Man and Woman
See also : Self portrait Self portrait II French sculpture Lichtenstein Freud Picasso from 1961 George IV to Victoria Eastern Europe Chagall Northern Europe Munch Music and dance
Chronology : 1870-1879 1890-1899 1920-1929 1928 1962 1967 1982
Chronology : 1870-1879 1890-1899 1920-1929 1928 1962 1967 1982
1873 The Legend of Edward Burne-Jones
2013 SOLD 14.8 M£ including premium
Two English students meet at Oxford in 1852. William Morris is a true revolutionary in the sense that he wants to change the society. He will be an enterprising and innovative designer. Edward Coley Burne Jones (later Burne-Jones) has not yet a knowledge in art and is thus devoid of preconceived ideas on themes and technique.
The two friends were more inspired by the post-Romantic poetry, including Robert Browning, than by figurative art but they early find a fertile source of inspiration by approaching the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of Rossetti. Burne-Jones was then to discover the Italian primitives.
In their small circle, the skill of Burne-Jones is soon recognized, which commits him to try the major arts. In 1869, the Hesperides, showing three young women in an earthly paradise, is the first masterpiece of his new ambition.
From that date, Burne-Jones designed new romantic-medieval themes, but from 1870 to 1873 he devoted himself to a single painting entitled Love among the ruins, 96 x 152 cm. Two young people live their romance alone among ruins. They are idealized figures of man and woman. The brightly colored clothes and faces are probably influenced by Giorgione.
Love among the ruins is disfigured in 1893 when in loan for an exhibition. A zealous connoisseur puts a protective coating without appreciating that it is a watercolor and gouache on paper and not an oil. The work now considered as destroyed is so emotionally important for the artist that he executes almost immediately a replica in oil.
In 1898, a friend informs of a chemical formula through which Burne-Jones is able to recover almost entirely the original quality of the picture. He repairs a more damaged area with much excitement as you can imagine. He had saved his art but he died five weeks later.
This artwork that has all the qualities to become legendary is estimated £ 3M, for sale by Christie's in London on July 11.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is the perfect example of pre-Raphaelite ideas. The price could hardly be predicted. It was sold for £ 14.8 million including premium.
The two friends were more inspired by the post-Romantic poetry, including Robert Browning, than by figurative art but they early find a fertile source of inspiration by approaching the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of Rossetti. Burne-Jones was then to discover the Italian primitives.
In their small circle, the skill of Burne-Jones is soon recognized, which commits him to try the major arts. In 1869, the Hesperides, showing three young women in an earthly paradise, is the first masterpiece of his new ambition.
From that date, Burne-Jones designed new romantic-medieval themes, but from 1870 to 1873 he devoted himself to a single painting entitled Love among the ruins, 96 x 152 cm. Two young people live their romance alone among ruins. They are idealized figures of man and woman. The brightly colored clothes and faces are probably influenced by Giorgione.
Love among the ruins is disfigured in 1893 when in loan for an exhibition. A zealous connoisseur puts a protective coating without appreciating that it is a watercolor and gouache on paper and not an oil. The work now considered as destroyed is so emotionally important for the artist that he executes almost immediately a replica in oil.
In 1898, a friend informs of a chemical formula through which Burne-Jones is able to recover almost entirely the original quality of the picture. He repairs a more damaged area with much excitement as you can imagine. He had saved his art but he died five weeks later.
This artwork that has all the qualities to become legendary is estimated £ 3M, for sale by Christie's in London on July 11.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is the perfect example of pre-Raphaelite ideas. The price could hardly be predicted. It was sold for £ 14.8 million including premium.
En cette Saint Valentin, les spécialistes de @ChristiesInc reviennent sur des objets évoquant le sentiment amoureux https://t.co/HoCflsOAn8 pic.twitter.com/DUnBAVapJn
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) February 14, 2017
1881 The Path to the Holidays
2019 SOLD for £ 16.7M including premium
Martial Caillebotte was a cloth merchant who had amassed a considerable fortune as a supplier of the armies of Napoléon III. His sons did not need to work for living.
