Decade 1900-1909
See also : Painting Nude Children Cities France Monet Pond by Monet London and Venice Venice Picasso Picasso < 1907 Picasso 1907-1931 Austria Northern Europe
1901 The Outbreak of the Blue Period
2015 SOLD for $ 67M including premium
Pablo Picasso returned to Paris in May 1901, torn between the desire for debauchery and the anguish of death. He was not yet 20 years old. Thus begins his Blue Period, charged with an intense emotion that combines lust and misery.
He is gifted and already recognized. His first exhibition at Vollard's begins on 25 June. He lives at 130 Boulevard de Clichy with Pedro "Pere" Mañach who is his broker and introduces his artworks to Berthe Weill.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells La gommeuse, oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm, lot 26.
The woman is visible down to her lower hips. She is nude by her job and not for pleasure even though her disillusioned gaze may also be attributed to absinth. Her attitude with raised shoulders and hanging breasts is miserable though she is not slender.
The title is an additional mockery. In the previous century, a gommeur was a type of ridiculous character trying to make his living by performing in the cafés-concerts. The word was later applied to women.
Art is more important. Behind Pablo's gommeuse, we see the lower part of a painting on the wall showing the legs of a ballerina along with a flower throwing. The artist is attracted and repelled by the cabaret world that ultimately is not his. The gommeuse does not watch the painting.
Pablo had here an intention for caricature which is expressed with more fancy on the recently uncovered back side of that painting. The nude body of a ballerina is surmounted by the head of Mañach according to the principle of these portraits-charges which were so popular at that time in the Parisian society.
This back also has an inscription to his friend on the occasion of his feast. If this date is interpreted as St. Peter's day, this dedication allows to date the back on 29 June 1901. The front side should logically be earlier than the sketched reverse, making this gommeuse one of the triggering prototypes of the blue period.
The importance of this painting in the history of Picasso's creativity is undeniable. The estimate is not published by Sotheby's but a price around $ 60M would not be surprising.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
He is gifted and already recognized. His first exhibition at Vollard's begins on 25 June. He lives at 130 Boulevard de Clichy with Pedro "Pere" Mañach who is his broker and introduces his artworks to Berthe Weill.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells La gommeuse, oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm, lot 26.
The woman is visible down to her lower hips. She is nude by her job and not for pleasure even though her disillusioned gaze may also be attributed to absinth. Her attitude with raised shoulders and hanging breasts is miserable though she is not slender.
The title is an additional mockery. In the previous century, a gommeur was a type of ridiculous character trying to make his living by performing in the cafés-concerts. The word was later applied to women.
Art is more important. Behind Pablo's gommeuse, we see the lower part of a painting on the wall showing the legs of a ballerina along with a flower throwing. The artist is attracted and repelled by the cabaret world that ultimately is not his. The gommeuse does not watch the painting.
Pablo had here an intention for caricature which is expressed with more fancy on the recently uncovered back side of that painting. The nude body of a ballerina is surmounted by the head of Mañach according to the principle of these portraits-charges which were so popular at that time in the Parisian society.
This back also has an inscription to his friend on the occasion of his feast. If this date is interpreted as St. Peter's day, this dedication allows to date the back on 29 June 1901. The front side should logically be earlier than the sketched reverse, making this gommeuse one of the triggering prototypes of the blue period.
The importance of this painting in the history of Picasso's creativity is undeniable. The estimate is not published by Sotheby's but a price around $ 60M would not be surprising.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1901 Femme aux bras croisés by Picasso
2000 SOLD for $ 55M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
From 1900, Picasso lived alternately in Barcelona and Paris. He settled permanently in Paris in April 1904. We may believe that his art influenced his melancholy, and not the reverse, to be correlated with the fact that no event in his sentimental life was identified to explain the triggering of the Période bleue.
The terminus post quem of the blue period is the exhibition at the Vollard gallery, which begins on June 24, 1901. Picasso appears as a brilliant colorist, with a wide variety of themes around worldly life and a youthful spontaneity. The terminus ante quem of the change in mood is a visit by Sabartes in his workshop at the end of the fall of the same year : the bright colors are gone, all the paintings are predominantly blue.
