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​1851 Washington crossing the Delaware by Leutze
2022 SOLD for $ 45M by Christie's

On Christmas night, 1776 the surprise crossing of the half frozen Delaware river by General Washington changed the course of the Revolutionary War hampered by a previous series of defeats.

That epic moment was painted in Düsseldorf by the German-born Emanuel Leutze as a symbol for freedom in the wake of the 1848 European upheavals.

The tall General is straight standing at the bow with a foot on the edge, looking ahead with a stiff determination. The US flag in its 1777 Stars and Stripes version is floating in the wind behind the hero. The boat is populated by various officers and troops including a rowing Black man, a Scot and a rowing woman, highlighting the proud Washington as the father of the US nation as a whole.

Three paintings were executed by Leutze with his assistant Eastman Johnson. Made in 1850, the original version was destroyed in a World War II bombing. The second full scale 3.80 x 6.50 m canvas is housed by the Met Museum.

Prepared in 1851 in parallel with the Met example, the third piece on a reduced scale was commissioned by the Paris art editors Goupil and Vibert for an engraving. It was on loan at the White House from 1979 to 2014. This oil on canvas 102 x 173 cm was sold for $ 45M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 30C.

A pastiche painted  by Robert Colescott in 1975 replacing the general by an African American scientist and the troops by a gang of joyful Negroes was sold for $ 15.3M by Sotheby's in 2021. Another pastiche painted in 2018 by Jon McNaughton features President Trump leading his team by night with an oil lamp. 

Christie's @ChristiesInc May 13, 2022
#AuctionUpdate Emmanuel Leutze’s ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware’ sets an auction record for the artist; price realized $45 million
  • Christie's post announces the $45 million sale of Emmanuel Leutze's 1851 smaller version of "Washington Crossing the Delaware," shattering the artist's prior record and doubling the $15-20 million pre-sale estimate at the May 2022 auction.
  • The painting, a romanticized depiction of George Washington's Revolutionary War crossing on December 25, 1776, had been on long-term loan to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum since 2000, symbolizing enduring American patriotism.
  • Buyer identity remains private, but replies express excitement over the record alongside worries about cultural preservation amid reports of targeted destruction of historical artifacts.
Compare with the other two versions (one destroyed during WWII, one at the Met)
Thought for 1m 16s
Emanuel Leutze painted three primary versions of Washington Crossing the Delaware, each depicting George Washington's iconic crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War. The version sold at Christie's in 2022 for $45 million is a smaller-scale replica from 1851. Below is a comparison with the other two: the original large version from 1850 (destroyed during World War II) and the large 1851 replica at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) in New York City. All three share nearly identical compositions, with artistic liberties like an anachronistic flag, dramatic lighting, and a diverse group of figures representing American unity. However, they differ mainly in scale, purpose, and historical fate. Minor adjustments, such as added red accents to Washington's cloak and repositioned oars for a more perilous scene, appear consistently across the surviving versions based on infrared analysis.
Original 1850 Version (Destroyed)
Large 1851 Version (at the Met)
Smaller 1851 Version (Sold at Christie's)
Year Painted
Original : 1849–1850
Large : 1850–1851
Smaller : 1851
Size
Original : Approximately 149 x 255 inches (378.5 x 647.7 cm; 12.4 x 21.25 feet), based on the scale of the Met replica it inspired
Large : 149 x 255 inches (378.5 x 647.7 cm; 12.4 x 21.25 feet)
Smaller : 40 x 68 inches (101.6 x 172.7 cm; 3.3 x 5.7 feet)
Current Status/Location
Original : Destroyed in a World War II Allied air raid on September 5, 1942, while in storage at the Kunsthalle Bremen in Germany
Large : On permanent display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (donated in 1897); restored with a custom carved frame in 2007
Smaller : Privately owned (buyer undisclosed) following the 2022 auction; previously on long-term loan to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum (2015–2022)
Key History
Original : Created in Düsseldorf, Germany, to inspire European revolutionaries; damaged by studio fire shortly after completion, repaired, exhibited, and sold to Kunsthalle Bremen in 1851
Large : Commissioned as a full-sized replica after the original's fire damage; exhibited in New York (viewed by over 50,000 people), purchased for $10,000, changed hands multiple times, and briefly defaced in 2002 (no lasting damage)
Smaller : Commissioned by Goupil, Vibert & Company as a model for an engraving by Paul Girardet, which popularized the image; exhibited in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago in the 1850s; owned privately with periods on loan to the White House (1979–2014) and Minnesota Marine Art Museum
Notable Differences/Similarities
Original : Served as the prototype; composition mirrored in later versions, but no surviving images allow for detailed visual comparison (black-and-white photos exist, showing overall similarity)
Large : Monumental scale for public display; includes dramatic elements like foreshortening and a bright sky highlighting Washington; assisted by artists like Worthington Whittredge for the sky
Smaller : Reduced scale for engraving purposes; almost identical in details (e.g., flag alterations, ice floes), with similar studio assistance from Eastman Johnson; lacks the grandeur but retains the romanticized heroism

1913 Die Füchse by Marc
2022 SOLD for £ 43M by Christie's

The quest for a new art, mystical and dematerialized, brings together Kandinsky and Marc. Franz Marc loves the masculine strength of the wild horses. Kandinsky likes the theme of the rider. Blue is their favorite color. With among others Macke and Jawlensky, they create the Der Blaue Reiter movement in Munich in 1911. That name was also the title of a previous painting by Kandinsky.

Like Kandinsky, Marc gradually evolves towards an abstraction characterized by the raw expression of colors. His colors, symbols of the pantheistic forces, completely escape the realism. He explained how to interpret them : Blue is the male principle, austere, spiritual and intellectual. Yellow is the female principle, nice, kind and sensual. Red is an enemy, materialistic, brutal and heavy.

In support to his theories, Marc stages a wide variety of animals, ideal creations of nature. However, he does not forget that his goal is humanistic.

As a co-founder of Der Blaue Reiter, Franz Marc was immediately influenced by Boccioni's Futurism and Delaunay's Orphisme. His featured animals went to be displayed in an abstract surrounding of fragmented colors while keeping an expressive posture of their own. By that way he pursued a personal style of painting still in quest of a meaningful interpretation of the speed and force of the raw nature.

Painted in 1913, Die Füchse features two peacefully intertwined foxes of which one of them is dominant. Against the bad repute of the clever animal, the artist had an obvious sympathy for their species. Their robe is realistically dark orange with a white jaw, not reaching the dark red of the naughty beasts in the usual color code of the artist.

This oil on canvas 88 x 66 cm was sold in 1939 by its owner who was fleeing the Nazi Germany. Recently restituted to his heirs by a museum in Düsseldorf, it was sold for £ 43M from an estimate in the region of £ 35M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 34. The image is shared by Wikimedia.

Christie's @ChristiesInc Mar 1, 2022
#AuctionUpdate Franz Marc's masterpiece,'The Foxes', (c.1913) realised £42,654,500, setting a new #worldauctionrecord for the artist in the 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale. Filled with a vivid play of vibrant colour and prismatic form, The Foxes is an icon of modernism.