Gustave Caillebotte enjoyed rowing, sailing, painting, gardening. In 1875 a painting showing workmen is refused by the Salon : the subject cannot please the bourgeois. In response, the young artist undertakes to support the Impressionnistes. He will even be an indefectible guarantor of a certain authenticity of the early impressionist style.
Gustave is skilled. The sharp line from his beginnings gives way to a real impressionist brushstroke. In bold compositions, he studies the effects of diving and counter-diving.
He spends several summers near Trouville, the seaside village that offers its nautical pleasures and social entertainment to wealthy Parisians housed in grands hôtels and opulent villas.
Chemin montant, oil on canvas 100 x 125 cm painted in 1881, was sold for $ 6.7M including premium by Christie's on November 4, 2003. It is now for sale by Christie's in London on February 27, lot 28. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A man and a woman are seen from behind, at the edge between the shadow and a bright summer sun. They move slowly, at the same level, without worrying about each other. They are not recognizable, probably to protect the anonymity of the very young woman who will henceforth share the life of the artist. The connoisseurs of the ancient Trouville recognize on the left side the Villa Italienne which was bordered by a steep path.
The artwork is painted in the full Impressionniste maturity of Caillebotte, probably in his studio from sketches. The path is leveled for a better opening onto the wooded horizon. The color balance is carefully constructed, with the yellow of the hat and the blue of gown and sky echoing the green of the vegetation while being embellished with the red-orange spots of the shutters and the sunshade.
Gustave Caillebotte enjoyed rowing, sailing, painting, gardening. In 1875 a painting showing workmen is refused by the Salon : the subject cannot please the bourgeois. In response, the young artist undertakes to support the Impressionnistes. He will even be an indefectible guarantor of a certain authenticity of the early impressionist style.
Gustave is skilled. The sharp line from his beginnings gives way to a real impressionist brushstroke. In bold compositions, he studies the effects of diving and counter-diving.
He spends several summers near Trouville, the seaside village that offers its nautical pleasures and social entertainment to wealthy Parisians housed in grands hôtels and opulent villas.
Chemin montant, oil on canvas 100 x 125 cm painted in 1881, was sold for $ 6.7M including premium by Christie's on November 4, 2003. It is now for sale by Christie's in London on February 27, lot 28. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A man and a woman are seen from behind, at the edge between the shadow and a bright summer sun. They move slowly, at the same level, without worrying about each other. They are not recognizable, probably to protect the anonymity of the very young woman who will henceforth share the life of the artist. The connoisseurs of the ancient Trouville recognize on the left side the Villa Italienne which was bordered by a steep path.
The artwork is painted in the full Impressionniste maturity of Caillebotte, probably in his studio from sketches. The path is leveled for a better opening onto the wooded horizon. The color balance is carefully constructed, with the yellow of the hat and the blue of gown and sky echoing the green of the vegetation while being embellished with the red-orange spots of the shutters and the sunshade.
1894 The most beautiful of Vampyrs (was made by Munch)
2008 SOLD 38 M$ including premium
This will be one of the stakes (!) of the season: Sotheby's sells a Vampire of Edvard Munch on November 3 in New York.
Chance of the sales or rediscovery of Munch? A week ago, I devoted an article in the Prints group to a lithographic copy of the "Scream". The next day I announced in my weekly preview the arrival of a Vampire, at Sotheby's in London on October 2! (300 K£, lot 81). But now it's even better: I do not speak of an engraving, but of an oil on canvas.
Munch was a very important artist, who knew perfectly how to mingle love and death. His extraordinary lithograph "Madonna" has also been a few months ago the subject of an article on these networks. He was an illustrator concerned about the disclosure of his work, who made his oils on canvas in a small number of examples and added lithographic issues with a virtually identical drawing. As a result, this female "vampire", with her flame-color long hair, kissing on the neck of her lover, is an image that the auction news bring us often.