The themes also changed, with three variants of miserabilism : acrobats, alcohol in cafes, the women of Saint-Lazare. Sabartes confirmed that Picasso deliberately wanted to transform his art for integrating humanist characteristics such as sadness and pain.
Saint-Lazare is the prison-hospital where prostituted women live a hopeless decline. Picasso found cheap models there, and it was indeed at this point that his ideas went dismal. One morning, on the road once again for Saint-Lazare, he conceived L'Enterrement de Casagemas, the oil on canvas 150 x 90 cm which is often considered as the earliest example of the blue period.
On November 8, 2000, Christie's sold Femme aux bras croisés for $ 55M including premium, lot 43. This oil on canvas 81 x 58 cm is undoubtedly the portrait of a prisoner at Saint-Lazare. The starving woman expects nothing and looks at nothing. The position of the arms is protective, but she has nothing to protect. Picasso will later consider women as suffering machines.
It is difficult to accurately date some works from the blue period : the artist often reused his canvases, either for new compositions or for major alterations, which was the case for the Femme aux bras croisés. Considering Picasso's visits to Saint-Lazare in 1901 and this very allegorical interpretation of misery, this tragic painting was probably begun in Paris in the early phase of the blue period.
The terminus post quem of the blue period is the exhibition at the Vollard gallery, which begins on June 24, 1901. Picasso appears as a brilliant colorist, with a wide variety of themes around worldly life and a youthful spontaneity. The terminus ante quem of the change in mood is a visit by Sabartes in his workshop at the end of the fall of the same year : the bright colors are gone, all the paintings are predominantly blue.
The themes also changed, with three variants of miserabilism : acrobats, alcohol in cafes, the women of Saint-Lazare. Sabartes confirmed that Picasso deliberately wanted to transform his art for integrating humanist characteristics such as sadness and pain.
Saint-Lazare is the prison-hospital where prostituted women live a hopeless decline. Picasso found cheap models there, and it was indeed at this point that his ideas went dismal. One morning, on the road once again for Saint-Lazare, he conceived L'Enterrement de Casagemas, the oil on canvas 150 x 90 cm which is often considered as the earliest example of the blue period.
On November 8, 2000, Christie's sold Femme aux bras croisés for $ 55M including premium, lot 43. This oil on canvas 81 x 58 cm is undoubtedly the portrait of a prisoner at Saint-Lazare. The starving woman expects nothing and looks at nothing. The position of the arms is protective, but she has nothing to protect. Picasso will later consider women as suffering machines.
It is difficult to accurately date some works from the blue period : the artist often reused his canvases, either for new compositions or for major alterations, which was the case for the Femme aux bras croisés. Considering Picasso's visits to Saint-Lazare in 1901 and this very allegorical interpretation of misery, this tragic painting was probably begun in Paris in the early phase of the blue period.
1902 Four Girls away from the Guardrail
2016 SOLD for $ 55M including premium
Edvard Munch wants to be the artist of existence. His project for a frieze series on life, love and death makes him busy since 1893 but does not calm the emotional instability of his own life.
The legitimate hope for a happy life mercilessly leads to the forbidden love with the Vampire, the untold abortion of Madonna and the open madness of the Scream. The line and color are a scathing expression, after Gauguin and Van Gogh, before Matisse, Kirchner and Kandinsky.
His characters play the tragedy of a mental loneliness which is not canceled by their presence in or near a group. Sometimes the stage is guarded on one side by an endless railing over which one or more actors will come at some time to meditate while leaning over the water. This theatrical similarity is the terrible common feature between the Scream, paroxysm of terror, and the very peaceful Girls on the bridge.
In 1901 and 1902, Munch painted several versions of Girls on the bridge, with various position of the characters. One of these artworks brings a little more hope than the other ones. Far away from the suicidal railing, it displays a tight group of four in an attitude conducive to opening a discussion but indeed still not to the exchange of secrets.
This oil on canvas 101 x 102 cm painted in 1902 was sold for $ 30.8 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York on 7 May 2008. It comes back in the same auction room on November 14, lot 12. The press release of October 21 announces an estimate in excess of $ 50M.
