Decade 1950-1959
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Top 10 Painting Sculpture The Woman Groups Nude Orientalism Abstract art Abstract art II Rothko Early Rothko Rothko 1957-70 Pollock Picasso Picasso from 1940 Germany Germany II Cars Cars 1950s Cars 1955 Mercedes-Benz De Kooning Giacometti Femme debout Giacometti 1947-53
See also : Top 10 Painting Sculpture The Woman Groups Nude Orientalism Abstract art Abstract art II Rothko Early Rothko Rothko 1957-70 Pollock Picasso Picasso from 1940 Germany Germany II Cars Cars 1950s Cars 1955 Mercedes-Benz De Kooning Giacometti Femme debout Giacometti 1947-53
ROTHKO
1
1950 White Center
2007 SOLD for $ 73M by Sotheby's
For Rothko, painting lies about the truth of an object but it can express a sensuality. Gradually from 1947 he stages his horizontal rectangular blocks. He is inspired by the relations of powers in Clyfford Still's abstractions, by the delicacy of Bonnard's colors and by the vibrations of Matisse's complementary colors.
In 1949 the block ceases to be a support for a pseudo-calligraphic message. Each element reaches its own purity without becoming monochrome : the meticulous application of colors brings an infinite variation, in particular at the borders of each block. Most of his compositions are in vertical format. Rothko does not yet have a studio : he works in his apartment and the dimensions of the canvases remain small.
Painted in 1950, White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) offers the whole subtlety of this new phase. For example, the background is reduced to a very narrow area around the blocks, but its orange-rose color is not uniform, as if it had been partially scratched at the lower side of the image.
The insertion of a very clear block brings an additional luminosity. Rothko will sometimes re-use this characteristic so that the viewer wraps himself more completely in the picture. Perceived as a floating skylight, this dazzling block makes the real position of the canvas disappear, reinforcing the feeling of an "unknown space" in the wording used by the artist.
White Center, oil on canvas 206 x 141 cm, was sold for $ 73M by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007, lot 31, the highest price recorded at that time for a post-war painting. It was purchased at that auction by the Royal Family of Qatar.
In 1949 the block ceases to be a support for a pseudo-calligraphic message. Each element reaches its own purity without becoming monochrome : the meticulous application of colors brings an infinite variation, in particular at the borders of each block. Most of his compositions are in vertical format. Rothko does not yet have a studio : he works in his apartment and the dimensions of the canvases remain small.
Painted in 1950, White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) offers the whole subtlety of this new phase. For example, the background is reduced to a very narrow area around the blocks, but its orange-rose color is not uniform, as if it had been partially scratched at the lower side of the image.
The insertion of a very clear block brings an additional luminosity. Rothko will sometimes re-use this characteristic so that the viewer wraps himself more completely in the picture. Perceived as a floating skylight, this dazzling block makes the real position of the canvas disappear, reinforcing the feeling of an "unknown space" in the wording used by the artist.
White Center, oil on canvas 206 x 141 cm, was sold for $ 73M by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007, lot 31, the highest price recorded at that time for a post-war painting. It was purchased at that auction by the Royal Family of Qatar.
2
1951 No. 7 by Rothko
2021 SOLD for $ 82M by Sotheby's
The greatest painters are mastering the rarest colors. Mark Rothko went to a full abstraction in 1950 after trying for a short period to explain his floating rectangular forms as the actors of a staged drama expressing the basic human feelings.
Rothko got himself rid of such hermetic interpretations. His new target that the viewer gets immersed in the artwork in a sort of ecstasy was sufficient to offer a high number of possible color combinations.
In 1950 he was still trying to add some elements, such as the three lines in the mid block of the opus No. 5/ No. 22. The maturity of his unprecedented style is reached in the same year when only the rectangular blocks and their interstices are remaining, in a justified formatting. The colors are meticulously applied with the brush in multiple paint layers that leave some variations inside the globally monochrome blocks and on their fringed edges.
The target was ambitious to mesmerize the viewer within a mere display of colors. The artist appreciated that this effect could be only obtained in large sizes, narrow and tall for matching the proportions of the standing human body.
