images of his fantasy.
In January 1940 Miro begins a series of artworks on the theme of the Constellations. They will all be on paper in the same size, 38 x 46 cm. The background is prepared by splashes of gouache and oil paint, more or less dark. The crescent moon and a few stars are the spectacular elements in bright colors accompanied by floating symbolic or abstract forms. The constellation, woman or bird, is a figure in thin lines surrounded by scrolls, scarcely more visible than a watermark.
The artist conceived from the outset this series as a coherent whole. The use of a a small and light format was premonitory. When he fled France to return to Spain in May 1940 he could take in his luggage the entire set : ten finished works and the pieces of paper that he will be use for the thirteen subsequent works.
The series of Constellations was completed in September 1941. Miro kept the secret until an exhibition in New York in 1945. Pollock was convinced by a possible non-figurative artistic transposition of an observable reality. With the Constellations of Miro modern art has just crossed the Atlantic.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 45 the eighth opus of Miro's Constellations, dated 13 April 1940. Its unusually simple title, Femme et Oiseaux, prefigures the favorite themes of the artist for the rest of his career. In this sky that calls for peace, Joan Miro is not calmed : the woman howls.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Varengeville is one of the prettiest villages on the Normandy coast. Braque has his workshop and spends summers there. Calder is a frequent visitor. In this small land's end Miro calms his anxieties by contemplating the immensity of the night sky.
The personalization of the groupings of stars is one of the oldest poetic themes of our civilizations. Miro is not an astrologer but he is a poet. With the exceptional freedom of his imagination he superimposes on the sky the images of his fantasy.
In January 1940 Miro begins a series of artworks on the theme of the Constellations. They will all be on paper in the same size, 38 x 46 cm. The background is prepared by splashes of gouache and oil paint, more or less dark. The crescent moon and a few stars are the spectacular elements in bright colors accompanied by floating symbolic or abstract forms. The constellation, woman or bird, is a figure in thin lines surrounded by scrolls, scarcely more visible than a watermark.
The artist conceived from the outset this series as a coherent whole. The use of a a small and light format was premonitory. When he fled France to return to Spain in May 1940 he could take in his luggage the entire set : ten finished works and the pieces of paper that he will be use for the thirteen subsequent works.
The series of Constellations was completed in September 1941. Miro kept the secret until an exhibition in New York in 1945. Pollock was convinced by a possible non-figurative artistic transposition of an observable reality. With the Constellations of Miro modern art has just crossed the Atlantic.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 45 the eighth opus of Miro's Constellations, dated 13 April 1940. Its unusually simple title, Femme et Oiseaux, prefigures the favorite themes of the artist for the rest of his career. In this sky that calls for peace, Joan Miro is not calmed : the woman howls.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1959 Poems to the sea by Cy Twombly
2013 SOLD for $ 21.7M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to Artvalue.