The legitimate hope for a happy life mercilessly leads to the forbidden love with the Vampire, the untold abortion of Madonna and the open madness of the Scream. The line and color are a scathing expression, after Gauguin and Van Gogh, before Matisse, Kirchner and Kandinsky.
His characters play the tragedy of a mental loneliness which is not canceled by their presence in or near a group. Sometimes the stage is guarded on one side by an endless railing over which one or more actors will come at some time to meditate while leaning over the water. This theatrical similarity is the terrible common feature between the Scream, paroxysm of terror, and the very peaceful Girls on the bridge.
In 1901 and 1902, Munch painted several versions of Girls on the bridge, with various position of the characters. One of these artworks brings a little more hope than the other ones. Far away from the suicidal railing, it displays a tight group of four in an attitude conducive to opening a discussion but indeed still not to the exchange of secrets.
This oil on canvas 101 x 102 cm painted in 1902 was sold for $ 30.8 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York on 7 May 2008. It comes back in the same auction room on November 14, lot 12. The press release of October 21 announces an estimate in excess of $ 50M.
Edvard Munch’s ‘Girls on the Bridge’ will headline our Impressionist & Modern Art sales this November: https://t.co/tMh6b1ZWyv pic.twitter.com/SF0jHnPYDD
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 21, 2016
1903 Le Parlement by Monet
2022 SOLD for $ 76M by Christie's
During a brief stay in London in 1899 for family purpose, Monet observed the Thames. He came back for painting on the late winter of the following year.
Through his window at the Savoy Hotel, Monet watches Waterloo and Charing Cross bridges in the pink fog of the morning. On one of the first evenings he sees the sunset above the neo-Gothic buildings of the Houses of Parliament and the river. Like Constable, he will be an extraordinary interpreter of the English sky.
The best view is selected in February 1900 from the garden of St. Thomas's Hospital. The artist is already famous. He easily gets the authorization to work every day in this place. Every afternoon at 4:00, he leaves the hotel to retrieve or resettle his easels at the hospital.
The light changes at every moment with the clouds pushed by the wind and the instability of the fog. As for the poplars in 1891, Monet works on several paintings in parallel. His control is total and even his method for applying his brush varies depending on the desired effect.
This project is the most amazing in the history of painting. By considering the three motifs altogether (the two bridges and the Parliament), Monet maintains a hundred paintings during this 1900 stay. He leaves London before spring when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. He returns with his paintings in the following year but snow and cold prevent a new progress.
Monet finishes his paintings at Giverny and scrupulously notes the year of completion beside his signature. He considers the whole as inseparable until the 1904 exhibition by Durand-Ruel that gets a considerable success, anticipating his famous uncompromising attitude before the first exhibition of his Water Lilies series.
The subgroup of the Parliament from St. Thomas's at sunset consists of 19 oil paintings in a unique format 81 x 93 cm.
Le Parlement - soleil couchant, numbered 1603 by Wildenstein, was sold for $ 40.5M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 24A. Dated 1902, this painting is one of the first that was completed by the artist, perhaps because the very expressive sky is particularly successful. Despite the clouds, the sun plays behind the high tower and the soft pink shades apply to the edges of the clouds and to the reflections in the river.
The Wildenstein 1604, with the same title and subtitle, was dated 1903 by the artist. Both were included in the 1904 exhibition of Monet's Vues de la Tamise à Londres at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Both sceneries were captured at about the same time at around 5 o'clock in another twilight, W1603 at a later date. W1603 displays a striking appearance of the sun amidst dramatic clouds while W1604 is foggy in violets, lilacs, blues and deep pink with a ghostly silhouette of the Parliament buildings.
W1604 was sold for $ 76M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 10C.
Monet painted 41 views of the elegant Waterloo bridge and 37 views of Charing Cross bridge. On May 13, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 48M Waterloo Bridge effet de Brouillard, oil on canvas 66 x 100 cm dated 1903, lot 8 B.
Through his window at the Savoy Hotel, Monet watches Waterloo and Charing Cross bridges in the pink fog of the morning. On one of the first evenings he sees the sunset above the neo-Gothic buildings of the Houses of Parliament and the river. Like Constable, he will be an extraordinary interpreter of the English sky.