No. 7, 1951, is one of the deepest demonstrators of the new theories. This oil on canvas 240 x 140 cm had been exhibited at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York as early as April 1951. Its saturated green, crimson and lavender do not differentiate in their contrast but constitute a warm and vibrant color composition.
This opus was sold for $ 82M from a lower estimate of $ 70M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 10.
Rothko got himself rid of such hermetic interpretations. His new target that the viewer gets immersed in the artwork in a sort of ecstasy was sufficient to offer a high number of possible color combinations.
In 1950 he was still trying to add some elements, such as the three lines in the mid block of the opus No. 5/ No. 22. The maturity of his unprecedented style is reached in the same year when only the rectangular blocks and their interstices are remaining, in a justified formatting. The colors are meticulously applied with the brush in multiple paint layers that leave some variations inside the globally monochrome blocks and on their fringed edges.
The target was ambitious to mesmerize the viewer within a mere display of colors. The artist appreciated that this effect could be only obtained in large sizes, narrow and tall for matching the proportions of the standing human body.
No. 7, 1951, is one of the deepest demonstrators of the new theories. This oil on canvas 240 x 140 cm had been exhibited at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York as early as April 1951. Its saturated green, crimson and lavender do not differentiate in their contrast but constitute a warm and vibrant color composition.
This opus was sold for $ 82M from a lower estimate of $ 70M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 10.
3
1952
2014 SOLD for $ 66M by Christie's
Mark Rothko was a philosopher, musician, theorist, chemist. These qualities enabled him to develop a new artistic language. He was not alone, of course, and this new path is enriched by the experiences of Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still, in contrast to the action painting of Pollock and Kline.
His theme now so recognizable of the color fields had matured over two decades. He begins by challenging the figuration considered as a betrayal of the represented subject, and welcomes the moves of De Kooning and probably also Gorky who delete the difference between figurative and abstract.
He deviates from this trend by observing the intricacies of colors in the latest works by Matisse and Bonnard. He then develops a mixture suitable for his project with the best available pigments associated with turpentine and organic materials.
His goal is reached: Rothko's paint may be placed on the canvas in thin translucent layers that dry quickly and can be spread in wash or drawn with brush.
From his first trial of his new technique in 1950, Rothko achieved by his meticulous layering an infinite variety of colors mostly visible at the limits of his large rectangles. His color fields do not have a geometric border, in opposition to Mondrian.
One of his sixteen dramas made in 1950 welcomed four players : white, yellow, pink and lavender. This painting 206 x 141 cm was sold for $ 73M by Sotheby's in 2007.
He had been working in his apartment but deserved a more suitable working place to release his creative energy. In 1952 he set up his studio in the 53rd street in Manhattan, close to the MoMA.
The paintings made in 1952 are composed in confrontations of rectangles whose loose edges offer a gradient of colors which accentuates the feeling of attraction or repulsion between the blocks. His output was rather low but his work from that year displays a remarkable diversity in his experiments of colors.
On May 13, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 66M an oil on canvas 262 x 159 cm painted in 1952, lot 31.
This work is dominated at the top of the canvas by a huge purple square whose mesmerizing effect is balanced by a solid dark rectangle at the bottom of the image. These two conflicting actors are separated by an orange field. The yellow orange outlining the scene reminds that Rothko did not want his paintings to be enclosed in frames.
The images on paper or online do not allow to understand the art of Rothko. The video shared by Christie's is a demonstration of the high quality in the art and technique of one of the most subtle colorists of all time. It is narrated by Brett Gorvy.
His theme now so recognizable of the color fields had matured over two decades. He begins by challenging the figuration considered as a betrayal of the represented subject, and welcomes the moves of De Kooning and probably also Gorky who delete the difference between figurative and abstract.
He deviates from this trend by observing the intricacies of colors in the latest works by Matisse and Bonnard. He then develops a mixture suitable for his project with the best available pigments associated with turpentine and organic materials.
His goal is reached: Rothko's paint may be placed on the canvas in thin translucent layers that dry quickly and can be spread in wash or drawn with brush.
From his first trial of his new technique in 1950, Rothko achieved by his meticulous layering an infinite variety of colors mostly visible at the limits of his large rectangles. His color fields do not have a geometric border, in opposition to Mondrian.