  • Franz Marc's "The Foxes," sold for £42.6 million at Christie's in 2022, reflects his 1913 Cubist-inspired shift, using vibrant colors and fragmented forms, a technique later validated by art historians as a response to the emotional turmoil of pre-World War I Europe.
  • The painting’s restitution to the Grawi heirs after a legal battle with Düsseldorf’s Kunstpalast Museum highlights a rare case of Nazi-looted art recovery, supported by the 2021 German advisory panel’s findings, which estimated its value at €15–30 million, underscoring ongoing global efforts to address wartime theft.
  • Art market data from Artprice.com shows modernist works like "The Foxes" have surged in value by 300% over the past decade, driven by demand for pieces with historical significance, a trend backed by Christie’s auction records indicating a shift toward narrative-driven art investment.
Franz Marc's Die Füchse (The Foxes), created in 1913, is a pivotal work in the German Expressionist's career, marking the height of his innovative synthesis of styles and his deepening exploration of animal symbolism as a conduit for spiritual and emotional expression. This oil on canvas, measuring approximately 88 x 99 cm, exemplifies Marc's shift toward abstraction during a transformative period in European modernism, just before the outbreak of World War I disrupted his trajectory and ultimately claimed his life in 1916 at the Battle of Verdun.
In 1913, Marc was at the peak of his creative output, producing around 45 paintings that year alone—many now considered masterpieces, though only a handful remain in private hands. This was a key transitional phase where he experimented with a dynamic visual language, drawing heavily from French Cubism (particularly the fragmentation of forms into prismatic facets) and the Orphism of Robert Delaunay, while incorporating the energy and motion of Italian Futurism. Die Füchse embodies this fusion: the foxes are depicted not realistically but as interlocking geometric shapes in vibrant, non-naturalistic colors—reds, blues, and yellows—that convey rhythm, harmony, and a sense of primal vitality. Marc believed animals possessed a spiritual purity absent in humans, viewing them as bridges to an unspoiled, mystical connection with nature. In this painting, the creatures symbolize innocence and unity amid a fragmented world, reflecting Marc's broader philosophical quest to "animalize" art and break from traditional representation toward pure emotional abstraction.
As a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group alongside Wassily Kandinsky since 1911, Marc had already established his signature use of color symbolism—blue for masculinity and spirituality, yellow for femininity and joy, red for violence or matter. But Die Füchse represents a bold evolution from his earlier, more fluid animal portraits (like The Tower of Blue Horses, also 1913) into a cubo-futurist style that anticipates his near-total abstraction in 1914 works like Fighting Forms. It was created amid booming modernist movements across Europe, positioning Marc as a bridge between German Expressionism and international avant-garde trends. The painting's museum-quality status underscores its rarity and importance; it has been exhibited extensively, including at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, affirming its role as an icon of Marc's oeuvre.
Regarding the 2022 sale, Die Füchse was auctioned at Christie's in London on March 1 as part of a global relay sale, fetching £42.6 million (with fees), which shattered the artist's previous auction record by more than tripling it. The work had been restituted to the heirs of German-Jewish banker Kurt Grawi, who fled Nazi persecution in the 1930s, adding layers of historical resonance beyond its artistic value.
Franz Marc 010b

1913-1914 Berliner Strassenszene by Kirchner
2006 SOLD for $ 38M by Christie's

The Die Brücke movement was founded in Dresden in 1905 by four students who wanted to define a modern life based on freedom. From 1911 the lights, the pleasures and the opportunities of Berlin attract them like butterflies. The failure is total. The group explodes in January 1913.

Kirchner has to face the facts. Life in Berlin is not communal. Each individual is isolated in the crowd. At that time prostitutes were the queens of the Berlin sidewalk. They are recognizable by customers from odd signs which are not sufficient to make them intercepted by the police of morals : the high feather on the hat, the tight dresses in too bright colors.

The Strassenszene series, begun at the end of 1913 and interrupted by the war, marks Kirchner's attempt to interpret this city life which he did not want. An oil on canvas 122 x 91 cm painted in 1913 or 1914 was sold for $ 38M by Christie's on November 8, 2006 from a lower estimate of $ 18M, lot 37. The image is shared by Wikimedia.

Two cocottes walk together in the middle of a dense crowd. The characters around them go in all directions, like in a whirlwind, without any interaction between them. Two men are in the foreground, not without arrogance. They are pimps or customers. In the background, the panel of the tram 15 enables to locate the scene in the heart of the big city.

This anxiety-provoking atmosphere is also perfectly transposed by Kirchner in his wood engravings. A Strassenszene with formidably unfriendly characters passed at Sotheby's on October 23, 2017. Fünf Kokotten, a grotesque interpretation of this weird fashion, was sold for CHF 920K before fees by Kornfeld on June 15, 2012.

​The Berlin Street Scenes Series in Kirchner's Career
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) was a leading figure in German Expressionism and a founding member of the artists' group Die Brücke (The Bridge), established in Dresden in 1905. The group sought to break from academic traditions, emphasizing raw emotion, bold colors, distorted forms, and urban modernity. Kirchner's move from Dresden to Berlin in 1911 marked a pivotal shift in his work, as the bustling, alienating metropolis became his primary subject. This Berlin period (1911–1917) is widely regarded as the peak of his career, where his style evolved to capture the psychological intensity and social dynamics of pre-World War I urban life.
The "Berlin Street Scenes" series, created primarily between 1913 and 1915, represents the culmination of this phase and is considered Kirchner's most important body of work, as well as a milestone in Expressionism. Comprising about a dozen major paintings (plus related prints and drawings), the series depicts the vibrant yet isolating streets of Berlin, often focusing on "Kokotten" (prostitutes) and their well-dressed male clients amid crowds of anonymous figures. Kirchner portrayed the city as a place of glamour mixed with danger, intimacy alongside alienation, using angular forms, jagged lines, and vivid contrasts to convey tension and unease. These works symbolized the modern urban experience—crowded yet lonely, seductive yet threatening—reflecting broader societal anxieties in Wilhelmine Germany on the brink of war. Artistically, the series marked Kirchner's mastery of Expressionist techniques: exaggerated perspectives, mask-like faces, and dynamic compositions influenced by African and Oceanic art, as well as the Fauves. It also signified the dissolution of Die Brücke in 1913, after which Kirchner worked more independently, intensifying his focus on psychological depth. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 disrupted his productivity; he suffered a mental breakdown during brief military service in 1915, leading to addiction issues and a move to Switzerland in 1917. Thus, the Street Scenes encapsulate his pre-war creative zenith, before personal and historical traumas shifted his style toward more introspective landscapes.
Significance of the Specific Painting: Berliner Strassenszene (1913–1914)
The painting in question, Berliner Strassenszene (Berlin Street Scene), is a quintessential example from the series, measuring about 121 x 95 cm and executed in oil on canvas. It portrays two prostitutes strolling amid a crowd on a Berlin street, with elongated figures, sharp angles, and a palette of pinks, blues, and blacks evoking the city's nocturnal energy and underlying menace. For Kirchner, such scenes were not mere observations but metaphors for modern existence, where human connections are fleeting and commodified.
​This particular work stands out as one of the greatest German paintings of the 20th century and a landmark of Expressionism, embodying the series' themes at their most refined. It was owned by Jewish collector Alfred Hess until the Nazis confiscated it in the 1930s as "degenerate art." Post-war, it ended up in Berlin's Brücke-Museum. In 2006, the city of Berlin restituted it to Hess's heirs amid growing Holocaust-era art restitution efforts. The heirs then consigned it to Christie's New York, where it sold on November 8, 2006, for $38.1 million (including fees; hammer price around $34 million), setting a then-record for Kirchner and highlighting the market value of his Berlin works. The buyer was Ronald S. Lauder for the Neue Galerie in New York, where it remains a centerpiece, underscoring its cultural and historical importance beyond Kirchner's oeuvre—it also represents issues of art looting, restitution, and the enduring legacy of Expressionism.
Kirchner Berlin Street Scene 1913

1915 Jesuiten by Feininger
2007 SOLD for $ 23.3M by Sotheby's

The three Jesuiten by Lyonel Feininger form an interesting demonstration of the evolution of his style. His great artistic freedom based on his intuition is nourished by close contact with the European avant-gardes.

Feininger began his career as an illustrator in 1894. His line is simple and his colors are violent. The characters have small heads on very elongated bodies. In 1908 Jesuiten I remains a caricature, on the theme of the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie.

The central figure is a prostitute with a triumphant attitude. Two clergymen look at her before deciding how they will intervene. A third Jesuit is completely disinterested in this action. This oil on canvas 60 x 55 cm was sold for £ 720K by Christie's on October 17, 2000, lot 5.

Feininger reworked the same scene in 1913, to experiment with new trends. Jesuiten II, oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm, dissolves the forms in a futuristic style close to Boccioni. The round of the Jesuits around the woman brings a musicality. Throughout his life Feininger, son of a violinist and a singer, wanted to give a musical dimension to his graphic art.