The best view is selected in February 1900 from the garden of St. Thomas's Hospital. The artist is already famous. He easily gets the authorization to work every day in this place. Every afternoon at 4:00, he leaves the hotel to retrieve or resettle his easels at the hospital.
The light changes at every moment with the clouds pushed by the wind and the instability of the fog. As for the poplars in 1891, Monet works on several paintings in parallel. His control is total and even his method for applying his brush varies depending on the desired effect.
This project is the most amazing in the history of painting. By considering the three motifs altogether (the two bridges and the Parliament), Monet maintains a hundred paintings during this 1900 stay. He leaves London before spring when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. He returns with his paintings in the following year but snow and cold prevent a new progress.
Monet finishes his paintings at Giverny and scrupulously notes the year of completion beside his signature. He considers the whole as inseparable until the 1904 exhibition by Durand-Ruel that gets a considerable success, anticipating his famous uncompromising attitude before the first exhibition of his Water Lilies series.
The subgroup of the Parliament from St. Thomas's at sunset consists of 19 oil paintings in a unique format 81 x 93 cm.
Le Parlement - soleil couchant, numbered 1603 by Wildenstein, was sold for $ 40.5M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 24A. Dated 1902, this painting is one of the first that was completed by the artist, perhaps because the very expressive sky is particularly successful. Despite the clouds, the sun plays behind the high tower and the soft pink shades apply to the edges of the clouds and to the reflections in the river.
The Wildenstein 1604, with the same title and subtitle, was dated 1903 by the artist. Both were included in the 1904 exhibition of Monet's Vues de la Tamise à Londres at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Both sceneries were captured at about the same time at around 5 o'clock in another twilight, W1603 at a later date. W1603 displays a striking appearance of the sun amidst dramatic clouds while W1604 is foggy in violets, lilacs, blues and deep pink with a ghostly silhouette of the Parliament buildings.
W1604 was sold for $ 76M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 10C.
Monet painted 41 views of the elegant Waterloo bridge and 37 views of Charing Cross bridge. On May 13, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 48M Waterloo Bridge effet de Brouillard, oil on canvas 66 x 100 cm dated 1903, lot 8 B.
#AuctionUpdate Claude Monet’s ‘Le Parlement, soleil couchant’ realizes $75.96 million  pic.twitter.com/BpjEOoZ7nY
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 12, 2022
1905 Innocent Children of the Période Rose
2018 SOLD for $ 115M including premium
Pablo Picasso is back in Paris in April 1904. Barcelona had not dissipated his morbid obsessions and he needs a restart. He installs his workshop at the Bateau-Lavoir and finally manages to create a couple, with Fernande. Gradually his painting loses its blue predominant to include warm colors like pink or orange. It is his Période Rose.
Poverty had dominated his Période Bleue. It is now replaced by the optimistic and promising theme of children ready to enter adulthood. The Garçon à la pipe, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1905, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004.
Pablo mixes the innocence of the nude with the acquisition of a first job. Although the formats are very different, the Fillette à la corbeille fleurie, 155 x 66 cm painted in 1905, and the Garçon menant un cheval, 220 x 131 cm finished in 1906, appear as pendants.
The girl is standing in profile. The body is healthy, straight. The expression is rebellious without any excuse for immodesty, in a striking psychological effect : this young person has obviously been disturbed in her occupation.
During the very short Période Rose the line is delimited and effective. The figurative realism of this Fillette makes forget that nudity may not have been necessary. This artwork successively delighted Gertrude Stein and David Rockefeller. It will be sold on May 8 by Christie's in New York, lot 15.
Poverty had dominated his Période Bleue. It is now replaced by the optimistic and promising theme of children ready to enter adulthood. The Garçon à la pipe, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1905, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004.
Pablo mixes the innocence of the nude with the acquisition of a first job. Although the formats are very different, the Fillette à la corbeille fleurie, 155 x 66 cm painted in 1905, and the Garçon menant un cheval, 220 x 131 cm finished in 1906, appear as pendants.
The girl is standing in profile. The body is healthy, straight. The expression is rebellious without any excuse for immodesty, in a striking psychological effect : this young person has obviously been disturbed in her occupation.