The Vampire was painted in four copies in 1893-1894, and the example to be sold is the only one in private hands. It is well known in New York, where it had been loaned during ten years to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sotheby's expects more than $ 35 million.
On 7 May 2008, a painting with peaceful subject, Girls on a bridge, was sold in the same auction room at $ 30.8 million including expenses.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
In the chronology of the sales, the first is the print : 325 K£ including fees.
2
It is always nice to see an important work acknowledged by the verdict of the market. This is the case for this remarkable Vampire, sold $ 38 million charge included.
The image is shared by Wikimedia :
Chance of the sales or rediscovery of Munch? A week ago, I devoted an article in the Prints group to a lithographic copy of the "Scream". The next day I announced in my weekly preview the arrival of a Vampire, at Sotheby's in London on October 2! (300 K£, lot 81). But now it's even better: I do not speak of an engraving, but of an oil on canvas.
Munch was a very important artist, who knew perfectly how to mingle love and death. His extraordinary lithograph "Madonna" has also been a few months ago the subject of an article on these networks. He was an illustrator concerned about the disclosure of his work, who made his oils on canvas in a small number of examples and added lithographic issues with a virtually identical drawing. As a result, this female "vampire", with her flame-color long hair, kissing on the neck of her lover, is an image that the auction news bring us often.
The Vampire was painted in four copies in 1893-1894, and the example to be sold is the only one in private hands. It is well known in New York, where it had been loaned during ten years to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sotheby's expects more than $ 35 million.
On 7 May 2008, a painting with peaceful subject, Girls on a bridge, was sold in the same auction room at $ 30.8 million including expenses.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
In the chronology of the sales, the first is the print : 325 K£ including fees.
2
It is always nice to see an important work acknowledged by the verdict of the market. This is the case for this remarkable Vampire, sold $ 38 million charge included.
The image is shared by Wikimedia :
%2C_private_collection.jpg)
1901-1903 The Triumph of Spring
2016 SOLD for $ 20.4M including premium
Auguste Rodin likes the vigorous bodies which he reproduces in high realism by kneading the earth. The Torso of Adèle, realized before 1880, displays the muscular curvature of a naked young woman. When he meets Camille Claudel, he expresses his new passion by providing a young man to his Adèle now complemented with her limbs and a head.
This first version of L'Eternel Printemps (The Eternal Spring) is carved in the mid 1880s. With the excuse of the reference to Dante in the Gates of Hell and the desire for a total art inspired by Beethoven, Rodin injects in this nude couple an intense erotic surge. The kneeling woman is embraced by the powerful young man. Mouths are joined in a kiss. The title positions the mad love outside the time of our civilizations while evoking the season of sap rising.
Rodin has marbles carved in single blocks by his workshop in response to customer orders. The first marble of The Eternal Spring is started in 1896. The group is now built against a rock which ensures the robustness of the outstretched arm.
The fifth marble of The Eternal Spring is commissioned in 1901 by a friend of Rainer Maria Rilke and completed in 1903, the year when the poet wrote an essay on Rodin. This sculpture 66 cm high and 80 cm long is weighing 154 Kg. It is estimated $ 8M for sale bySotheby's in New York on May 9, lot 17.
I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house:
This first version of L'Eternel Printemps (The Eternal Spring) is carved in the mid 1880s. With the excuse of the reference to Dante in the Gates of Hell and the desire for a total art inspired by Beethoven, Rodin injects in this nude couple an intense erotic surge. The kneeling woman is embraced by the powerful young man. Mouths are joined in a kiss. The title positions the mad love outside the time of our civilizations while evoking the season of sap rising.
Rodin has marbles carved in single blocks by his workshop in response to customer orders. The first marble of The Eternal Spring is started in 1896. The group is now built against a rock which ensures the robustness of the outstretched arm.