One of his sixteen dramas made in 1950 welcomed four players : white, yellow, pink and lavender. This painting 206 x 141 cm was sold for $ 73M by Sotheby's in 2007.
He had been working in his apartment but deserved a more suitable working place to release his creative energy. In 1952 he set up his studio in the 53rd street in Manhattan, close to the MoMA.
The paintings made in 1952 are composed in confrontations of rectangles whose loose edges offer a gradient of colors which accentuates the feeling of attraction or repulsion between the blocks. His output was rather low but his work from that year displays a remarkable diversity in his experiments of colors.
On May 13, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 66M an oil on canvas 262 x 159 cm painted in 1952, lot 31.
This work is dominated at the top of the canvas by a huge purple square whose mesmerizing effect is balanced by a solid dark rectangle at the bottom of the image. These two conflicting actors are separated by an orange field. The yellow orange outlining the scene reminds that Rothko did not want his paintings to be enclosed in frames.
The images on paper or online do not allow to understand the art of Rothko. The video shared by Christie's is a demonstration of the high quality in the art and technique of one of the most subtle colorists of all time. It is narrated by Brett Gorvy.
4
1954 No. 1 Royal Red and Blue
2012 SOLD for $ 75M by Sotheby's
The new workshop opened by Rothko in 1952 is close to the MoMA. The contemplation of Matisse's Atelier Rouge is a new starting point for Rothko. In this oil on canvas painted in 1911, Matisse has limited the image to a very saturated dark red wall to which a few small objects bring their contrasting colors. Despite the presence of the table and floor, the perspective is almost annihilated.
In 1953 Rothko continues his main theme of assembling rectangles of bright colors. Yet some paintings are directly inspired by the Atelier Rouge. This is undoubtedly the case for Blue over Red, oil on canvas 163 x 89 cm. On an orange background modulated with ochre and yellow, the blocks separated by strips of light are not very contrasted, with the exception of a bright blue band in the upper part of the image which could be a painting on Matisse's wall.
Blue over Red was sold for $ 26.5M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2019, lot 26. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
This research has been fruitful for the artist. He will now look for illusions of the pulsation of light by the contradictory forces of dilatation and contraction, and will soon replace the garish colors with dark hues.
In 1954 Mark Rothko is invited by the Art Institute of Chicago to prepare a solo exhibition. He selects eight of his works. The event will have a huge impact on his reputation.
Since several years at that time, he organizes his paintings in confrontations of colors for which the composition in stacks of rectangular blocks is always present but is no longer the essential element.
1954 No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) is one of the eight works presented in Chicago. It is already typical of the exceptional understanding of Rothko to achieve the maximum emotional level.
It is very large, 289 x 172 cm. Divided into several shades, the reds dominate. At the bottom of the canvas, the red hegemony is interrupted by an aggressive bright blue rectangle. This painting was sold for $ 75M from a lower estimate of $ 35M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012, lot 19. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In subsequent years, the reds will increasingly be the major actors in the artistic drama realized by Rothko, taking drama in its etymological meaning of theater. They will now have less need to rely on opponents like the blue of that No. 1.
In 1953 Rothko continues his main theme of assembling rectangles of bright colors. Yet some paintings are directly inspired by the Atelier Rouge. This is undoubtedly the case for Blue over Red, oil on canvas 163 x 89 cm. On an orange background modulated with ochre and yellow, the blocks separated by strips of light are not very contrasted, with the exception of a bright blue band in the upper part of the image which could be a painting on Matisse's wall.
Blue over Red was sold for $ 26.5M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2019, lot 26. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
This research has been fruitful for the artist. He will now look for illusions of the pulsation of light by the contradictory forces of dilatation and contraction, and will soon replace the garish colors with dark hues.
In 1954 Mark Rothko is invited by the Art Institute of Chicago to prepare a solo exhibition. He selects eight of his works. The event will have a huge impact on his reputation.
Since several years at that time, he organizes his paintings in confrontations of colors for which the composition in stacks of rectangular blocks is always present but is no longer the essential element.
1954 No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) is one of the eight works presented in Chicago. It is already typical of the exceptional understanding of Rothko to achieve the maximum emotional level.