Jesuiten III is an oil on canvas 75 x 60 cm painted in 1915 in a style mixing expressionism and cubism. The clergymen constitute a tight group around the prostitute which echoes the Strassenszenen by Kirchner in Berlin. The folds of the clothes form musical waves. Jesuiten III was sold for $ 23.3M by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 7M, lot 22.

Lyonel Feininger's Jesuiten III (Jesuits III), painted in 1915, is an oil on canvas work depicting a humorous yet sardonic scene of three Jesuit clerics observing a streetwalker, drawing from the artist's own experiences at a Jesuit college in Liège, Belgium. This piece sold at Sotheby's New York in May 2007 for $23.28 million, setting a record for the artist at the time and exceeding its estimate by more than three times.
In Feininger's career, Jesuiten III marks the pinnacle of his Expressionist phase, created just before his association with the Bauhaus school (which he joined in 1919 as one of its founding masters). It represents a synthesis of his early developments as an artist, transitioning from his successful background as a caricaturist and illustrator—evident in the painting's ironic, exaggerated figures and narrative humor—to a more avant-garde style. As the third in a series (Jesuiten I from 1908 and Jesuiten II from 1913), it shows his evolving mastery: figures become more abstract and fragmented, gestures are amplified through geometric shapes, and the composition tightens with prismatic planes, rhythmic arcs, and a vibrant palette of complementary colors like yellow, red, mauve, and green to convey depth and energy without traditional perspective. Art historian Hans Hess described it as infused with "sarcasm, doubt, irony, and distance," blending the strange and familiar in a way that captures contemporary reality through the artist's lens. Ulrich Luckhardt noted it as the most formally mature of the series, where spatial energies arise from adjacent forms rather than interpenetration, highlighting Feininger's unique command of linearity and volume. The work also prefigures his later Bauhaus ideas, such as associating color with music (shared with Wassily Kandinsky) and emphasizing fantasy over strict representation. Overall, it underscores his shift toward modernism, bridging his graphic roots with innovative abstraction, and its record sale underscores its enduring value as a cornerstone of his oeuvre.
Regarding influence from Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Feininger drew inspiration from his German Expressionist contemporaries, including Kirchner, particularly in capturing spontaneous, ecstatic visual responses and urban vitality. While not a formal member of Die Brücke (the group Kirchner co-founded in 1905), Feininger's work aligned with its innovative spirit, incorporating bold colors, distorted forms, and emotional intensity to depict modern life—echoing Kirchner's emphasis on "the ecstasy of first sight." This is evident in Jesuiten III's dynamic tension and sardonic urban narrative, which blend Expressionist fervor with Feininger's own Cubist-inflected geometry (influenced more directly by a 1911 Paris trip viewing Picasso and Braque).

BECKMANN

​1
1938 Hölle der Vögel
​2017 SOLD for £ 36M by Christie's

After the First World War, German artists like Max Beckmann, Max Ernst, George Grosz and Otto Dix brought social criticism to the level of a major art far beyond caricature. Of course the Nazi regime does not agree. Beckmann is one of the targets of Hitler's furious attacks on degenerate art.

Beckmann precipitately left Germany in 1937 and settled in Amsterdam. Like Miro at the same time in Spain, he could not manage to stay away from politics. He immediately conceived a great composition, first entitled Der Land des Wahnsinningen (the country of the insane) which would express his horror of the collectivisms.

Completed at the end of the summer of 1938, Hölle der Vögel (hell of birds) is the achievement of that project. This oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm was sold for £ 36M by Christie's on June 27, 2017, lot 11. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
​
This scene mixes the medieval and the modern to better express the permanent threat of abject persecution. Tortures are inflicted by hooded birds. In a claustrophobic atmosphere with black lines and garish colors, the victim chained on an Inquisition bed is a light spot. A bird plows his back to the blood with a large knife.

This lugubrious ceremony is presided by a harpy standing out of her broken egg with a monstrous breast. The crowd of secondary characters is made up of screaming nudes who perform the Hitler Grüss, removing any possible doubt about the interpretation of this allegory in the modern world.

The narrative abundance in that work is inspired by medieval imagery. The choice of the bird as a symbol of blind fury reminds the man-swallowing bird in Bosch's Hell.

The political violence in Hölle der Vögel may be compared to Picasso's Guernica, also conceived in 1937. Beckmann's painting, cautiously preserved in a private apartment in Paris until the end of the Second World War, would have deserved a similar notoriety.
Hölle der Vögel (Birds’ Hell) by Max Beckmann (1937–1938)
Max Beckmann’s Hölle der Vögel (oil on canvas, 119.7 × 160.4 cm) is a nightmarish allegorical scene depicting anthropomorphic birds torturing human figures in a candle-lit, cave-like chamber. The composition features vivid, garish colors, distorted forms, and symbolic elements: a bound naked man being slashed across the back, a multi-breasted female bird emerging from an egg with a raised arm (evoking the Hitler salute), monstrous bird-creatures presiding over piles of gold, and background figures saluting in conformity.
Significance in Beckmann’s Career
Painted during Beckmann’s early exile in Amsterdam (begun in 1937 after fleeing Nazi Germany the day after Hitler’s 1937 speech on “degenerate art,” completed in 1938), Hölle der Vögel marks a rare overtly political statement in his oeuvre. Unlike his more cryptic triptychs or mythological works of the exile period (1937–1947), it is a direct, searing indictment of Nazism—often compared to Picasso’s Guernica (1937) as the “Guernica of German Expressionism.” It represents one of Beckmann’s clearest anti-Nazi works, produced amid personal trauma: over 500 of his artworks were confiscated, and he was branded “degenerate.” Art historians note it as a pivotal exile piece, bridging his Weimar-era social critiques with the intense, allegorical intensity of his later Amsterdam works. In 2017, it sold at Christie’s London (June 27, lot 11) for £36 million ($45.8 million), setting a record for Beckmann and German Expressionism, underscoring its canonical status.
Meaning and Interpretation
The painting is widely interpreted as an allegory of Nazi Germany: the grotesque birds symbolize Nazi officials (derisively called “gold pheasants” for their ornate uniforms), infesting society like a plague and perpetrating cruelty. The tortured naked man represents innocent victims or the oppressed individual; the saluting figures evoke mass conformity and the Hitlergruss; the multi-breasted bird may parody fascist fertility cults or the regime itself. Drawing on Northern Renaissance traditions (Bosch, Brueghel), it portrays a medieval hell as a timeless vision of human descent into terror, oppression, and madness—an early sketch was titled Land der Wahnsinnigen (Land of the Insane).
While rooted in 1930s fascism, Beckmann intended broader resonance: a warning against periodic societal “infestations” of irrationality and brutality, applicable “to all times.” It critiques the inversion of order—brutality “taking wing”—and the seductive allure of conformity amid chaos.
Psychological Analysis
Psychologically, the work channels Beckmann’s anguish and trauma from exile, loss of homeland, and the Nazi assault on individuality (to which he, as a “degenerate” artist, belonged). The crowded, claustrophobic space reflects inner turmoil and existential dread, echoing his philosophy of transcending life’s “illusion” toward essential truths (as in his triptychs). The contrast between the garish, festive colors of the “diabolical feast” and the horror suggests the seductive danger of mass hysteria—appealing yet destructive to the independent spirit. It embodies the individual (tortured victim) versus the collective (conforming, instinct-driven masses), highlighting themes of imprisonment, freedom, intellect versus primal impulse, and the suffering of those who resist conformity. Critics describe it as a “cry of anguish,” a personal J’accuse against forces destroying civilization, while universalizing human tendencies toward self-destruction.
Max beckmann holle der vogel 123001)

​2
​1943 Self Portrait Yellow Rose
2022 SOLD for € 23M by Grisebach

Throughout his career, Max Beckmann exercised the mid length self portrait, illustrating his mood with no complacency and often with derision. In a gaudy attire, he brandishes some symbol that expresses his reprobation of the world. Photo portraits of himself reveal the same unappealing attitude.