The fifth marble of The Eternal Spring is commissioned in 1901 by a friend of Rainer Maria Rilke and completed in 1903, the year when the poet wrote an essay on Rodin. This sculpture 66 cm high and 80 cm long is weighing 154 Kg. It is estimated $ 8M for sale bySotheby's in New York on May 9, lot 17.
I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house:
Rodin's Eternal Springtime - on offer this May in #SothebysImpMod https://t.co/fJInnZfclH #ImagineTheConversation pic.twitter.com/1GQxqHF8Ah
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) April 20, 2016
1928 Wonderful Love
2017 SOLD for $ 28.5M including premium
Marc and Bella are charming in their total empathy for one another. On November 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Les Amoureux, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted in 1928 by Chagall, lot 8 estimated $ 12M.
The theme of lovers portraying his own couple is recurrent in the art of Chagall but this work is especially touching by the attitudes, the realism of the very recognizable faces and some discretion of the surrealist attributes.
In their beatitude the lovers are floating. The young man with closed eyes is resting his head between the cheek and the shoulder of the woman. She gently welcomes this enthusiastic impulse but her eyes wide open indicate the lucidity with which she guides in real life this innocent husband.
Paris is their nest. In that same year Marc painted Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel where their dear little Ida is disguised as a floating angel to present the bouquet. This oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm was sold for £ 7M including premium by Christie's on February 2, 2016.
Let's go back to our Amoureux. Marc does not miss to express his gratitude to his host country. The tricolor dress of Bella ends with a blue in which is transposed the sky centered by a dazzling sun. In this sky a tiny bird comes to offer its auspices to the embraced couple. Leaves and flowers bring their frame to this ethereal scene.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in which the love of Marc and Bella is commented by one of their granddaughters.
The theme of lovers portraying his own couple is recurrent in the art of Chagall but this work is especially touching by the attitudes, the realism of the very recognizable faces and some discretion of the surrealist attributes.
In their beatitude the lovers are floating. The young man with closed eyes is resting his head between the cheek and the shoulder of the woman. She gently welcomes this enthusiastic impulse but her eyes wide open indicate the lucidity with which she guides in real life this innocent husband.
Paris is their nest. In that same year Marc painted Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel where their dear little Ida is disguised as a floating angel to present the bouquet. This oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm was sold for £ 7M including premium by Christie's on February 2, 2016.
Let's go back to our Amoureux. Marc does not miss to express his gratitude to his host country. The tricolor dress of Bella ends with a blue in which is transposed the sky centered by a dazzling sun. In this sky a tiny bird comes to offer its auspices to the embraced couple. Leaves and flowers bring their frame to this ethereal scene.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in which the love of Marc and Bella is commented by one of their granddaughters.
1962 The Minimalism of Emotion
2015 SOLD for $ 42M including premium
Look Mickey by Roy Lichtenstein in 1961 is the turning point of modern art. The picture is figurative, popular (with Disney's characters) impossible (animals that mimic humans), burlesque, and even animated by its text which assesses what has gone before and what will happen afterwards.
Leo Castelli immediately understands the importance of this artwork. Roy also. The artist rushes into love and war comics, considered as a minor art but enormously appealing to the public. His technique of showing the printing dots in scale across the very large magnification of his art and of keeping the pure colors is clever because it makes the connection between his inspiration and his work.
Roy finds what he is looking for. The source is abundant and the path is unexplored. The designer of the original comics created unknowingly some masterpieces of emotional imaging. For him, the scene was inseparable from the story. By isolating some simple images with or without a phylactery, Roy met the challenge of providing an art altogether major and popular.
On May 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 15 The Ring (engagement), an oil on canvas 123 x 178 cm painted in 1962 which is one of the largest by this artist at that time. The press release of March 23 announced an estimate in the region of $ 50M.