It is very large, 289 x 172 cm. Divided into several shades, the reds dominate. At the bottom of the canvas, the red hegemony is interrupted by an aggressive bright blue rectangle. This painting was sold for $ 75M from a lower estimate of $ 35M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012, lot 19. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In subsequent years, the reds will increasingly be the major actors in the artistic drama realized by Rothko, taking drama in its etymological meaning of theater. They will now have less need to rely on opponents like the blue of that No. 1.
5
1958 No. 10
2015 SOLD for $ 82M by Christie's
In 1957 Mark Rothko was outraged by his own fame. His interpretation of basic emotions is not perceived. On the contrary, the public and the art critics admire the dramatic confrontation of his blocks of bright colors, those reds, blues and yellows to which white brings the window of transcendental light.
His style and technique change. Luminosity can also emanate from a dark area when he introduces layers of transparent glaze between layers of colors. He maintains his block structure, but the monochrome is replaced by an inextricable mingle of colors created by the diffusion of almost similar pigments into each other. The edges of the blocks add a frayed confrontation with the background color.
At the end of the year, he tests the deepest blues and reds against large black blocks. At the beginning of 1958, his preference goes for a red turning to brown. Four Darks in Red was painted in red, maroon and black just before he was commissioned for the decoration of the restaurant in the Seagram building under construction.
Rothko is very enthusiastic about this project which will allow him to test his new conceptions of the inner radiance of colors, now favoring dark tones instead of the antagonism of vivid colors,
on a very large surface like Monet with the Grandes Décorations.
Rembrandt knew how to throw the light out of the shadow, there is no reason that could prevent Rothko to do it. Unfortunately his deliberate rejection of the general public feeds his megalomania and he believes that his own mysticism matches the sublime frescoes of Fra Angelico.
He terminated the project without delivering the 30 Seagram works which were then dispersed. Emily Fisher Landau acquired one of them in 1981. This oil on canvas 233 x 176 cm painted in 1958 was sold for $ 22M by Sotheby's on November 8, 2023, lot 20. It is one of only four still in private hands. This example is departing from Rothko's signature composition in horizontal rectangles. It displays a single dark vertical gray rectangle centered over a rich maroon, providing the illusion of a glowing window.
On May 15, 2013 in New York, Christie's sold for $ 27M a Black on Maroon 183 x 114 cm that participates in that momentum and is not yet a symptom of the tragic depression of the artist in the following decade.
On May 13, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 82M at lot 35B the No 10 (1958), oil on canvas 239 x 176 cm. An infinite variety of colors predominantly brown interweaves within the rectangles whose structure is superseded by a magnificent halo effect.
When he broke with Seagram's, Rothko said not without wickedness that he wanted to cut hunger to the restaurant's guests. With this No. 10 contemporary of that failed project, the frustrated artist wanted to replace the sensational by the sublime but his art was to become increasingly elitist.
The video shared by Christie's shows the key importance of that year in the creative process of this highly temperamental artist.
His style and technique change. Luminosity can also emanate from a dark area when he introduces layers of transparent glaze between layers of colors. He maintains his block structure, but the monochrome is replaced by an inextricable mingle of colors created by the diffusion of almost similar pigments into each other. The edges of the blocks add a frayed confrontation with the background color.
At the end of the year, he tests the deepest blues and reds against large black blocks. At the beginning of 1958, his preference goes for a red turning to brown. Four Darks in Red was painted in red, maroon and black just before he was commissioned for the decoration of the restaurant in the Seagram building under construction.
Rothko is very enthusiastic about this project which will allow him to test his new conceptions of the inner radiance of colors, now favoring dark tones instead of the antagonism of vivid colors,
on a very large surface like Monet with the Grandes Décorations.
Rembrandt knew how to throw the light out of the shadow, there is no reason that could prevent Rothko to do it. Unfortunately his deliberate rejection of the general public feeds his megalomania and he believes that his own mysticism matches the sublime frescoes of Fra Angelico.
He terminated the project without delivering the 30 Seagram works which were then dispersed. Emily Fisher Landau acquired one of them in 1981. This oil on canvas 233 x 176 cm painted in 1958 was sold for $ 22M by Sotheby's on November 8, 2023, lot 20. It is one of only four still in private hands. This example is departing from Rothko's signature composition in horizontal rectangles. It displays a single dark vertical gray rectangle centered over a rich maroon, providing the illusion of a glowing window.
