Belgium 2nd page
1889 La Partie de Tennis by van Rysselberghe
2020 SOLD for € 5.2M including premium by Christie's
narrated post sale in 2020
In 1886 in Paris, Théo van Rysselberghe visits the eighth impressionist exhibition. He is keenly interested in the new effects demonstrated by Un dimanche après-midi à l'Ile de la Grande Jatte and meets Seurat and Signac.
Van Rysselberghe was also inspired by frequent stays in Morocco. He sees like Signac the possibility of using the divisionist technique to accentuate the impression of light. His dots will be broad, with a preeminence of light over the details of the line.
On June 4, 2020 in Paris, Christie's sold for € 5.2M over a lower estimate of € 2M an oil on canvas 54 x 67 cm painted in 1889, lot 344, titled A Thuin ou La Partie de Tennis.
The theme of this scene is a game with tennis rackets in a park. The playground is bordered by large trees. The two women wear long dresses for their occupation which is not a sport but an entertainment. The pointillist blur also leaves a doubt about the nature of this game, probably a jeu de volant. A little girl watches, cautiously back from the action.
The family of Marie Monnom, who became Théo's wife in the same year, was renting a country house in Thuin, near Charleroi. Marie is probably one of the two women in this picture.
The colors are unreal, to better accentuate the contrasts of light. An influence from the Japanese prints is likely. Van Rysselberghe had managed in 1887 to capture the confidence of Toulouse-Lautrec who was the first owner of this painting.
The progression of van Rysselberghe's pointillist art towards the intense lights beloved by Signac does not stop here. L'Escaut en amont d'Anvers le soir, oil on canvas 67 x 90 cm painted in 1892, was sold for £ 8.5M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 2017. Painted in the same year, an oil on canvas 60 x 70 cm showing les Tartanes dans le port de Cette was sold for $ 7.2M including premium on November 14, 2017, also by Sotheby's.
Van Rysselberghe was also inspired by frequent stays in Morocco. He sees like Signac the possibility of using the divisionist technique to accentuate the impression of light. His dots will be broad, with a preeminence of light over the details of the line.
On June 4, 2020 in Paris, Christie's sold for € 5.2M over a lower estimate of € 2M an oil on canvas 54 x 67 cm painted in 1889, lot 344, titled A Thuin ou La Partie de Tennis.
The theme of this scene is a game with tennis rackets in a park. The playground is bordered by large trees. The two women wear long dresses for their occupation which is not a sport but an entertainment. The pointillist blur also leaves a doubt about the nature of this game, probably a jeu de volant. A little girl watches, cautiously back from the action.
The family of Marie Monnom, who became Théo's wife in the same year, was renting a country house in Thuin, near Charleroi. Marie is probably one of the two women in this picture.
The colors are unreal, to better accentuate the contrasts of light. An influence from the Japanese prints is likely. Van Rysselberghe had managed in 1887 to capture the confidence of Toulouse-Lautrec who was the first owner of this painting.
The progression of van Rysselberghe's pointillist art towards the intense lights beloved by Signac does not stop here. L'Escaut en amont d'Anvers le soir, oil on canvas 67 x 90 cm painted in 1892, was sold for £ 8.5M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 2017. Painted in the same year, an oil on canvas 60 x 70 cm showing les Tartanes dans le port de Cette was sold for $ 7.2M including premium on November 14, 2017, also by Sotheby's.
1891 Art Ensor and Ace of Spades
2016 SOLD for € 7.4M including premium
The expression of social mockery by pictorial art cannot be welcomed by the public at the end of the 19th century. James Ensor behaves in the opposite to any other artist. When he sees his works refused in exhibitions, he withdraws to his hometown of Ostend where he chooses the most suitable themes to shock the bourgeois. Many years later, when he will become famous and recognized, he will also stop painting.
The young artist is a very good connoisseur of ancient art. The Entrance of Christ in Brussels, painted in 1889, is an anarchist-inspired crowd scene in a theme in the follow of Bosch and Bruegel.