A man's hand presents the ring to the finger of a woman. That's it. This is the representation of one of the most important rites of passage of our civilization. We will not know anything more of this new couple, but the position of the hands expresses the mutual trust that sublimes such act.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
Leo Castelli immediately understands the importance of this artwork. Roy also. The artist rushes into love and war comics, considered as a minor art but enormously appealing to the public. His technique of showing the printing dots in scale across the very large magnification of his art and of keeping the pure colors is clever because it makes the connection between his inspiration and his work.
Roy finds what he is looking for. The source is abundant and the path is unexplored. The designer of the original comics created unknowingly some masterpieces of emotional imaging. For him, the scene was inseparable from the story. By isolating some simple images with or without a phylactery, Roy met the challenge of providing an art altogether major and popular.
On May 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 15 The Ring (engagement), an oil on canvas 123 x 178 cm painted in 1962 which is one of the largest by this artist at that time. The press release of March 23 announced an estimate in the region of $ 50M.
A man's hand presents the ring to the finger of a woman. That's it. This is the representation of one of the most important rites of passage of our civilization. We will not know anything more of this new couple, but the position of the hands expresses the mutual trust that sublimes such act.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
1962 Pop Emotions
2019 SOLD for $ 31M including premium
With Pop Art, painting leaves away from the intellectual circles. The emotion offered by the abstract expressionists had been reserved for an elite who accepted to spend some time in looking for an empathy.
The multiplication of images has become a feature of the consumer society. In the magazine, on the poster, in the street, it needs to be both simple and striking for achieving its goal : to sell, even if the product for sale is mediocre.
Roy Lichtenstein's art does not target elites. It speaks to everyone. When they see a picture, people like to relate it to what they already know, to transpose into themselves the feelings expressed by the character.
Roy cuts out in comic books the images that he enlarges up to the size of a work of art. The original strip is not made available, further exciting the imagination of the viewer as to the course of the action. The young woman, alone or with a man, is one of the favorite themes of the artist.
Away from art fashions and deaf to criticism, Roy can afford all the audacities. His early Pop Art works often copy a phylactery from the original image. The following speech by a blonde to a painter takes the strength of a manifesto when it is transposed in large format : "Why, Brad darling. This painting is a masterpiece! My, soon you'll have all of New York clamoring for your work!". This artwork 137 x 137 cm painted in 1962 was sold for $ 165 million in a private transaction in January 2017.
On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells Kiss III, acrylic on canvas 163 x 122 cm also painted in 1962, lot 7 B estimated $ 30M.
Kiss III stages a man and a woman in a loving embrace, without a speech bubble. They are not beautiful and the drawing is too simple : art no longer needs aesthetics. The patterns of dots that create the colors of the skin and of one of the clothes are reminiscent of the screened origin of this image from (or supposed to come from) a popular magazine.
The multiplication of images has become a feature of the consumer society. In the magazine, on the poster, in the street, it needs to be both simple and striking for achieving its goal : to sell, even if the product for sale is mediocre.
Roy Lichtenstein's art does not target elites. It speaks to everyone. When they see a picture, people like to relate it to what they already know, to transpose into themselves the feelings expressed by the character.
Roy cuts out in comic books the images that he enlarges up to the size of a work of art. The original strip is not made available, further exciting the imagination of the viewer as to the course of the action. The young woman, alone or with a man, is one of the favorite themes of the artist.
Away from art fashions and deaf to criticism, Roy can afford all the audacities. His early Pop Art works often copy a phylactery from the original image. The following speech by a blonde to a painter takes the strength of a manifesto when it is transposed in large format : "Why, Brad darling. This painting is a masterpiece! My, soon you'll have all of New York clamoring for your work!". This artwork 137 x 137 cm painted in 1962 was sold for $ 165 million in a private transaction in January 2017.
On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells Kiss III, acrylic on canvas 163 x 122 cm also painted in 1962, lot 7 B estimated $ 30M.