During the very short Période Rose the line is delimited and effective. The figurative realism of this Fillette makes forget that nudity may not have been necessary. This artwork successively delighted Gertrude Stein and David Rockefeller. It will be sold on May 8 by Christie's in New York, lot 15.
1905 Garçon à la Pipe by Picasso
2004 SOLD for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
The miserability of the Période Bleue of Picasso, based on the difficult life of circus acrobats, was socially a dead end. In 1905 he reacts with new themes where the characters imagine their future without losing a stuck or surly attitude. These works include the Femme à l'éventail and two children, the Fillette à la corbeille de fleurs and the Garçon à la pipe.
La Fillette, oil on canvas 155 x 66 cm, was sold for $ 115M including premium by Christie's on May 8, 2018. Le Garçon, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004, lot 7.
The Garçon à la Pipe is a subtle blend of realism and dreamlike and, as such, will remain the archetype of the Période Rose. Dressed in blue overalls, the gloomy teenager is drawn in a fine line. The pipe marks his expectation of maturity. Picasso did not reveal his identity, because it is an allegory. He is however P'tit Louis, a boy from Montmartre who spent long hours watching the artists working at the Bateau-Lavoir.
The inspiration suddenly came to Picasso after a month of interruption of the work. In the blur of a dream, the character is positioned in front of a wallpaper with patterns of roses and wears a garland of flowers in his hair. A simultaneous use of a sharp image in a floral blur had also been attempted by Odilon Redon.
The little worker thus becomes a supernatural being. A relevant comparison was made with Verlaine's poem titled Crimen Amoris. In the dream of a delicious Orient where the seven sins supersede the five senses amidst the roses, the most handsome of the evil angels, indifferent to temptations and caresses, is a boy of sixteen who wears a crown of flowers. His ambition, annihilated at the end of the poem, was to be "the one who will create God".
La Fillette, oil on canvas 155 x 66 cm, was sold for $ 115M including premium by Christie's on May 8, 2018. Le Garçon, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004, lot 7.
The Garçon à la Pipe is a subtle blend of realism and dreamlike and, as such, will remain the archetype of the Période Rose. Dressed in blue overalls, the gloomy teenager is drawn in a fine line. The pipe marks his expectation of maturity. Picasso did not reveal his identity, because it is an allegory. He is however P'tit Louis, a boy from Montmartre who spent long hours watching the artists working at the Bateau-Lavoir.
The inspiration suddenly came to Picasso after a month of interruption of the work. In the blur of a dream, the character is positioned in front of a wallpaper with patterns of roses and wears a garland of flowers in his hair. A simultaneous use of a sharp image in a floral blur had also been attempted by Odilon Redon.
The little worker thus becomes a supernatural being. A relevant comparison was made with Verlaine's poem titled Crimen Amoris. In the dream of a delicious Orient where the seven sins supersede the five senses amidst the roses, the most handsome of the evil angels, indifferent to temptations and caresses, is a boy of sixteen who wears a crown of flowers. His ambition, annihilated at the end of the poem, was to be "the one who will create God".
1907 Flowers for the Woman
2017 SOLD for £ 48M including premium
The greatest artists express their vision of the world. Klimt goes further : he wants to change the life.
The Klimt and Flöge families are closely linked. Gustav Klimt becomes the brother-in-law of Helene Flöge in 1891 and her tutor in the following year. Helene and her sister Emilie open a business of couture and fashion in Vienna in 1904. Emilie was Gustav's companion from 1891 until the artist's death in 1918.
The Schwestern Flöge workshop is experimenting with new garments for the Viennese avant-garde, including loose dresses hung from the shoulders without using a corset. The very famous blouses of Gustav Klimt, which give him such a neglected attitude according to the conceptions of today's fashion, proceed from the same trend.
The shape of the garment is not enough : women also deserve a shimmering decoration. Gustav observes trees and flowers as patterns of texture. Their bright colors were created by nature. Gustav does not cancel the shapes of the flowers. If he had, he would have been the first abstract artist.
Gustav reveals the woman's head as the only realistic element in his portraits. The body is hidden by an ample garment whose limits loosely overlap the background of the image and whose details are luxurious and colorful. Adele Bloch-Bauer I, oil on canvas 138 x 138 cm painted in 1907, was sold for $ 135M on June 18, 2006 in a private sale by Christie's to Ronald Lauder.