On May 15, 2013 in New York, Christie's sold for $ 27M a Black on Maroon 183 x 114 cm that participates in that momentum and is not yet a symptom of the tragic depression of the artist in the following decade.
On May 13, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 82M at lot 35B the No 10 (1958), oil on canvas 239 x 176 cm. An infinite variety of colors predominantly brown interweaves within the rectangles whose structure is superseded by a magnificent halo effect.
When he broke with Seagram's, Rothko said not without wickedness that he wanted to cut hunger to the restaurant's guests. With this No. 10 contemporary of that failed project, the frustrated artist wanted to replace the sensational by the sublime but his art was to become increasingly elitist.
The video shared by Christie's shows the key importance of that year in the creative process of this highly temperamental artist.
1951 Black Pouring by Pollock
2021 SOLD for $ 61M by Sotheby's
The signature style of Jackson Pollock was to express the rhythmic motion of his body while he poured paint on the floor. The successive use of many colors on a same support led to an impression that he expressed the rich soil of Long Island, just as Monet had done in Giverny.
This achievement must nevertheless consider that one of his basic inspirations had been the marks left in the sand by the dance of the Navajo Indians.
He was right in considering that his creativity owed as much to the dance than to colors. In 1951 he starts a series of monochrome paintings by pouring a saturated deep black liquid paint on the canvas again laid across the floor.
As a consequence the mingling of the colors was superseded by patterns of curves, dots and smears which could lead him back to the weird automatic figuration of his beginnings.
A typical example is the opus Number 5 of 1951, black oil paint 147 x 141 cm, sold for $ 11.4M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 30, titled Elegant Lady by his gallerist.
Black and White Painting III, enamel on canvas 140 x 125 cm also painted in 1951, features a human form with stretched arms and is tentatively interpreted as a crucifixion. It was sold for $ 5.2M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015, lot 38.
The opus 17 of the same year did not reach such an enigmatic figuration, remaining a pure expression of Pollock's wrist mingling thick intense lines and angel's hair. This black enamel on canvas 150 x 150 cm was sold for $ 61M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 11.
Despite the commercial failure of a first exhibition, Pollock persevered up to a total of 33 black paintings. Were they indeed more than a refined form of Rorschach blots ?
This achievement must nevertheless consider that one of his basic inspirations had been the marks left in the sand by the dance of the Navajo Indians.
He was right in considering that his creativity owed as much to the dance than to colors. In 1951 he starts a series of monochrome paintings by pouring a saturated deep black liquid paint on the canvas again laid across the floor.
As a consequence the mingling of the colors was superseded by patterns of curves, dots and smears which could lead him back to the weird automatic figuration of his beginnings.
A typical example is the opus Number 5 of 1951, black oil paint 147 x 141 cm, sold for $ 11.4M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 30, titled Elegant Lady by his gallerist.
Black and White Painting III, enamel on canvas 140 x 125 cm also painted in 1951, features a human form with stretched arms and is tentatively interpreted as a crucifixion. It was sold for $ 5.2M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015, lot 38.
The opus 17 of the same year did not reach such an enigmatic figuration, remaining a pure expression of Pollock's wrist mingling thick intense lines and angel's hair. This black enamel on canvas 150 x 150 cm was sold for $ 61M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 11.
Despite the commercial failure of a first exhibition, Pollock persevered up to a total of 33 black paintings. Were they indeed more than a refined form of Rorschach blots ?
1951-1952 Le Chariot by Giacometti
2014 SOLD for $ 101M by Sotheby's
Alberto Giacometti had been close to the Surrealists. The theme of the woman on the chariot was inscribed in his mind from 1938. It remained therein for twelve years during which the artist tried a few tests, sometimes with rotating wheels.
In 1948, Alberto populates his universe with his wire-like characters who question the existentialism. Men walk with energy without knowing where they are going. In contrast, women are straight and motionless.
The woman is still an ancient idol whose authority may not be challenged. She brings peace and truth. In Alberto's dream, she is perched on a pedestal placed on the axle of an antique chariot with very high wheels. This is the great paradox of Giacometti : the motionless woman symbolizes the movement because she is worshiped on the chariot.