Ensor lives for his art without providing information about his private life, but he likes to introduce his real image amidst the carnival masks. The danses macabres (dances of death) inspire him and his skeletons are indeed self-portraits. He is tall and handsome. The hussar with a dead's head who dominates the other characters in the scene is him again.
James Ensor introduces in his art riddles and messages to be decoded. The small oil on canvas 16 x 21 cm entitled Squelettes se disputant un hareng (skeletons contesting a herring) painted in 1891 is a masterpiece of Surrealism a quarter of a century before the creation of that movement. There is no difference in French pronunciation between hareng saur and Art Ensor.
An oil on canvas 30 x 51 cm has just surfaced. Entitled Squelette arrêtant masques (skeleton stopping masks), this oil on canvas had long been kept by the artist who gave it to a friend. Emile Verhaeren had listed it in Ensor's studio in 1908 but it had never been photographed or exhibited. It is estimated € 1M for sale by Sotheby's in Paris on December 7, lot 11.
Squelette arrêtant masques was painted in 1891 and displays high similarities in style with Squelettes se disputant un hareng : the characters are seen half length leaving all the top part of the picture for a superb Ostend sky.
The scene shows seven masks typical of the carnival of Ostend opposed to the hussar who manages to repel them. Their opposition is social : we do not know which sordid truth every mask can hide or which actual role the good bourgeois of Ostend wishes to play during the carnival. The soldier's skull shows his reality, it is the opposite of the mask. This skeleton lives his own life within a derisory and rejectable world, as the artist himself is doing.
Squelette arrêtant masques is signed ENSOR accompanied by a red ace of spades that seems single in the art of Ensor and has not been explained. In my opinion, this ace designates the artist as the champion of his own dissenting opinions. The spades card (in French : pique) is a military symbol that reinforces the identification of the hussar as a self-portrait. Red is the symbol of the revolution for the socialists.
The young artist is a very good connoisseur of ancient art. The Entrance of Christ in Brussels, painted in 1889, is an anarchist-inspired crowd scene in a theme in the follow of Bosch and Bruegel.
Ensor lives for his art without providing information about his private life, but he likes to introduce his real image amidst the carnival masks. The danses macabres (dances of death) inspire him and his skeletons are indeed self-portraits. He is tall and handsome. The hussar with a dead's head who dominates the other characters in the scene is him again.
James Ensor introduces in his art riddles and messages to be decoded. The small oil on canvas 16 x 21 cm entitled Squelettes se disputant un hareng (skeletons contesting a herring) painted in 1891 is a masterpiece of Surrealism a quarter of a century before the creation of that movement. There is no difference in French pronunciation between hareng saur and Art Ensor.
An oil on canvas 30 x 51 cm has just surfaced. Entitled Squelette arrêtant masques (skeleton stopping masks), this oil on canvas had long been kept by the artist who gave it to a friend. Emile Verhaeren had listed it in Ensor's studio in 1908 but it had never been photographed or exhibited. It is estimated € 1M for sale by Sotheby's in Paris on December 7, lot 11.
Squelette arrêtant masques was painted in 1891 and displays high similarities in style with Squelettes se disputant un hareng : the characters are seen half length leaving all the top part of the picture for a superb Ostend sky.
The scene shows seven masks typical of the carnival of Ostend opposed to the hussar who manages to repel them. Their opposition is social : we do not know which sordid truth every mask can hide or which actual role the good bourgeois of Ostend wishes to play during the carnival. The soldier's skull shows his reality, it is the opposite of the mask. This skeleton lives his own life within a derisory and rejectable world, as the artist himself is doing.
Squelette arrêtant masques is signed ENSOR accompanied by a red ace of spades that seems single in the art of Ensor and has not been explained. In my opinion, this ace designates the artist as the champion of his own dissenting opinions. The spades card (in French : pique) is a military symbol that reinforces the identification of the hussar as a self-portrait. Red is the symbol of the revolution for the socialists.
1892 Light on the Scheldt
2017 SOLD for £ 8.5M including premium
The néo-impressionnisme of Seurat and Signac seeks to adapt to the painting the theories of Chevreul on color perception. The divisionnistes juxtapose their dots of pure colors supposed to recombine the complete spectrum from a remote observation.