On March 1 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 11 Bauerngarten, oil on canvas 110 x 110 cm painted in 1907 during the holidays of Gustav at the Attersee. Poppies, daisies and zinnias spread their colors in an endless meadow with no horizon. These flowers are dominated by a triangle of roses that confirms the artist's intention for the design of a dress.
Please watch the very short video shared by Sotheby's.
The Klimt and Flöge families are closely linked. Gustav Klimt becomes the brother-in-law of Helene Flöge in 1891 and her tutor in the following year. Helene and her sister Emilie open a business of couture and fashion in Vienna in 1904. Emilie was Gustav's companion from 1891 until the artist's death in 1918.
The Schwestern Flöge workshop is experimenting with new garments for the Viennese avant-garde, including loose dresses hung from the shoulders without using a corset. The very famous blouses of Gustav Klimt, which give him such a neglected attitude according to the conceptions of today's fashion, proceed from the same trend.
The shape of the garment is not enough : women also deserve a shimmering decoration. Gustav observes trees and flowers as patterns of texture. Their bright colors were created by nature. Gustav does not cancel the shapes of the flowers. If he had, he would have been the first abstract artist.
Gustav reveals the woman's head as the only realistic element in his portraits. The body is hidden by an ample garment whose limits loosely overlap the background of the image and whose details are luxurious and colorful. Adele Bloch-Bauer I, oil on canvas 138 x 138 cm painted in 1907, was sold for $ 135M on June 18, 2006 in a private sale by Christie's to Ronald Lauder.
On March 1 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 11 Bauerngarten, oil on canvas 110 x 110 cm painted in 1907 during the holidays of Gustav at the Attersee. Poppies, daisies and zinnias spread their colors in an endless meadow with no horizon. These flowers are dominated by a triangle of roses that confirms the artist's intention for the design of a dress.
Please watch the very short video shared by Sotheby's.
The New York Times Thinks Sotheby’s Is Getting Frisky with Its Klimt https://t.co/3mgODvO8HY pic.twitter.com/etX2peYay3
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) February 24, 2017
1907 Nymphéas by Monet
2022 SOLD for $ 56M by Christie's
In 1907 the continuation of the Nymphéas series by Monet brings a major breakthrough in modern art. The hues become lighter and ethereal. The accuracy of the brush lines is superseded by the confrontation of rare colors, paving the way to the abstract expressionism four decades later. The horticulture is now secondary to the atmosphere and light.
On May 12, 2022, Christie's sold for $ 56M from a lower estimate of $ 35M a 94 x 89 cm oil on canvas painted in 1907 in pastel like hues, lot 12C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Between the groups of floating flowers, the mirror image of the trees and sky at the surface of the water provides another pre-abstract element. The wide open blossoms had been captured in the morning or early afternoon.
This opus was included in the seminal exhibition of 48 Nymphéas by Durand-Ruel in 1909.
Its nearly square format certainly predates the bold transition to vertical format in the same year, which would be a nonsense if the painting were a mere scenery. A vertical oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 27M by Christie's on May 6, 2014.
On May 12, 2022, Christie's sold for $ 56M from a lower estimate of $ 35M a 94 x 89 cm oil on canvas painted in 1907 in pastel like hues, lot 12C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Between the groups of floating flowers, the mirror image of the trees and sky at the surface of the water provides another pre-abstract element. The wide open blossoms had been captured in the morning or early afternoon.
This opus was included in the seminal exhibition of 48 Nymphéas by Durand-Ruel in 1909.
Its nearly square format certainly predates the bold transition to vertical format in the same year, which would be a nonsense if the painting were a mere scenery. A vertical oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 27M by Christie's on May 6, 2014.
1908 Grand Canal by Monet
2022 SOLD for $ 57M by Sotheby's
The next Wildenstein number from the example above is a very similar view of the Grand Canal with Santa Maria della Salute in the opposite bank, in the same 73 x 92 cm format. It is taken from farther away from the first pole, and the lower step corner of the Palazzo Barbaro over the canal has been added.
These after lunch pictures ended at 3 o'clock Claude's working day. He would then relax until twilight in a gondola tour with Alice.