Alberto is a perfectionist. He waits until 1950 to execute his fantasy. Any detail is important, such as the tightly attached legs. The arms are away from the body in a gesture of glory or freedom, but the angle of the elbows disappears when the sculpture is viewed from front. The work is of medium size, 1.45 m high, because it must not be intimidating or diminutive.
The bronze cast in 1951-1952 is a technical feat by Alexis Rudier company. The number 2/6 was sold for $ 101M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 25. This is an exceptional specimen by its golden patina that glorifies the subject and also because it has been carefully painted by the artist. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In 1948, Alberto populates his universe with his wire-like characters who question the existentialism. Men walk with energy without knowing where they are going. In contrast, women are straight and motionless.
The woman is still an ancient idol whose authority may not be challenged. She brings peace and truth. In Alberto's dream, she is perched on a pedestal placed on the axle of an antique chariot with very high wheels. This is the great paradox of Giacometti : the motionless woman symbolizes the movement because she is worshiped on the chariot.
Alberto is a perfectionist. He waits until 1950 to execute his fantasy. Any detail is important, such as the tightly attached legs. The arms are away from the body in a gesture of glory or freedom, but the angle of the elbows disappears when the sculpture is viewed from front. The work is of medium size, 1.45 m high, because it must not be intimidating or diminutive.
The bronze cast in 1951-1952 is a technical feat by Alexis Rudier company. The number 2/6 was sold for $ 101M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 25. This is an exceptional specimen by its golden patina that glorifies the subject and also because it has been carefully painted by the artist. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1955 Les Femmes d'Alger by Picasso
2015 SOLD for $ 180M by Christie's
The Femmes d'Alger by Delacroix, by inspiring Picasso, had a role in the genesis of modern painting. Executed in Paris in 1907, the painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon shows a group of women. Unlike in Delacroix, they are naked. They are not in the hot atmosphere of a harem but their offering is venal.
It is difficult to recognize the influence of Delacroix upon the Demoiselles because the tribal art that inspired the deconstruction of forms is the real origin of Cubism. Other influences have also been identified for this painting which is one of the most important breakthroughs of Western art : el Greco, Cézanne, Gauguin.
Matisse died in 1954. His Odalisques were famous. Picasso had not used this theme which exacerbated the colors and he was somehow jealous of his late friend. He disguises Jacqueline but this is not enough to equal the glory of his rival. To resume his place in the history of art, he resuscitates the Femmes d'Alger in a series of fifteen paintings numbered A to O.
The series is an imitation of the styles of Picasso's career starting from his invention of Cubism. The latest version, O, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm achieved on 14 February 1955, appears as a synthesis of this rather disparate set, like the ultimate completion of Pablo's art on that date.
It takes much imagination to see Delacroix's influence in the Version O, but the comparison with the Demoiselles is obvious. The women are naked or half dressed but in a later cubism style that excites the imagination by blurring the vision. The standing woman on the left displays a much better readability that joins the then recent art of Pablo.
Pablo has always enjoyed to confront himself with the great masters. The large mirror anticipates his series of Las Meninas painted two years later.
Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger was sold by Christie's for $ 32M on November 10, 1997, and for $ 180M on May 11, 2015, lot 8A. The press release of March 25 indicates an estimate in the region of $ 140M.
It is difficult to recognize the influence of Delacroix upon the Demoiselles because the tribal art that inspired the deconstruction of forms is the real origin of Cubism. Other influences have also been identified for this painting which is one of the most important breakthroughs of Western art : el Greco, Cézanne, Gauguin.
Matisse died in 1954. His Odalisques were famous. Picasso had not used this theme which exacerbated the colors and he was somehow jealous of his late friend. He disguises Jacqueline but this is not enough to equal the glory of his rival. To resume his place in the history of art, he resuscitates the Femmes d'Alger in a series of fifteen paintings numbered A to O.
The series is an imitation of the styles of Picasso's career starting from his invention of Cubism. The latest version, O, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm achieved on 14 February 1955, appears as a synthesis of this rather disparate set, like the ultimate completion of Pablo's art on that date.