Kiss III stages a man and a woman in a loving embrace, without a speech bubble. They are not beautiful and the drawing is too simple : art no longer needs aesthetics. The patterns of dots that create the colors of the skin and of one of the clothes are reminiscent of the screened origin of this image from (or supposed to come from) a popular magazine.
1967 Musical Waking with Picasso
2011 SOLD 23 M$ including premium
Since the Middle Ages, music accompanies the joy of living in love. In the morning, the musician is enchanting the lovers with the aubade. In the evening, he concludes the day with the serenade.
Jacqueline Picasso, naked, is still in bed. Beside her, a fiery bearded Faun plays the flute, symbolic instrument of original music. The hirsute character is her husband, Pablo, who is both the musician and the lover of this aubade.
Jacqueline is in ecstasy, both eyes wide open. On this oil on canvas 130 x 195 cm painted in 1967, the woman's face is barely cubist, but one of her cheeks is distorted as if it were drawn by the flute.
Picasso, then 86 years old, wanted to stay young forever and continue to enjoy the sensory pleasures. The friendly side of this otherwise exuberant work is the gift of music to the beloved.
This painting is estimated $ 18M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is outstanding when considering its period in the life of Picasso. It marks the ridiculous and inevitable conflict between sexuality and aging. It was sold $ 23M including premium.
Jacqueline Picasso, naked, is still in bed. Beside her, a fiery bearded Faun plays the flute, symbolic instrument of original music. The hirsute character is her husband, Pablo, who is both the musician and the lover of this aubade.
Jacqueline is in ecstasy, both eyes wide open. On this oil on canvas 130 x 195 cm painted in 1967, the woman's face is barely cubist, but one of her cheeks is distorted as if it were drawn by the flute.
Picasso, then 86 years old, wanted to stay young forever and continue to enjoy the sensory pleasures. The friendly side of this otherwise exuberant work is the gift of music to the beloved.
This painting is estimated $ 18M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is outstanding when considering its period in the life of Picasso. It marks the ridiculous and inevitable conflict between sexuality and aging. It was sold $ 23M including premium.
1982 A Frenetic and Happy Basquiat
2013 SOLD 18.8 M£ including premium
In 1981, Jean-Michel Basquiat rushed like a rocket in the world of art. Despite his young age, his painting technique is complex and flawless. He paints the fearsome gods of the pantheon of his imagination.
Success came immediately. In 1982, he diversified his grammar. Compared to most of the works of the previous year, the painting for sale on June 25 at Christie's in London is remarkably optimistic.
The colors in acrylic and oilstick are pure and bright. The drawing reminds the frenetic graffiti, as if the work had been painted on a white wall. Using a large format is essential for highlighting the art of our time, and this panel measures 183 x 244 cm.
The two characters of different colors in a non-identifiable external environment are looking straight at the viewer. In the very specific style of Basquiat, they are as ugly as the couples of tourists by Duane Hanson, but for once they are happy.
POST SALE COMMENT
This cool painting from the second great year of Basquiat was sold for £ 18.8M including premium.
Success came immediately. In 1982, he diversified his grammar. Compared to most of the works of the previous year, the painting for sale on June 25 at Christie's in London is remarkably optimistic.
The colors in acrylic and oilstick are pure and bright. The drawing reminds the frenetic graffiti, as if the work had been painted on a white wall. Using a large format is essential for highlighting the art of our time, and this panel measures 183 x 244 cm.
The two characters of different colors in a non-identifiable external environment are looking straight at the viewer. In the very specific style of Basquiat, they are as ugly as the couples of tourists by Duane Hanson, but for once they are happy.
POST SALE COMMENT
This cool painting from the second great year of Basquiat was sold for £ 18.8M including premium.
1992 Freud in the Shadow of Nefertiti
2007 SOLD for $ 19.4M including premium by Christie's
2016 UNSOLD
PRE 2016 DISCUSSION
When he turned the age of 70, Lucian Freud was taken in a frenzy of creativity.