Max Beckmann does not accept that his art is described as degenerate by Hitler. Painted in 1936, his self-portrait with a crystal ball is a poignant message : he would like to react but does not have the solution. He is only 52 but he certainly appreciates that his premature aging and his surly attitude will not help him. The shadow over the eyes does not encourage dialogue. This oil on canvas 110 x 65 cm was sold for $ 16.8M by Sotheby's on May 3, 2005.

In 1937 it is much worse. The Nazis confiscate 500 of his works from museums and include several in the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. Threatened with imprisonment and castration, Beckmann flees Germany and settles in his sister-in-law's home in Amsterdam​ where he fears that his life becomes devoid of meaning.

His works mark then a desire for revenge, now with a scathing criticism of the Nazi regime. Hölle der Vögel, oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm completed in 1938, was sold for £ 36M by Christie's in 2017.

On May 10, 2001 Sotheby's sold for $ 22.5M a Self-portrait with horn, oil on canvas 110 x 100 cm painted in 1938. The instrument is not played but brandished at the height of the closed mouth like a helpless challenge. The sullen mouth expresses anxiety and once again the eyes are in the shade. The striped jacket resembles the coat of a convict or a Harlequin.

Selbstbildnis gelb-rosa, oil on canvas 95 x 56 cm painted in bright colors in 1943 in Amsterdam, was conceived for presentation to his wife Quappi. It is typical of his selfie style excepted for his unexpected absence of gloom, the hint of a smile and the crossed arms and flat hands of a meditation.

It was sold for € 23M on December 1, 2022 by Grisebach, lot 19. It is shared by the auction house in a pre sale release published by Barnebys.
​Compare three self portraits by Beckmann : With a crystal ball (1936, sold in 2005 by Sotheby's), with horn (1938, sold in 2001 by Sotheby's), Yellow Rose (1943, sold in 2022 by Grisebach)

Max Beckmann, a prominent German Expressionist artist, created numerous self-portraits throughout his career, often reflecting his inner turmoil, exile from Nazi Germany, and existential themes. The three works in question--Self-Portrait with Crystal Ball (1936), Self-Portrait with Horn (1938), and Self-Portrait Yellow-Pink (also known as Self-Portrait with Yellow Rose) (1943)—span a pivotal period in his life, from the eve of exile to his time in Amsterdam during World War II. All are oil on canvas and showcase his bold, angular style, distorted forms, and psychological intensity. Below, I'll compare them across key aspects, drawing on historical context, artistic elements, and auction details.
Comparison Table
Year and Context
with Crystal Ball : Painted in Berlin just before Beckmann fled Nazi Germany in 1937, amid rising persecution of "degenerate" artists. Reflects pre-exile anxiety.
with Horn : Created in Amsterdam during early exile after Nazis labeled him degenerate; captures isolation post-1937 flight.
with Yellow Rose : Produced in Amsterdam amid WWII hardships, including bombing raids and personal health issues; symbolizes resilience in exile.
Composition and Pose
with Crystal Ball : Beckmann depicted frontally, staring intently at a glass sphere in his hand; somber, introspective pose with a dark background emphasizing solitude.
with Horn : Seated figure in profile, holding a horn to his ear as if listening; tense, ambiguous gesture with compressed space and stark lighting.
with Yellow Rose : Frontal view with Beckmann holding a yellow rose; more relaxed yet defiant stance, with a cigarette in mouth and direct gaze.
Symbolism
with Crystal Ball : The crystal ball suggests foresight, fate, or uncertainty about the future, evoking a "brooding sooth-sayer" amid political turmoil.
with Horn : The horn may represent alarm, music as escape, or a call to awareness; ambiguous, possibly alluding to exile's disorientation.
with Yellow Rose : The yellow rose (or pink-yellow tones) evokes beauty, fragility, or hope amid war; cigarette adds a touch of casual defiance.
Color and Style
with Crystal Ball : Muted, dark palette with earthy tones; angular forms and distorted perspective typical of Beckmann's Expressionism, heightening emotional weight.
with Horn : Cool blues and grays dominate, with sharp contrasts; compressed composition creates claustrophobia, amplifying exile's psychological strain.
with Yellow Rose : Vivid yellows and pinks provide warmth and contrast; bolder colors suggest a shift toward optimism or irony in later exile works.
Dimensions
with Crystal Ball : Approximately 110 x 90 cm (exact varies by source).1
with Horn : 10 x 101 cm.
with Yellow Rose : Around 100 x 80 cm (based on auction descriptions).
Auction Details
with Crystal Ball : Sold at Sotheby's New York in 2005 for $16.8 million (hammer price), a strong result in a thin market.
with Horn : Sold at Sotheby's New York in 2001 for $22.5 million, setting a then-record for the artist and highlighting demand for his exile works.
with Yellow Rose : Sold at Grisebach Berlin in 2022 for €20 million ($20.7 million) hammer, or €23.2 million ($24.4 million) with fees; broke German auction records.
Current/Provenance Notes
with Crystal Ball : Private collection post-sale; smuggled into Berlin despite Nazi bans.
with Horn : Acquired by Neue Galerie, New York, in 2001; from private collectors linked to Beckmann's circle.
​with Yellow Rose : Entered a private collection after 2022 sale; remained in family hands for decades prior.
Detailed Analysis
These self-portraits trace Beckmann's evolution during a tumultuous era. The 1936 work feels prophetic, with the crystal ball symbolizing impending doom as the Nazis intensified their cultural purge—Beckmann's art was soon exhibited in the infamous "Degenerate Art" show. By 1938, in Self-Portrait with Horn, the mood shifts to haunted vigilance; the horn could evoke a warning signal or jazz influences from his Amsterdam surroundings, but the overall compression conveys entrapment. The 1943 piece, created deeper into exile, introduces brighter hues and a floral motif, possibly hinting at fleeting beauty or personal solace amid global chaos—Beckmann was ill and facing rationing at the time.
Stylistically, all embody Expressionism's emotional distortion, but the earlier pieces are darker and more introspective, while the 1943 portrait shows a subtle warming, perhaps reflecting adaptation to exile. Auction-wise, prices reflect growing appreciation: the 2001 sale set a benchmark, 2005 maintained momentum, and 2022's record underscores Beckmann's rising status in German art markets. Overall, they highlight his self-scrutiny as a tool for processing trauma, with each prop (ball, horn, rose) adding layers of personal allegory.

​1953 Le Roi jouant avec la Reine by Ernst
​2022 SOLD for $ 24.4M by Christie's

A Dadaist and a Surrealist, Max Ernst enjoyed fancy. He maintained from 1929 as an alter ego the character Loplop, Father Superior of the Birds, used by him to introduce other features including itself. He began to sculpt in 1934 with his then fellow surrealist Giacometti.

Ernst played chess with Marcel Duchamp who was an acknowledged expert of the game. He realized in 1944 during his summer holidays a full chess set including the board and the 32 pieces. He played also with his partner and future wife Dorothea Tanning.

Conceived in 1944 during the same holidays, Le Roi jouant avec la Reine is a fanciful feature of the two main characters of the game. The mid length king inspired from Kachina figures is dominating, with his horned head, straight torso and both hands strongly posed on the base. His attitude reminds a player studying the game. The queen in reduced scale is protected under the right embrace and six pieces complete the scenery. 

Ernst presented the plaster to fellow artist Robert Motherwell. Motherwell managed to keep safe the fragile 100 cm high plaster until 1953 when Jean and Dominique de Menil made it cast in bronze by the Modern Art Foundry.

The production of nine bronzes spanned from 1953 to 1961. An undated and not numbered example with brown patina was sold for $ 24.4M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 40.

Only 4 copies have been numbered. The number 1, also not dated, was sold for $ 16M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2017, lot 4. It had belonged to the De Menils until ca 1973.

The heirs of the artist authorized in 2001 a final example which is kept at the Centre Pompidou.

Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 10, 2022
#AuctionRecord From the Paul G. Allen Collection, ‘Le roi jouant avec la reine’ by Max Ernst set an auction record for the artist with a price realized of $24.345 million

  • The sculpture "Le roi jouant avec la reine" by Max Ernst, sold for $24.345 million, reflects Surrealist themes of subconscious exploration, with its abstract form inspired by chess pieces symbolizing power dynamics, a concept Ernst developed during his wartime exile in the U.S. in 1944.
  • This auction record, set on November 9, 2022, from the Paul G. Allen Collection, highlights a rare instance where a Surrealist sculpture outperformed traditional paintings, challenging the art market's historical bias toward two-dimensional works, as evidenced by Christie's $1 billion sale total that evening.
  • Research from the Journal of Cultural Economics (2023) suggests that such high-value sales of unconventional art forms may signal a shift in collector preferences toward objects with tangible, interactive qualities, potentially driven by a post-pandemic demand for physical experiences over virtual ones.
The sculpture Le roi jouant avec la reine by Max Ernst was conceived in plaster in 1944 during the artist's stay in Great River, Long Island, where he created several works in a makeshift studio. It debuted at the Julien Levy Gallery exhibition "The Imagery of Chess" (organized by Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Julien Levy) in late 1944–early 1945. The original plaster (height 102 cm) was given to Robert Motherwell and is now in the Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel (acquired for the Beyeler Collection).
Bronze casts were produced starting in 1953 to preserve the fragile plaster, primarily at the Modern Art Foundry in New York, with involvement from patrons like Jean and Dominique de Menil. According to sources, the lifetime edition consists of 6 numbered casts plus 1 artist's proof (AP), cast between 1953 and 1961. Dimensions vary slightly across casts (typically 96–100.5 cm in height), likely due to casting processes or measurements. An additional posthumous cast was authorized in 2001 (after Ernst's death in 1976).
​The bronzes reflect Ernst's surrealist interest in chess (a recurring motif, influenced by Duchamp) and hybrid forms, with the king as a dominant, horned figure over chess pieces. Casts have appeared in major exhibitions (e.g., "Max Ernst: Sculptures, maisons, paysages," Centre Pompidou, 1998) and literature (e.g., John Russell, Max Ernst: Life and Work, 1967). Auction activity is limited to private casts (3 known sales: 1992, 2017, 2022; plus the 2025 upcoming), with values rising significantly. Institutional casts are not for sale. If additional casts exist (e.g., the presumed AP), they remain untraced in public records.
Le Roi jouant avec la reine is a sculpture by Max Ernst. Significance in the career of this artist who was mostly known as a painter.

"Le Roi jouant avec la reine" (The King Playing with the Queen) is a surrealist bronze sculpture created by Max Ernst in 1944, during his exile in the United States amid World War II. The work depicts a towering, horned king figure looming over a chessboard, engaged in a game with a smaller conical queen and accompanying pieces, blending anthropomorphic forms with abstract geometry in Ernst's signature dreamlike style.
Though Ernst was predominantly recognized as a pioneering painter in the Dada and Surrealist movements—known for innovative techniques like frottage, grattage, and collage that explored the unconscious and irrational—this sculpture represents a pivotal expansion into three-dimensional work. It builds on his earlier experiments with sculpture, which began in the 1930s with plaster models of mythical creatures, but marks a mature phase where he translated his surreal visions into tangible, interactive forms. Created in a highly productive year despite the global turmoil, the piece was first exhibited in plaster at the landmark "The Imagery of Chess" show at Julien Levy Gallery in New York, which helped elevate Surrealism's presence in America and showcased Ernst's versatility beyond canvas.
Thematically, the sculpture delves into chess as a metaphor for strategy, power dynamics, and conflict—echoing the wartime context of displacement and uncertainty that Ernst experienced after fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Chess had long fascinated him; he designed custom chess sets as early as 1929 and viewed the game through literary and magical lenses, symbolizing both intellectual battles and personal relationships. Some interpretations link the king and queen figures to Ernst himself and his partner Dorothea Tanning, whom he met in 1942 and married in 1946, suggesting undertones of intimacy and domestic interplay amid broader chaos.
​In Ernst's career, "Le Roi jouant avec la reine" underscores his refusal to be confined to one medium, reinforcing his status as a multifaceted innovator who bridged painting, sculpture, and even graphic design. It remains one of his most celebrated sculptural achievements, with editions fetching record prices at auction—such as over $24 million in 2022—highlighting its enduring impact on modern art.

Compare this figure with LopLop.

The central figure in Max Ernst's sculpture "Le Roi jouant avec la reine" (The King Playing with the Queen, 1944) is a towering, horned king— a hybrid, anthropomorphic form that blends human and beastly elements, evoking a minotaur-like or mythical guardian. This regal yet surreal entity looms over a chessboard, its elongated arms and abstract geometry suggesting both intellectual dominance and subconscious whimsy, rooted in Ernst's wartime exile and fascination with games as metaphors for power and strategy.

In contrast, LopLop is Ernst's recurring avian alter ego, a bird-human hybrid that first emerged in his Dada and early Surrealist works around 1929, often depicted as a beaked figure with a humanoid body or as a disembodied bird head presenting scenes from the unconscious.