It takes much imagination to see Delacroix's influence in the Version O, but the comparison with the Demoiselles is obvious. The women are naked or half dressed but in a later cubism style that excites the imagination by blurring the vision. The standing woman on the left displays a much better readability that joins the then recent art of Pablo.
Pablo has always enjoyed to confront himself with the great masters. The large mirror anticipates his series of Las Meninas painted two years later.
Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger was sold by Christie's for $ 32M on November 10, 1997, and for $ 180M on May 11, 2015, lot 8A. The press release of March 25 indicates an estimate in the region of $ 140M.
1955 Mercedes-Benz Uhlenhaut Coupé
2022 SOLD for € 135M by RM Sotheby's
Two special adaptations of the 3 litre 300 SLR coupé were made by Mercedes-Benz in 1955. Designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut, they are known as the Uhlenhaut coupés. Capable of reaching 290 km/h, this model was the fastest road going car of its time.
Employed by Mercedes-Benz since 1931, Uhlenhaut had been a lead designer of the Silver Arrows, of the Formula One highly successful W196 of JM Fangio fame and of the open top Rennsport 300 SLR of Stirling Moss fame. He was also behind the scene of the Le Mans winner W194 and of the road going 300 SL gullwing.
The Uhlenhaut coupés were assembled as two seaters with gullwing doors on two W196 chassis left unused after the 1955 Le Mans crash and the subsequent withdrawal of the brand from motor sport.
Both prototypes were retained by Mercedes-Benz from new. Uhlenhaut had one as a company car. He once drove the 230 km on the autobahn between Stuttgart and Munich in less than an hour.
The first one is on display in the museum of the brand. The second car was used as a demonstration car and was restored in 1986. It was sold for € 135M on May 5, 2022 by RM Sotheby's in a private auction, lot 1. The proceeds help to create a Mercedes-Benz fund for young researchers in environmental science and carbon dioxide reduction.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, featuring with the hammer Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby's Europe.
Employed by Mercedes-Benz since 1931, Uhlenhaut had been a lead designer of the Silver Arrows, of the Formula One highly successful W196 of JM Fangio fame and of the open top Rennsport 300 SLR of Stirling Moss fame. He was also behind the scene of the Le Mans winner W194 and of the road going 300 SL gullwing.
The Uhlenhaut coupés were assembled as two seaters with gullwing doors on two W196 chassis left unused after the 1955 Le Mans crash and the subsequent withdrawal of the brand from motor sport.
Both prototypes were retained by Mercedes-Benz from new. Uhlenhaut had one as a company car. He once drove the 230 km on the autobahn between Stuttgart and Munich in less than an hour.
The first one is on display in the museum of the brand. The second car was used as a demonstration car and was restored in 1986. It was sold for € 135M on May 5, 2022 by RM Sotheby's in a private auction, lot 1. The proceeds help to create a Mercedes-Benz fund for young researchers in environmental science and carbon dioxide reduction.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, featuring with the hammer Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby's Europe.
1955 Woman as Landscape by de Kooning
2018 SOLD for $ 69M by Christie's
Close to the avant-gardes in New York, Willem de Kooning nevertheless does not want his art to be assimilated with any school. He understood, as Miro before him, that it is to the viewer to identify the subject of the work, and the ambiguity in the interpretation generates emotion.
For him, woman is an obsessive and ambiguous theme. In 1950 he begins painting a larger-than-life woman on a canvas 197 x 147 cm. He reworks it for months with his brushes and his knives and considers it as finished in June 1952 thanks to the intervention of a friend.
His characters are figurative but excessively misshapen and grotesque. Color prevails over form. He said : "Flesh is the reason oil paint was invented".
In late 1952 and in 1953 he makes new versions of his woman. This ideal woman is a synthesis between the opulent Paleolithic statuettes of fertility and a grotesque vixen of modern time. The spectators see in that 'Woman' series the expression at best of an annoyance, at worst of an aggressive sexual impulse, in a feverish brush work. Woman III was sold for $ 137.5M in 2006 in a private sale.
This task resulted in the side-by-side exhibition of six paintings titled Woman I to Woman VI. They are standing in similar frontal positions. The bright and varied colors of the clothes could simulate according to the artist the evolution of the fashions. De Kooning demonstrates here that Action painting was not incompatible with a figurative theme.