On June 30 in London, Christie's sells as lot 26 a significant artwork from that period. This oil on canvas 168 x 147 cm painted in 1992 shows his natural daughter Ib and her husband lying on a bed. Ib is pregnant with her third child and sleeps with a blissful smile. Pat tenderly embraces her. The press release of April 28 announced an estimate around £ 18M.
I have too much mentioned in this column the intellectual efforts of Lucian for keeping his models steady. Now Ib is sleeping. The real engine of Lucian's creativity is not empathy, even with his natural children whom he was so happy to meet again after having abandoned their childhood.
Lucian developed an obsessive idea of perfection, up to somehow ignoring the plurality of art. In the pre-sale video made by Christie's to introduce Benefits Supervisor resting, the already very old artist is seen stating with an intense conviction: "I want each picture I am working on to be the only picture that everyone has ever done".
Throughout his long career, he also maintained his belief that he is above all interested in the physical presence, reducing the human being to the animality of the body. Lucian is not Sigmund. however there is a link between his obsession and the unforgettable personality of his grandfather.
Lucian painted bodies, naked or not. But it is a still life with book painted in 1991-1992 that provides the key to the genesis of his inspiration. The book is a history of Egypt opened on two photos of figures of El Amarna. Sigmund Freud was a great lover of antiques that supported his vision on the continuity of human psychology and the Amarna art is a rare moment in art history of a successful quest for an absolute realism using the technique of painted sculptures.
Lucian is not a sculptor but his impasto becomes extremely thick, bringing art and life closer through the availability of all color pigments. The culmination of this approach in 1993 is the study of his own naked body shown in his painting occupation. The masterpiece of Lucian Freud is in fact nothing else than himself fossilized for ever within his own impasto.
He was wrong. The art continues to evolve despite his desire to freeze it. We will one day forget Lucian Freud. We will never forget the bust of Nefertiti, the eternal masterpiece of Amarna art.
When he turned the age of 70, Lucian Freud was taken in a frenzy of creativity.
On June 30 in London, Christie's sells as lot 26 a significant artwork from that period. This oil on canvas 168 x 147 cm painted in 1992 shows his natural daughter Ib and her husband lying on a bed. Ib is pregnant with her third child and sleeps with a blissful smile. Pat tenderly embraces her. The press release of April 28 announced an estimate around £ 18M.
I have too much mentioned in this column the intellectual efforts of Lucian for keeping his models steady. Now Ib is sleeping. The real engine of Lucian's creativity is not empathy, even with his natural children whom he was so happy to meet again after having abandoned their childhood.
Lucian developed an obsessive idea of perfection, up to somehow ignoring the plurality of art. In the pre-sale video made by Christie's to introduce Benefits Supervisor resting, the already very old artist is seen stating with an intense conviction: "I want each picture I am working on to be the only picture that everyone has ever done".
Throughout his long career, he also maintained his belief that he is above all interested in the physical presence, reducing the human being to the animality of the body. Lucian is not Sigmund. however there is a link between his obsession and the unforgettable personality of his grandfather.
Lucian painted bodies, naked or not. But it is a still life with book painted in 1991-1992 that provides the key to the genesis of his inspiration. The book is a history of Egypt opened on two photos of figures of El Amarna. Sigmund Freud was a great lover of antiques that supported his vision on the continuity of human psychology and the Amarna art is a rare moment in art history of a successful quest for an absolute realism using the technique of painted sculptures.
Lucian is not a sculptor but his impasto becomes extremely thick, bringing art and life closer through the availability of all color pigments. The culmination of this approach in 1993 is the study of his own naked body shown in his painting occupation. The masterpiece of Lucian Freud is in fact nothing else than himself fossilized for ever within his own impasto.
He was wrong. The art continues to evolve despite his desire to freeze it. We will one day forget Lucian Freud. We will never forget the bust of Nefertiti, the eternal masterpiece of Amarna art.