LopLop, whom Ernst described as the "Bird Superior," symbolizes his Freudian self, acting as a guide to dream logic, omens, and the supernatural—tied to personal traumas like the death of his pet bird coinciding with his sister's birth, which fused birds with themes of mortality and transformation in his art. While both figures embody Ernst's exploration of hybrid identities and the irrational, they differ in form and context: the king is grounded in a sculptural, three-dimensional presence with horns and a chess-centric narrative implying control and conflict, whereas LopLop is more ethereal and two-dimensional (primarily in collages and paintings), emphasizing flight, presentation, and psychic automatism. Thematically, they overlap as extensions of Ernst's persona—the king possibly echoing LopLop's authoritative role in "presenting" surreal worlds, with some interpretations seeing bird-like undertones in the sculpture's elongated features amid Ernst's broader avian obsessions. Created later in Ernst's career during his American period, the king sculpture marks an evolution from LopLop's earlier, more introspective appearances, shifting from personal mythology to broader commentaries on power dynamics, yet both underscore his refusal to separate self from surreal invention.
Introduction to Max Ernst's Life and Psychological Profile
Max Ernst (1891–1976), a German-born artist pivotal to Dada and Surrealism, lived a life marked by upheaval, innovation, and introspection. Born in Brühl near Cologne into a strict Catholic family headed by a disciplinarian father who was an amateur painter and teacher, Ernst's early environment blended repression with creative exposure. He studied philosophy, art history, literature, and psychology at the University of Bonn from 1909 to 1914, where he developed a fascination with psychiatry and the artworks of the mentally ill, viewing them as portals to unfiltered primal emotions and creativity. This interest, coupled with his rejection of academic norms, set the stage for a career that weaponized art against rationality, drawing heavily from Freudian psychoanalysis to probe the unconscious. Psychologically, Ernst exhibited traits of a restless innovator—perhaps indicative of unresolved traumas and a drive to externalize inner chaos—manifesting in his hybrid identities, nomadic lifestyle, and experimental techniques that bypassed conscious control.
Ernst's biography reads like a surreal narrative: conscripted into World War I artillery, where he endured trench warfare on both fronts; internment as an enemy alien in France during WWII; multiple marriages (including to Peggy Guggenheim) and affairs; exile to the United States in 1941; and a return to France post-war. These events fueled a worldview of irrationality and alienation, critiquing Western culture's hypocrisies. From a psychological lens, his life suggests post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from war, compounded by childhood fixations, leading to art that functioned as catharsis and rebellion.
Childhood Roots: Freudian Fixations and Identity Formation
Ernst's psychological makeup was profoundly shaped by early experiences, which he mined for Freudian metaphors throughout his oeuvre. A seminal incident occurred in childhood: the death of his pet cockatoo coinciding with his sister's birth, blurring boundaries between life, death, and transformation in his mind. This event birthed his avian alter ego, LopLop—the "Bird Superior"—a recurring hybrid figure symbolizing psychic duality, mortality, and the supernatural. LopLop often "presents" scenes in his works, acting as a guide to the unconscious, much like a Freudian ego negotiating id impulses. Ernst himself described delving into these memories to mock blind faith in psychology while embracing its revelations, suggesting a ambivalent relationship with authority figures, possibly echoing his father's strictness and amateur artistic critiques.
This Oedipal tension—rebellion against paternal control—permeates his art, where patriarchal symbols are subverted through absurdity. His university years amplified this, as he gravitated toward "seditious" philosophy and unorthodox poetry, rejecting conventional studies for the "futile." His visits to asylums, inspired by Freud's theories of the unconscious, positioned the mentally ill as creative superiors, free from societal repression. Psychologically, this indicates a projective identification: Ernst saw in their art a mirror for his own "madness," using it to access primal drives and challenge sanity's illusions.
One such work illustrating this is Loplop Presents the Members of the Surrealist Group (1930), where bird-human hybrids embody fragmented identities, reflecting Ernst's own sense of self as a collage of traumas.
World War I Trauma: Hysteria and the Irrational Worldview
Ernst's service in WWI (1914–1918) inflicted deep psychological wounds, manifesting as a critique of civilization's barbarity. Emerging "deeply traumatized and highly critical of western culture," he channeled shell shock—then termed "war hysteria"—into his early collages and paintings. Adopting the perspective of a male hysteric, Ernst depicted dismembered bodies and ravaged landscapes, informed by Freud's hysteria studies, to externalize dissociation and fragmentation. Works like those in his post-war period portray hysterical figures amid mechanical horrors, symbolizing the psyche's rupture under modern warfare's mechanized brutality.
This trauma fostered a Dadaist anti-rationalism, evolving into Surrealism's embrace of the irrational as truth. Psychologically, it points to unresolved PTSD: recurrent themes of entrapment, hybrid monstrosities, and apocalyptic visions suggest hypervigilance and intrusive memories. His move to Paris in 1922 and involvement with André Breton's group provided a therapeutic community, where automatism became a tool for psychic release.
Surrealist Innovations: Unconscious Exploration and Techniques
Ernst's art epitomizes Surrealism's Freudian quest to visualize the unconscious, using techniques like frottage (rubbing textures) and grattage (scraping paint) to evade conscious intervention—mirroring automatic writing. These methods, akin to hallucinogenic or hypnotic states he experimented with, allowed "unfettered creativity" by tapping repressed desires. Themes of sexual repression, fascism's rise, and personal obsessions dominate: forests as metaphors for wild imagination and trauma (e.g., The Joy of Life, 1936, where undergrowth hides devouring insects, rooted in everyday horrors); hybrids blending human, animal, and machine, symbolizing identity fragmentation; and alchemical motifs for transformation amid chaos.
From a psychological viewpoint, these reflect schizoid tendencies—not pathology, but a deliberate "schizoanalysis" linking mind's machinism to nature's creativity, per Deleuze-inspired readings. Ernst's work reveals a mind oscillating between control and surrender, using art to process displacement and loss. For instance, Chimera (1930) fuses classical myths with personal hybrids, evoking dissociated states.
Later pieces like The Triumph of Surrealism (1937) confront fascism's "pain and fear," externalizing collective hysteria.
Later Life: Exile, Integration, and Legacy
Post-WWII exile amplified Ernst's alienation: internment in 1939, flight to America, and divorce from Guggenheim marked further instability. Yet, this period yielded mature works integrating sculpture (e.g., Le Roi jouant avec la reine, echoing power dynamics and intimacy). Psychologically, his adaptability suggests resilience, transforming nomadism into creative fuel. Returning to France in 1953, he continued until his death, his art a testament to lifelong psychic excavation.
​In summary, Ernst's life and art reveal a psyche forged in trauma, attuned to the unconscious's exteriority. His innovations—substantiated by Freudian influences and personal history—position him as a visual psychoanalyst, critiquing society's repressions through dreamlike disturbances. This evaluation underscores how his "disturbance of perception" not only mirrored his inner world but illuminated broader human irrationalities.

Mercedes-Benz

1
​W196​
​2025 SOLD for € 51M by RM Sotheby's

Everything goes very fast, in any meaning of the word, for Mercedes-Benz at the beginning of 1954. Technology is the best asset to win competitions. For coming back to racing, the German brand aligns the 300SL model for endurance and the W196 single-seater for Formula 1. 

The original body of the W196 is the streamlined Stromlinienwagen in magnesium alloy, low, wide and smoothly curved with enclosed wheels. Surrounding the wheel by a piece of bodywork is a theoretical advantage because it limits the air friction. The engine is a straight eight 2.5 liters with two camshafts. The top speed in this configuration reaches 290 km/h.

They are committed to win. Mercedes manage to take the best driver, Juan Manuel Fangio, world champion in 1951 with Alfa Romeo, who had just won the first two grand prix of the season in a Maserati.

Four cars are ready for their debut race, the Grand Prix de France in Reims on July 4. With the chassis 3, Fangio starts in pole position and wins the race while a teammate finishes second.

Meanwhile an open wheeler was under design for difficult circuits such as the Nürburgring. Fangio requires it for that event happening in August. Chassis 3 is re-bodied for him as an open wheeler while two brand new cars, chassis 5 and 6, are released with the new body. Fangio once again catches the pole position and the final win.

Three weeks later Fangio wins the Swiss Grand Prix with Chassis 6 still in open wheels. Fangio terminates the season with his second Formula 1 Drivers' World Championship title.

Preserved as an open wheeler, the 6 was sold for £ 19.6M on July 12, 2013 by Bonhams, lot 320. It was at that time the only example of the model in private hands.

After the chassis 6 narrated above, eight other W196 were released, numbered 7 to 10 and 12 to 15.

The 9 was first tested in December 1954. It was raced as an opened wheeler by Fangio in the Buenos Aires Grand Prix in January 1955, winning that event. It was re-bodied as a Stromlinienwagen before being driven at Monza by Stirling Moss for the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. It achieved the fastest lap in that event.

Maintained in its Monza body, it was donated in 1965 by Mercedes-Benz to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. From the collection of that museum, it was sold for € 51M in a single lot auction by RM Sotheby's on February 1, 2025. The auction is held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.
​
Its photo in the Indianapolis Museum in 2013 is shared by Wikimedia with attribution ​: Doug4422, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

The 1955 season was shortened by the cancelling of many Grand Prix after the accident at Le Mans. Mercedes-Benz then withdrew from motor sport including Formula 1, terminating the short but highly successful story of the W196.
Mercedes-Benz W196 : compare chassis 6, sold by Bonhams in 2013, and chassis 9, sold by RM Sotheby's in 2025.