The followers of this movement early reach its limits. The brightness can actually be spectacular but only if the composition is overwhelmed by yellow and orange. The weakening of the other colors considerably reduces the themes.
Seurat died prematurely in 1891. Signac left to meet the sun. His oil on canvas 47 x 55 cm painted in 1892 showing Saint-Tropez under a top midday sunshine was sold for $ 10.7M including premium by Sotheby's on May 9, 2016.
Théo van Rysselberghe is a friend of Signac with whom he shares the anarchist opinions. He is convinced by the divisionnisme without joining its luministe variant promoted by Emile Claus and other Belgian néo-impressionnistes.
In 1892 and 1893 van Rysselberghe achieved some sensational luminosity in his oils on canvas. Decidedly attracted by the sun he settled in Provence in the late 1890s but already his art had become classic again.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells L'Escaut en amont d'Anvers le soir, oil on canvas 67 x 90 cm painted in 1892. The composition is very simple, only displaying four poles and their reflections and a small sailboat that merges into the twilight blue of the other bank of the river. Sky and water are glowing. Remaining in its original artist's frame this painting is estimated £ 7M, lot 59.
The followers of this movement early reach its limits. The brightness can actually be spectacular but only if the composition is overwhelmed by yellow and orange. The weakening of the other colors considerably reduces the themes.
Seurat died prematurely in 1891. Signac left to meet the sun. His oil on canvas 47 x 55 cm painted in 1892 showing Saint-Tropez under a top midday sunshine was sold for $ 10.7M including premium by Sotheby's on May 9, 2016.
Théo van Rysselberghe is a friend of Signac with whom he shares the anarchist opinions. He is convinced by the divisionnisme without joining its luministe variant promoted by Emile Claus and other Belgian néo-impressionnistes.
In 1892 and 1893 van Rysselberghe achieved some sensational luminosity in his oils on canvas. Decidedly attracted by the sun he settled in Provence in the late 1890s but already his art had become classic again.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells L'Escaut en amont d'Anvers le soir, oil on canvas 67 x 90 cm painted in 1892. The composition is very simple, only displaying four poles and their reflections and a small sailboat that merges into the twilight blue of the other bank of the river. Sky and water are glowing. Remaining in its original artist's frame this painting is estimated £ 7M, lot 59.
#AuctionUpdate Showing his mastery of the #pointilliste technique, one of Théo van Rysselberghe’s finest #landscapes sells for record £8.5m pic.twitter.com/a7lGnm4Dpg
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 21, 2017
1892 Port de Cette by van Rysselberghe
2017 SOLD for $ 7.2M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
1892 A Modern Proverb in Ostend
2015 SOLD for $ 7M including premium
James Ensor was born in a fantastic world. His parents run a souvenir shop in Ostend where they sold grotesque masks for the carnival. The young man was working in their attic where he could at leisure reconstitute macabre scenes in the style of the Renaissance.
He spent nearly his whole life in Ostend. The recognition of his art was long and hard in this provincial town where nobody was paying attention to his first colorful paintings close to the beginning of impressionism. His hatred of social conventions generated a period of intense creativity that lasted from 1888 to 1892.
He painted in 1889 his masterpiece, the Entry of Christ into Brussels, which is a diversion of the carnivals from Bruegel on which the crowd of masked characters is now waving revolutionary slogans.
Ensor is an artist of the social mockery long before the caricatures by Grosz and long before the surrealists. His Despair of Pierrot painted in 1892 anticipates the mournful clowns from Picasso's blue period. This oil on canvas 117 x 167 cm from the Saint-Laurent - Bergé collection was sold for € 5M including premium by Christie's on February 23, 2009.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells Les Poissardes mélancoliques, lot 19 estimated $ 3M.
This oil on canvas 110 x 80 cm painted in 1892 features two old women seated in an interior lined with trinkets. It is easy to appreciate why they are melancholic. Nothing remains from their fish trade excepted a mackerel shredded by the cat and a crab shell.