The weather is sunny. The difference between both pieces is the attempt by the artist to catch subtle changes in the mirage-like atmosphere and haze of the water scenery caught in another early afternoon.
The surface of the canal is iridescent of a wide range of reflected colors providing the effect of a splashing water. Far away gondolas have been added.
This oil on canvas was sold for $ 57M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2022, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
These after lunch pictures ended at 3 o'clock Claude's working day. He would then relax until twilight in a gondola tour with Alice.
The weather is sunny. The difference between both pieces is the attempt by the artist to catch subtle changes in the mirage-like atmosphere and haze of the water scenery caught in another early afternoon.
The surface of the canal is iridescent of a wide range of reflected colors providing the effect of a splashing water. Far away gondolas have been added.
This oil on canvas was sold for $ 57M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2022, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The Monet market has been raging. Now Sotheby's is pulling out a Venetian painting with a $50m asking price. They may be shooting too low: https://t.co/wmtcwaJhA4 pic.twitter.com/Hj59nApK2e
— LiveArt (@artmarket) March 25, 2022
1909 The Cubist Deadlock
2016 SOLD for £ 43M including premium
The painting of the Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907 masterfully demonstrates that anything is possible from the standpoint of the form. Through this single work, Picasso got rid the art of painting from realism, narrative, perspective and depth. The simplified drawing inspired by tribal art is unprecedented in European art.
The achievement of the Demoiselles encouraged Picasso to explore new styles of painting. After Cézanne, he desires to promote expression and structure. Cubism is not a style nor a school but a pioneering research, with its trials and errors.
In 1909 Pablo spends the summer with Fernande in a Catalan village named Horta, only accessible by mule track. During the same summer, Kandinsky gets himself isolated in Murnau with Gabriele. Independently of each other, these two artists become the theorists who are inventing the art of the twentieth century.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 8 a portrait of Fernande by Pablo, oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm conceived and painted in Horta. The estimate is not published, probably because Cubist works by Picasso have become exceedingly rare in private hands. Sotheby's let however escape an expectation beyond £ 30M.
The fragmentation in blocks that gave its name to Cubism offers a similar processing for the three themes tested by Pablo in Horta: portrait, landscape and still life. The outlines of the subject are visible with a little effort leading to recognize the broad face of Fernande. The colors are subject to a similar mix : we are not in front of a portrait but of an image suggesting the features of a seated woman in the warm Catalan summer.
For several of its characteristics, Cubism is a dead end. In the following years, the trend to a dull monochrome increases the difficulty of interpreting the image without offering the puzzling breakthrough of abstraction. The loss of the three-dimensional effect generates the trials of collages which will not save the Cubism.
It does not matter, because every artist can now engage his own style in an original expressive quest. From Picasso, the modern art has become multifaceted.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The achievement of the Demoiselles encouraged Picasso to explore new styles of painting. After Cézanne, he desires to promote expression and structure. Cubism is not a style nor a school but a pioneering research, with its trials and errors.
In 1909 Pablo spends the summer with Fernande in a Catalan village named Horta, only accessible by mule track. During the same summer, Kandinsky gets himself isolated in Murnau with Gabriele. Independently of each other, these two artists become the theorists who are inventing the art of the twentieth century.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 8 a portrait of Fernande by Pablo, oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm conceived and painted in Horta. The estimate is not published, probably because Cubist works by Picasso have become exceedingly rare in private hands. Sotheby's let however escape an expectation beyond £ 30M.
The fragmentation in blocks that gave its name to Cubism offers a similar processing for the three themes tested by Pablo in Horta: portrait, landscape and still life. The outlines of the subject are visible with a little effort leading to recognize the broad face of Fernande. The colors are subject to a similar mix : we are not in front of a portrait but of an image suggesting the features of a seated woman in the warm Catalan summer.
For several of its characteristics, Cubism is a dead end. In the following years, the trend to a dull monochrome increases the difficulty of interpreting the image without offering the puzzling breakthrough of abstraction. The loss of the three-dimensional effect generates the trials of collages which will not save the Cubism.
It does not matter, because every artist can now engage his own style in an original expressive quest. From Picasso, the modern art has become multifaceted.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