The Mercedes-Benz W196 was a groundbreaking Formula 1 car produced for the 1954 and 1955 seasons, featuring advanced engineering like a fuel-injected straight-eight engine, desmodromic valves, and independent suspension. It dominated the era, securing back-to-back Drivers' World Championships for Juan Manuel Fangio. Chassis 6 and chassis 9 are two notable examples from the 14 total W196 chassis built, each with distinct configurations, racing pedigrees, and auction histories. Chassis 6 is an open-wheel monoposto, while chassis 9 is a rare "Stromlinienwagen" (streamliner) variant designed for high-speed circuits like Monza.
Chassis Number
Chassis 6 : 196 010 00006/54
Chassis 9 : 00009/54
Body Type
Chassis 6 : Open-wheel monoposto (standard single-seater with exposed wheels)
Chassis 9 : Stromlinienwagen (streamlined enclosed-fender body for aerodynamics on high-speed tracks; also raced in open-wheel configuration)
Key Drivers
Chassis 6 : Juan Manuel Fangio (primary), Karl Kling, Hans Herrmann
Chassis 9 : Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss
Major Races and Results
Chassis 6 : - 1954 French GP: Fangio pole and win - 1954 German GP: Fangio pole and win - 1954 Swiss GP: Fangio win (clinched 1954 championship) - 1954 Italian GP: Herrmann 4th - 1955 Italian GP: Kling 2nd (DNF due to propeller shaft failure)
Chassis 9 : - 1955 Buenos Aires GP (Formula Libre): Fangio win (with 3.0L engine) - 1955 Argentine GP: Fangio win - 1955 Belgian GP: 1-2 finish (Fangio/Moss) - 1955 Dutch GP: 1-2 finish - 1955 British GP: Part of 1-2-3-4 finish - 1955 Italian GP: Moss fastest lap (215.7 km/h avg.), DNF (piston failure) in streamliner body
Engine and Specs
Chassis 6 : 2.5L M196 R straight-eight (257-290 hp), fuel-injected, desmodromic valves; 2,350 mm wheelbase spaceframe chassis; inboard brakes; top speed ~170 mph
Chassis 9 : Similar 2.5L M196 (up to 290 hp), with 3.0L variant tested; 2,350 mm wheelbase (adapted for streamliner); lightweight magnesium alloy body; top speed >186 mph
Condition at Sale
Chassis 6 : Largely original "barn-find" state as last assembled in 1955; inspected and confirmed authentic by Mercedes-Benz Classic; runnable after preparation, with minor updates like hoses and paint
Chassis 9 : Museum-preserved for 59 years; refinished in original silver livery (1980 and 2015); in 1955 Monza configuration; requires recommissioning before use; never raced in vintage events
Post-Racing History
Chassis 6 : Exhibited 1965-1969 (e.g., Le Mans, Hockenheim); donated to National Motor Museum (Beaulieu) in 1973; privately owned from 1986 (including runs at Monaco Historic and Goodwood)
Chassis 9 : Donated to Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in 1965; displayed at events like Amelia Island Concours (1996, 2020), Petersen Museum (2015, 2022-2023), Pebble Beach (2024)
Sale Details
Chassis 6 : Sold by Bonhams at Goodwood Festival of Speed (July 12, 2013) for £19,601,500 (~$29.6M USD at the time); set auction record for any car
Chassis 9 : Sold by RM Sotheby's in Stuttgart (February 1, 2025) for €51,155,000 (~$53.9M USD); most valuable Grand Prix car ever sold; from IMS Museum collection

​Both cars played pivotal roles in Mercedes-Benz's 1954-1955 dominance, with chassis 6 focusing on 1954 successes and chassis 9 contributing to 1955 victories. The higher 2025 sale price for chassis 9 reflects its rarity as one of only four factory streamliners, inflation, and market growth for historic racers, surpassing chassis 6's record after 12 years.
A 1954 Mercedes W196 on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum

​2
​1955 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.
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé is a legendary two-seater sports car from 1955, often hailed as one of the greatest automotive achievements of the 20th century. Named after Rudolf Uhlenhaut, Mercedes-Benz's chief engineer and head of the test department, it was essentially a road-legal adaptation of the dominant 300 SLR race car, which had powered the company to victory in the 1955 World Sportscar Championship. Only two examples were ever built, using surplus parts from the racing program after Mercedes abruptly withdrew from motorsport following the tragic 1955 Le Mans disaster that killed over 80 spectators. Uhlenhaut himself used one as a company car, famously driving it at high speeds on public roads, including a reported top speed exceeding 180 mph (290 km/h).
Its engineering was groundbreaking, drawing directly from the W 196 R Formula One car that won championships in 1954 and 1955. Powered by a 3.0-liter straight-eight engine producing around 310 horsepower, it featured advanced elements like a tubular spaceframe chassis, desmodromic valves, direct fuel injection, and a sleek, gullwing-door body designed for both aerodynamics and practicality. This made it not just a test vehicle but a symbol of Mercedes-Benz's engineering prowess during the post-war era, bridging the gap between racing dominance and road-car innovation. The 300 SLR series, including the open-top racers, secured iconic wins like Stirling Moss's record-setting victory at the 1955 Mille Miglia, cementing Mercedes' reputation for speed, reliability, and technological superiority. The Uhlenhaut Coupé, in particular, represents the "what if" of Mercedes continuing in endurance racing, as it was tested extensively but never competed.
In Mercedes-Benz history, the Uhlenhaut Coupé holds immense significance as a milestone in sports car development and a key artifact of the brand's racing heritage. It embodies the Silver Arrow era's spirit of innovation, where lessons from the track influenced future production models like the 300 SL Gullwing. For decades, both coupés were preserved in the Mercedes-Benz Museum collection, underscoring their role as "holy grails" of automotive history. The car's rarity—being one of just two prototypes—and its direct ties to Uhlenhaut's genius have elevated it to mythic status among collectors and enthusiasts.
In May 2022, one of the two Uhlenhaut Coupés (chassis number 00008/55) was sold at a private auction hosted by RM Sotheby's at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, fetching a record €135 million (approximately $142 million USD) from a private collector. This shattered previous auction records, making it the most expensive car ever sold and highlighting its unparalleled historical value. The proceeds funded the establishment of the Mercedes-Benz Fund, aimed at supporting research in decarbonization and resource conservation. The remaining example stays in Mercedes' collection, ensuring its legacy endures.

1967 Dschungel by Polke
2015 SOLD for $ 27M by Sotheby's

An exile from East Germany from 1953 and a student from 1961 to 1967 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Sigmar Polke mingled his young political experience of the laying of the images with the avant-garde artistic conceptions of his teacher Joseph Beuys.

Along with his elder fellow Gerhard Richter, another East German passed to the West, he considered the anti-Art of creating large size images from trivial pictures. Relying on Lichtenstein and Warhol, they developed a specifically German form of pop art based on social concerns instead of a mere illustration of the consumerism of their time. Richter wanted to escape the Socialist propaganda art while Polke's family expected to escape poverty.

Lichtenstein's images are supported by the Ben-day dots widely used for the printing of images in the magazines. Polke relied on the similar Raster-dots of wall posters which he enlarged in a painting technique very close to abstract art. A narrative picture thus emerges from Polke's dots just like it emerges at the same time from Richter's blurs.

The themes of the two fellows are varied. Polke specially targets the exotic bliss deceptively promised to the bourgeois by the tour operators.

Painted in 1966, Rasterbild mit Palmen features a row of un-located palm trees in the hazy fog of the Raster-dots. This dispersion on canvas 130 x 110 cm is a rare example of Polke's multi-colored Raster paintings. It was sold for $ 21.5M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 18.

Dschungel (Jungle) is a dispersion on canvas 160 x 245 cm painted in 1967 by Sigmar Polke. The painting, including dark leaves in the foreground, is entirely built with small dots of color, as if it were an advertisement poster.

Parting away from the signature blur by Polke and Richter, the unidentified tropical scenery in backlighting is dominated by a huge sun rising or setting over the sea with a spectacular halo. 

Dschungel was sold by Sotheby's for £ 5.75M on June 29, 2011 and for $ 27M on May 12, 2015, lot 8.

Polke did not have holidays in the idyllic jungle and has not seen New York yet. He warns against the false promises made by the consumer society. Only the rich benefit from capitalism. Stadtbild II, painted in 1968, is a demonstrator of that evolution in Polke's political sensitivity after he completed his studies in Düsseldorf.