A niche with a proverb is inserted in the back wall, as in the old Dutch interior scenes. It is populated by three skulls with aggressive jaws. A sign marked with a slogan springs from this place as a challenge to the well-thinking bourgeoisie of Ostend: "Death to them! They ate too much fish!".
He spent nearly his whole life in Ostend. The recognition of his art was long and hard in this provincial town where nobody was paying attention to his first colorful paintings close to the beginning of impressionism. His hatred of social conventions generated a period of intense creativity that lasted from 1888 to 1892.
He painted in 1889 his masterpiece, the Entry of Christ into Brussels, which is a diversion of the carnivals from Bruegel on which the crowd of masked characters is now waving revolutionary slogans.
Ensor is an artist of the social mockery long before the caricatures by Grosz and long before the surrealists. His Despair of Pierrot painted in 1892 anticipates the mournful clowns from Picasso's blue period. This oil on canvas 117 x 167 cm from the Saint-Laurent - Bergé collection was sold for € 5M including premium by Christie's on February 23, 2009.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells Les Poissardes mélancoliques, lot 19 estimated $ 3M.
This oil on canvas 110 x 80 cm painted in 1892 features two old women seated in an interior lined with trinkets. It is easy to appreciate why they are melancholic. Nothing remains from their fish trade excepted a mackerel shredded by the cat and a crab shell.
A niche with a proverb is inserted in the back wall, as in the old Dutch interior scenes. It is populated by three skulls with aggressive jaws. A sign marked with a slogan springs from this place as a challenge to the well-thinking bourgeoisie of Ostend: "Death to them! They ate too much fish!".
1932 Tintin on Cover Page
2012 SOLD 1.34 M€ including premium
The reporter Tintin has set out to conquer the world. The character created by Hergé meets the expectations of the public of the 1930s for moralistic adventures in an increasingly dangerous world.
At first, the adventures of Tintin are published in black and white, only the cover page is in color. Hergé made a gouache cover for each of the first five Tintin books. Two of them are privately owned and represent the Holy Grail of Tintin lovers.
In 1932, after Soviet Russia and the Belgian Congo, Tintin tackles America. He is the good boy who comes to oppose the powerful gangsters of Chicago and confront the picturesque Indian customs.
The original gouache cover of Tintin en Amérique was sold for € 764K including premium by Artcurial on March 29, 2008. Tintin cooks his food and Milou-Snowy gnaws a hard bone without appreciating that they are watched by the Indians.
This work is coming back for sale at Artcurial, in Paris on June 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
The press has started announcing the result, which is exceptional: € 1.34 million including premium. There was no doubt that this gouache is one of the most prestigious pieces in the whole history of French speaking comics.
At first, the adventures of Tintin are published in black and white, only the cover page is in color. Hergé made a gouache cover for each of the first five Tintin books. Two of them are privately owned and represent the Holy Grail of Tintin lovers.
In 1932, after Soviet Russia and the Belgian Congo, Tintin tackles America. He is the good boy who comes to oppose the powerful gangsters of Chicago and confront the picturesque Indian customs.
The original gouache cover of Tintin en Amérique was sold for € 764K including premium by Artcurial on March 29, 2008. Tintin cooks his food and Milou-Snowy gnaws a hard bone without appreciating that they are watched by the Indians.
This work is coming back for sale at Artcurial, in Paris on June 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
The press has started announcing the result, which is exceptional: € 1.34 million including premium. There was no doubt that this gouache is one of the most prestigious pieces in the whole history of French speaking comics.
1936 The Treachery of the Mirror
2016 SOLD for £ 7.3M including premium
La Trahison des images, featured by Magritte in 1929, is a manifesto or a guide of his vision concerning the artistic language. The image of the pipe is opposed by the writing : this is not a pipe. This statement is wrong, but it is also true: it is not a pipe but a painted canvas. Truth does not exist.
Paul Delvaux discovers in 1934 the surrealism in the manner of Magritte and De Chirico. He finds thereby the thread of his entire career. In the silence of the canvas, without a need for words, the reflection in the mirror and the shadows know how to lie.