I to VI are not the only artworks on this theme. This series did not include a Woman with Bicycle painted in 1952 in the same style but in a slightly different attitude. Oils on paper are made in smaller sizes.
De Kooning carries out new experiments in 1955. The drift of abstraction also generates the landscape, which can be entangled with the body of the woman.
Woman as Landscape, started in 1954, begins a new phase in de Kooning's desire to break down the boundaries between figurative themes. This 166 x 125 cm oil and charcoal on canvas completed in 1955 was sold for $ 69M by Christie's on November 13, 2018, lot 7 B.
The colors of a landscape with its blue sky and green ground surround the woman. The title is significant with 'as landscape' and not 'in landscape' to indicate that the artist is ready to mix the genres.
In the same year with Interchange, a bird's eye landscape remains perceptible, centered on a river. When the viewer realizes that the river has the shape of a female body, this painting considered as one of the very first examples of abstract landscape becomes a masterpiece of hidden erotic art, alongside Picasso's Le Rêve. Police Gazette is an abstract landscape in a vertical perspective.
Interchange, oil on canvas 200 x 175 cm, was sold for $ 20.7M by Sotheby's on November 8, 1989, the highest auction result at that time for a work by a living artist. A private transaction for $ 500M between two billionaires was announced in February 2016. It involved only two paintings. The piece of choice, whose contribution was announced at $ 300M in the press releases, was Interchange. The other item, thus worth $ 200M, was a 1948 dripping by Pollock numbered 17A.
At the end of the year he returns to abstract compositions in which his figurative intentions, when they exist, are intertwined and can only be deciphered by him.
For him, woman is an obsessive and ambiguous theme. In 1950 he begins painting a larger-than-life woman on a canvas 197 x 147 cm. He reworks it for months with his brushes and his knives and considers it as finished in June 1952 thanks to the intervention of a friend.
His characters are figurative but excessively misshapen and grotesque. Color prevails over form. He said : "Flesh is the reason oil paint was invented".
In late 1952 and in 1953 he makes new versions of his woman. This ideal woman is a synthesis between the opulent Paleolithic statuettes of fertility and a grotesque vixen of modern time. The spectators see in that 'Woman' series the expression at best of an annoyance, at worst of an aggressive sexual impulse, in a feverish brush work. Woman III was sold for $ 137.5M in 2006 in a private sale.
This task resulted in the side-by-side exhibition of six paintings titled Woman I to Woman VI. They are standing in similar frontal positions. The bright and varied colors of the clothes could simulate according to the artist the evolution of the fashions. De Kooning demonstrates here that Action painting was not incompatible with a figurative theme.
I to VI are not the only artworks on this theme. This series did not include a Woman with Bicycle painted in 1952 in the same style but in a slightly different attitude. Oils on paper are made in smaller sizes.
De Kooning carries out new experiments in 1955. The drift of abstraction also generates the landscape, which can be entangled with the body of the woman.
Woman as Landscape, started in 1954, begins a new phase in de Kooning's desire to break down the boundaries between figurative themes. This 166 x 125 cm oil and charcoal on canvas completed in 1955 was sold for $ 69M by Christie's on November 13, 2018, lot 7 B.
The colors of a landscape with its blue sky and green ground surround the woman. The title is significant with 'as landscape' and not 'in landscape' to indicate that the artist is ready to mix the genres.
In the same year with Interchange, a bird's eye landscape remains perceptible, centered on a river. When the viewer realizes that the river has the shape of a female body, this painting considered as one of the very first examples of abstract landscape becomes a masterpiece of hidden erotic art, alongside Picasso's Le Rêve. Police Gazette is an abstract landscape in a vertical perspective.
Interchange, oil on canvas 200 x 175 cm, was sold for $ 20.7M by Sotheby's on November 8, 1989, the highest auction result at that time for a work by a living artist. A private transaction for $ 500M between two billionaires was announced in February 2016. It involved only two paintings. The piece of choice, whose contribution was announced at $ 300M in the press releases, was Interchange. The other item, thus worth $ 200M, was a 1948 dripping by Pollock numbered 17A.
At the end of the year he returns to abstract compositions in which his figurative intentions, when they exist, are intertwined and can only be deciphered by him.