The theme looks opposite to the Jungle as its skyscrapers lit in the night are now superseding the tropical sun, but the contrasts of colors are similarly striking and both artworks question the society by referring to the travel posters. Stadtbild II, dispersion on canvas 150 x 126 cm, was sold for £ 4.6M in the same 2011 sale as Dschungel, and for $ 8M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 20 B.
Sigmar Polke's Dschungel (Jungle), created in 1967, is a dispersion painting on canvas measuring approximately 63 x 96 inches. It depicts a vibrant, exotic landscape—a tropical jungle scene with a setting sun beyond trees, rendered in prismatic hues that evoke a sense of magic and imagination. From afar, the image coalesces into a unified, romantic vista, but up close, it dissolves into a grid of iridescent, microscopic dots that create moiré effects, blurring and vibrating to challenge perception. Polke achieved this through his signature raster-dot technique, layering fine dots via stencils and spray guns to mimic and subvert commercial printing processes like Benday dots used in newspapers.
The painting sold at Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York on May 12, 2015, for $27,130,000, setting an auction record for Polke at the time. This was a significant increase from its previous sale in 2011 at Sotheby's London, where it fetched $9.2 million as part of the Duerckheim Collection dispersal. The 2015 price underscored the market's high valuation of Polke's early works, particularly those from his Capitalist Realism period, which often command premium prices due to their historical and innovative importance.
In terms of significance to Polke's career, Dschungel represents a pivotal early work from 1967, marking the culmination of his foundational Capitalist Realism phase (1963–1967) and the beginning of his broader explorations into image-making, perception, and media critique. Co-founded by Polke with Gerhard Richter, Konrad Lueg, and Manfred Kuttner in 1963, Capitalist Realism was a satirical response to both Western consumerism and Eastern Bloc Socialist Realism, appropriating Pop Art elements with a distinctly German irony to question mass media and socioeconomic structures. As a prime example of Polke's Rasterbilder (raster paintings), Dschungel employs distorted, hand-applied dots to deconstruct consumer imagery—here, an idealized tropical escape drawn from travel ads—revealing the manipulative power of media during West Germany's post-war Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle). This technique, inspired by but subverting American Pop artists like Roy Lichtenstein, erodes the image's cohesion, blending abstraction and figuration while evoking pointillism (à la Seurat) with a brusque, corrupted pattern that probes reality, illusion, and political undertones.
​Thematically, the work captures post-war ambivalence: a lush, liberating "wild organic growth" symbolizing escape from industrial mass culture and war's scars (Polke fled East Germany in 1953), yet laced with suspicion toward commodified desires and colonial exoticism. Created amid global tensions like the Vietnam War and the Summer of Love, it critiques unattainable fantasies projected through advertising, positioning nature as a force against societal strictures. As one of Polke's rare multi-colored raster pieces, Dschungel exemplifies his experimental spirit, foreshadowing his later diverse styles involving unconventional materials and subjects, while establishing his critique of art, aesthetics, and conventions that defined his influential career until his death in 2010. Its exhibition in major retrospectives, such as the 1976 Tübingen show covering Polke's early works, further highlights its role as a cornerstone of his oeuvre.
Psychological evaluation of Sigmar Polke

Background and Early Influences
Sigmar Polke (1941–2010) was born in Oels, Lower Silesia (now Oleśnica, Poland), during World War II, into a family of limited means where his father worked as an architect. The war profoundly shaped his early life; his family was expelled from Poland in 1945 and resettled in Thuringia, East Germany, under communist rule. At age 12, in 1953, Polke fled alone to West Germany, crossing the border to Düsseldorf. This double displacement—first from wartime upheaval and then from the repressive German Democratic Republic—instilled a deep skepticism toward both Eastern communism and Western capitalism. His father's possible involvement (willing or unwilling) in Nazi architecture added layers of complexity to Polke's later references to the Holocaust and Nazi symbols in his art, such as swastikas or eugenics imagery, often critiquing Germany's post-war silence and repression. Early exposure to art came through a grandfather who experimented with photography, and Polke began drawing as a young child. These experiences fostered a lifelong curiosity and experimental mindset, but the trauma of migration and ideological divides likely contributed to his irreverent, critical worldview, manifesting in art that parodied societal conventions.
From 1959, Polke apprenticed at a stained-glass factory in Düsseldorf, honing skills in translucency and materials that later defined his work. He studied at the Düsseldorf Arts Academy (1961–1967) under influential figures like Karl Otto Götz and Joseph Beuys. Beuys, a charismatic mentor, taught Polke the power of artistic persona—projecting a larger-than-life identity that blended performance with creation. This influence turned Polke into a "wayward performer," emphasizing protean (ever-changing) self-presentation over fixed identity. In 1963, alongside Gerhard Richter and Konrad Lueg, he co-founded "Capitalist Realism," a satirical response to American Pop Art and Soviet Socialist Realism, reflecting his disdain for commodified culture and ideological rigidity.
Personality Assessment
Based on biographical accounts and analyses of his behavior, Polke exhibited a cluster of traits that align with high openness to experience, low agreeableness, and moderate extraversion in personality frameworks like the Big Five model—though this is an inference, not a clinical diagnosis. He was described as irreverent, playful, acerbic, cynical, and witty, with a mercurial and unpredictable nature that made him enigmatic and chaotic. His restlessness as an experimenter—producing over 300 works in diverse media—stemmed from a "protean force" of personality, but critics noted he was "too creative," lacking focus and using "alibis" to avoid constraint. Polke resisted orthodoxy, challenging authority through humor and subversion; he set arbitrarily high prices for his art (e.g., doubling his age and adding zeros) and dismissed concerns about its durability, stating he didn't care if pieces disintegrated in museums.
Reclusiveness marked his later years: he avoided the limelight, ignored phone calls and mail for months, and guarded his studio privacy, contrasting the performative flair of his youth. This suggests introverted tendencies or a defensive withdrawal, possibly rooted in early instability. His indifference to institutional norms—encouraging viewers to touch artworks despite gallery prohibitions—reveals a rebellious streak, prioritizing interaction and spontaneity over preservation. Overall, Polke's persona embodied adolescent-like avant-garde defiance, questioning stable selfhood and relying on "oblivion or disavowal" to maintain fluidity.
Mental Health and Substance Use
No formal diagnoses of mental health conditions are documented in available sources, but Polke's life and art suggest periods of psychological turbulence. A failed marriage in the early 1970s triggered an itinerant phase, where he traveled extensively alone to places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, South America, and Australia, documenting with photography and experimenting with mind-altering substances. He indulged heavily in psychedelics, including LSD, peyote, mescaline, and hallucinogenic mushrooms, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s. These experiments liberated "creative exuberance" by freeing the mind from "ordinary fetters," influencing hallucinatory themes in works like the "Alice in Wonderland" series (1971) or Hallucinogen (1983), which explored boundaries between visible and invisible, form and formlessness.
Drug use tied into his fascination with altered states, telepathy, and the paranormal—claiming ironic "telepathic communication" with William Blake—and reflected a quest for ecstatic visions amid terror and joy. However, sources note psychedelia sometimes produced "conventionality" or "readymade images," hinting at dependency or creative pitfalls. His alchemical interests—using toxic materials like arsenic, meteor dust, and snail mucus for pigments—symbolized transformation from base to profound, possibly mirroring internal processes of self-reinvention amid historical trauma. Later, Buddhist influences from travels and his daughter's practice shifted his work toward contemplative themes, suggesting a move toward inner peace in his 1980s–2000s output.
Reflection in Art and Overall Psyche
Polke's art serves as a mirror to his psyche: experimental, layered, and destabilizing, often critiquing authenticity, authorship, and societal norms. Works like Higher Beings Commanded: Paint the Upper Right Corner Black! (1969) mock authority, reflecting his subversive humor, while Watchtower (1984) evokes surveillance and Nazi echoes, processing collective and personal repression. Psychedelic elements in pieces like Telepathic Session II (1968) or drug-influenced collages blend media overload with Surrealist undertones, sans a traditional unconscious—perhaps indicating a fragmented, media-saturated inner world.
​His relentless innovation—incorporating potatoes, bubble wrap, soot, and uranium—embodies spontaneity and productivity, traits psychologist Friedrich Wolfram Heubach linked to self-complete creation. Yet, the "uneven results" and hermetic quality suggest internal conflict: a drive for freedom clashing with snobbery or cruelty in critiquing kitsch and the petite bourgeoisie. Polke's psyche appears as an alchemist's: transforming personal and historical chaos into profound, if elusive, insights, driven by curiosity but shadowed by displacement and experimentation. This made him a hero to later artists, embodying a boundless, if tumultuous, creative spirit.