Delvaux beautifully draws the nude women. Their psychology is not visible in their static attitude but through their surrounding. They face their double, who can be a dressed woman or a reflection or a dummy.
Le Miroir, oil on canvas 110 x 136 cm painted in 1936, demonstrates the creativity of the artist in the early days of his approach.
The woman turns her back to us, sitting on a stool in an interior. Her beautiful evening dress contrasts with the wall paper that peels into a misery which is certainly the truth that she wants to escape.
She watches her desire in the mirror. Her reflection is in the same seated position but now she is naked within a gate that opens onto a sunny courtyard with trees. The reflection of the shabby paper is also visible. The new angle reveals her smile of hope. The light remains logic with shadows that do not contradict it.
The doubt arises from the opposition between the inside and the outside. The title appeals for a mirror but does that woman look at her reflection or at a painted image which in this case would be a painting in the painting ? This question shall remain unanswered, both without truth and without lie.
Le Miroir was sold for £ 3.2M including premium by Christie's on December 8, 1999. It is estimated £ 5.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 3, lot 48.
Paul Delvaux discovers in 1934 the surrealism in the manner of Magritte and De Chirico. He finds thereby the thread of his entire career. In the silence of the canvas, without a need for words, the reflection in the mirror and the shadows know how to lie.
Delvaux beautifully draws the nude women. Their psychology is not visible in their static attitude but through their surrounding. They face their double, who can be a dressed woman or a reflection or a dummy.
Le Miroir, oil on canvas 110 x 136 cm painted in 1936, demonstrates the creativity of the artist in the early days of his approach.
The woman turns her back to us, sitting on a stool in an interior. Her beautiful evening dress contrasts with the wall paper that peels into a misery which is certainly the truth that she wants to escape.
She watches her desire in the mirror. Her reflection is in the same seated position but now she is naked within a gate that opens onto a sunny courtyard with trees. The reflection of the shabby paper is also visible. The new angle reveals her smile of hope. The light remains logic with shadows that do not contradict it.
The doubt arises from the opposition between the inside and the outside. The title appeals for a mirror but does that woman look at her reflection or at a painted image which in this case would be a painting in the painting ? This question shall remain unanswered, both without truth and without lie.
Le Miroir was sold for £ 3.2M including premium by Christie's on December 8, 1999. It is estimated £ 5.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 3, lot 48.
1937 The 34 Labours of Tintin
2014 SOLD 2.65 M€ including premium
From 1934, Casterman in Tournai publishes the new Tintin albums and reissues the earlier stories.
In 1937, when young readers open L'Oreille Cassée, they cannot miss a first double page consisting of 34 drawings in white on a dark blue background displaying Tintin in the most typical situations from his adventures.
The first album, Tintin au Pays des Soviets, is not used, not for political reasons but because Casterman could not work on this story whose some drawings had been lost.
The Tintinophiles rejoice to find an intruder (a single one) : Tintin and Snowy dressed as polar explorers, a situation that will not occur until five years later.
This double page used by Casterman until 1958 encouraged the users to read again and buy all the albums. It is a masterpiece of Hergé, and an outstanding example of wordless advertising.
The original art in black ink retouched with white gouache, 35 x 53 cm is estimated € 700K, for sale by Artcurial in Paris on May 24.
The same auction also includes two lots related to another mythical image : the cover of L'Ile Noire at its reissue in 1942.
The original line drawing in ink, 51 x 35 cm, is estimated € 600K. The original color formatting made in gouache over a gray print of the same image, 39 x 30 cm, is estimated € 70K.
POST SALE COMMENT
These drawings are well among the top masterpieces by Hergé. The double page for the Casterman albums was sold for € 2.1 million and the cover art in black ink for l'Ile Noire for € 800K. The gouache for l'Ile Noire was sold for € 80K.
The above prices do not include the premium.
In 1937, when young readers open L'Oreille Cassée, they cannot miss a first double page consisting of 34 drawings in white on a dark blue background displaying Tintin in the most typical situations from his adventures.
The first album, Tintin au Pays des Soviets, is not used, not for political reasons but because Casterman could not work on this story whose some drawings had been lost.
The Tintinophiles rejoice to find an intruder (a single one) : Tintin and Snowy dressed as polar explorers, a situation that will not occur until five years later.
This double page used by Casterman until 1958 encouraged the users to read again and buy all the albums. It is a masterpiece of Hergé, and an outstanding example of wordless advertising.
The original art in black ink retouched with white gouache, 35 x 53 cm is estimated € 700K, for sale by Artcurial in Paris on May 24.
The same auction also includes two lots related to another mythical image : the cover of L'Ile Noire at its reissue in 1942.
The original line drawing in ink, 51 x 35 cm, is estimated € 600K. The original color formatting made in gouache over a gray print of the same image, 39 x 30 cm, is estimated € 70K.
POST SALE COMMENT
These drawings are well among the top masterpieces by Hergé. The double page for the Casterman albums was sold for € 2.1 million and the cover art in black ink for l'Ile Noire for € 800K. The gouache for l'Ile Noire was sold for € 80K.
The above prices do not include the premium.
1939 Tintin and the Luftwaffe
2015 SOLD for € 1.56M including premium
From one story to another, Tintin never gets older. His post-adolescent freshness seduces his readers. This does not happen in that way in real life, fortunately. His author and father Hergé reaches an extended range of view and thought which pushes him away from the Rexisme, the Belgian fascism. Just in time. If Hergé had followed the editorial line of the newspaper that employed him, Le Vingtième Siècle, his work would not have survived the Second World War.
In Le Sceptre d'Ottokar, Tintin is in the service of the King of Syldavie (in English: Ruritania) who is a barely veiled substitute for the King of Belgium. After an operation in another country that symbolizes the Balkan fascism, Tintin comes back to Syldavie by foolishly seizing a military plane. Hergé keeps the logic by leaving the Syldavian anti-aircraft defense shooting down the enemy plane piloted by his hero when it crosses the border.
Published in Le Petit Vingtième on July 6, 1939, the plates 95 and 96 of Le Sceptre d'Ottokar show that firing. The original drawing on a single sheet 40 x 60 cm is estimated € 600K for sale by Sotheby's in Paris on October 24, lot 94.
The aircraft piloted by Tintin is a Heinkel He 118 and clearly bears the mark of that company which equips the Luftwaffe with its most terrifying bombers. Through this illustration, Hergé had warned his young readers two months before the outbreak of the war that the fascisms are supported by the Third Reich.
The plane hit by a shell falls diving. These images echo the fact that the intended use by the Luftwaffe for that Heinkel model is the bombing through a diving to the target. Heinkel is a flagship of the Nazi technology.
These pages with three rows of images are in the earlier format of the Tintin albums. When Le Sceptre d'Ottokar is redrawn for its color edition in 1947, Heinkel is no longer a threat and the aircraft becomes a Messerschmitt fighter, a brand which is better known by the readers.
In Le Sceptre d'Ottokar, Tintin is in the service of the King of Syldavie (in English: Ruritania) who is a barely veiled substitute for the King of Belgium. After an operation in another country that symbolizes the Balkan fascism, Tintin comes back to Syldavie by foolishly seizing a military plane. Hergé keeps the logic by leaving the Syldavian anti-aircraft defense shooting down the enemy plane piloted by his hero when it crosses the border.
Published in Le Petit Vingtième on July 6, 1939, the plates 95 and 96 of Le Sceptre d'Ottokar show that firing. The original drawing on a single sheet 40 x 60 cm is estimated € 600K for sale by Sotheby's in Paris on October 24, lot 94.
The aircraft piloted by Tintin is a Heinkel He 118 and clearly bears the mark of that company which equips the Luftwaffe with its most terrifying bombers. Through this illustration, Hergé had warned his young readers two months before the outbreak of the war that the fascisms are supported by the Third Reich.
The plane hit by a shell falls diving. These images echo the fact that the intended use by the Luftwaffe for that Heinkel model is the bombing through a diving to the target. Heinkel is a flagship of the Nazi technology.
These pages with three rows of images are in the earlier format of the Tintin albums. When Le Sceptre d'Ottokar is redrawn for its color edition in 1947, Heinkel is no longer a threat and the aircraft becomes a Messerschmitt fighter, a brand which is better known by the readers.
1941 The War Nudes of Paul Delvaux
2011 SOLD 6.6 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Delvaux is a figurative painter, but not narrative. His nude women do nothing but being looked, like geishas of theWest. They stay in antique architectures that seem familiar without being identified.
The oil on canvas, 110 x 130 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 1, is an exception. It was painted in Brussels in 1941, in the stifling atmosphere of war.
Women are shown in three distances. Two are close. Two are intertwined in the background landscape. The other two, naked only above the waist, are each on the arm of a man with a bowler hat who seems to come straight from Magritte.
The two women in the foreground wish to communicate. Subtly, their anguish is only reflected by the twisting of the hands. A man, half-over on the left, could help but they do not look at him: it is one of very few paintings in which Delvaux has introduced his self-portrait.
Compared to the usual softly erotic works of Delvaux, this painting is exceptional. It is estimated $ 6M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This rare painting loaded with emotion was sold $ 6.6M including premium.
Delvaux is a figurative painter, but not narrative. His nude women do nothing but being looked, like geishas of theWest. They stay in antique architectures that seem familiar without being identified.
The oil on canvas, 110 x 130 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 1, is an exception. It was painted in Brussels in 1941, in the stifling atmosphere of war.
Women are shown in three distances. Two are close. Two are intertwined in the background landscape. The other two, naked only above the waist, are each on the arm of a man with a bowler hat who seems to come straight from Magritte.
The two women in the foreground wish to communicate. Subtly, their anguish is only reflected by the twisting of the hands. A man, half-over on the left, could help but they do not look at him: it is one of very few paintings in which Delvaux has introduced his self-portrait.
Compared to the usual softly erotic works of Delvaux, this painting is exceptional. It is estimated $ 6M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This rare painting loaded with emotion was sold $ 6.6M including premium.
1954 A Young Boy on the Moon
2016 SOLD for € 1.55M including premium
War is over and Hergé endeavors to rely his new themes on novelties. The frightening German missiles suggest that the conquest of space will soon be possible. In the USA the atomic plant at Oak Ridge is a model for a modern organization capable of carrying out industrial projects of unprecedented ambition.
Hergé decides to send Tintin, his dog and his friends on the Moon after they contributed to the development of the space program. The story is titled On a marché sur la Lune (English title : Explorers on the Moon) and will be pre-published in the Belgian weekly Journal de Tintin.
The publication began in 1950 but was stopped after 24 pages, just before the launch of the test rocket. The novelty of the subject, seven years before Sputnik 1, apparently intimidated Hergé ever anxious to wrap his fantasies in a realistic surrounding. He takes the relevant information on the lunar topography, on movements in weightlessness and on the weak gravitational pull of the Moon.
The weekly issue restarts two years later and ends on 30 December 1953. Unlike the pre-war stories that were prepared in double pages, each original is limited to one page.
They must now prepare for the album. The story is very long and is split at that time in two albums released in 1954 : the adventures on Earth become Objectif Lune (English title : Destination Moon) and the actual journey retains the original title. To adjust to two books of 62 pages each, many changes are made in the settings of the pages and some gags are reworked.
Two original drawings 37 x 51 cm in black and white before letters and colors are sold in Paris on November 19 by two separate auction houses.
Christie's sells the page 117 of the first version, published in Le Journal de Tintin on December 9, 1953 and remaining unchanged as page 59 of second album. The rocket reaches Earth after a late braking and a disaster is likely. The traveling heroes are not visible. The art is estimated € 350K, lot 75.
Artcurial sells the page 26 of the second album, which is a rearranged copy of the bottom of page 78 and of the full page 79 of the pre-publication. The arrival of Milou (Snowy) on the Lunar ground and his first experience with Lunar gravitation have been simplified. This page shows the astonishment of the characters in those conditions that no living creature had experienced before them. It is funny and emblematic. It is estimated € 700K, lot 498.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Artcurial : € 1.55M
Christie's : € 600K
Hergé decides to send Tintin, his dog and his friends on the Moon after they contributed to the development of the space program. The story is titled On a marché sur la Lune (English title : Explorers on the Moon) and will be pre-published in the Belgian weekly Journal de Tintin.
The publication began in 1950 but was stopped after 24 pages, just before the launch of the test rocket. The novelty of the subject, seven years before Sputnik 1, apparently intimidated Hergé ever anxious to wrap his fantasies in a realistic surrounding. He takes the relevant information on the lunar topography, on movements in weightlessness and on the weak gravitational pull of the Moon.
The weekly issue restarts two years later and ends on 30 December 1953. Unlike the pre-war stories that were prepared in double pages, each original is limited to one page.
They must now prepare for the album. The story is very long and is split at that time in two albums released in 1954 : the adventures on Earth become Objectif Lune (English title : Destination Moon) and the actual journey retains the original title. To adjust to two books of 62 pages each, many changes are made in the settings of the pages and some gags are reworked.
Two original drawings 37 x 51 cm in black and white before letters and colors are sold in Paris on November 19 by two separate auction houses.
Christie's sells the page 117 of the first version, published in Le Journal de Tintin on December 9, 1953 and remaining unchanged as page 59 of second album. The rocket reaches Earth after a late braking and a disaster is likely. The traveling heroes are not visible. The art is estimated € 350K, lot 75.
Artcurial sells the page 26 of the second album, which is a rearranged copy of the bottom of page 78 and of the full page 79 of the pre-publication. The arrival of Milou (Snowy) on the Lunar ground and his first experience with Lunar gravitation have been simplified. This page shows the astonishment of the characters in those conditions that no living creature had experienced before them. It is funny and emblematic. It is estimated € 700K, lot 498.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Artcurial : € 1.55M
Christie's : € 600K
1999 Non-Portraits by Luc Tuymans
2016 SOLD for £ 1.48M including premium
The past has fled and photographs lie about the true nature of mankind. Luc Tuymans reconstructs images from pictures selected online. He copies that digital assembly in a painting with pale colors that accentuate the derisory vision of a bygone era.
For example, the artist painted a portrait in 2001 which is mingling the faces of Eisenhower and Mitterrand. The new hybrid has a conceited attitude and its title, Rumour, contributes to the repellent effect desired by the artist. This oil on canvas 118 x 67 cm was sold for $ 2.7 million including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013.
Mrs, painted in 1999, is an oil on canvas 217 x 134 cm, a large size unusual in the work of Tuymans. The woman is seen lifesize. Her hair and her handbag freeze her in the 1960s. She could be Jackie Kennedy except that her face is completely empty.
Mrs is the anonymous woman. She follows the fashion of her time like millions of other women. We will never know anything more about her, and there is no need to know. In her ordinary and outdated attitude, she is the opposite of the timeless woman. If she ever had a history, it vanished. Our history of today will follow the same path.
Mrs was sold for $ 1,08M including premium by Christie's on 15 November 2006. It is estimated £ 1.2M for sale by Christie's in London on February 11, lot 19.
For example, the artist painted a portrait in 2001 which is mingling the faces of Eisenhower and Mitterrand. The new hybrid has a conceited attitude and its title, Rumour, contributes to the repellent effect desired by the artist. This oil on canvas 118 x 67 cm was sold for $ 2.7 million including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013.
Mrs, painted in 1999, is an oil on canvas 217 x 134 cm, a large size unusual in the work of Tuymans. The woman is seen lifesize. Her hair and her handbag freeze her in the 1960s. She could be Jackie Kennedy except that her face is completely empty.
Mrs is the anonymous woman. She follows the fashion of her time like millions of other women. We will never know anything more about her, and there is no need to know. In her ordinary and outdated attitude, she is the opposite of the timeless woman. If she ever had a history, it vanished. Our history of today will follow the same path.
Mrs was sold for $ 1,08M including premium by Christie's on 15 November 2006. It is estimated £ 1.2M for sale by Christie's in London on February 11, lot 19.
