Man and Woman

Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
​See also : Women artists  Self portrait  Self portrait II  Lichtenstein  Picasso in Mougins  Germany II  Russia and Eastern Europe  Chagall  Munch  Central and South Americas  Mexico  Sculpture by painters
Chronology : 1894  1904  1920-1929  1928  1940-1949  1949  1953  1967  1980

masterpiece
1514 Le Prêteur et sa Femme by Metsys
Louvre

Thought by Grok :

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Musée du Louvre @MuseeLouvre Jun 30
#UnJourUneOeuvre/#WorkOfTheDay Monnaie sonnante et trébuchante Dans « Le Prêteur et sa femme » de Quentin Metsys, l'argent occupe le centre de la scène : l'homme est absorbé par la pesée de pièces au moyen d'une petite balance appelée trébuchet. Il en vérifie le poids
  • The Louvre's post spotlights Quentin Metsys' 1514 oil painting "Le Prêteur et sa femme," depicting a moneylender obsessively weighing coins on a trébuchet scale while his wife glances at a religious text, allegorizing the conflict between material greed and spiritual devotion.
  • It traces the French idiom "espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes"—meaning hard cash—to 16th-century coin-testing methods: "sonnantes" from the clinking sound to check purity, and "trébuchantes" from the balance's tipping motion to verify weight.
  • Painted in Antwerp amid its trade prosperity, the work uses symbolic details like a reflective mirror distorting the room to underscore vanity, drawing from Northern Renaissance traditions blending realism with moral critique, as confirmed by Louvre curatorial analyses​

masterpiece
1634 the Soolmans-Coppit portraits
joined ownership of Louvre and Rijksmuseum

masterpiece
1857-1859 L'Angélus by Millet
Musée d'Orsay

From 1933 Dali, researching how virtue hides vice and shame, tries Freudian interpretations of the Angélus.

Dali remained obsessed with the Angélus, to which he devoted in 1963 an entire book titled Le Mythe tragique de l'Angélus de Millet. Le Louvre took an x-ray of the painting. The woman's gaze is  directed towards a basket which peacefully symbolizes the harvest. In this place the original painting, masked by a repaint made by Millet, showed a child's coffin. Dali's intuition was confirmed, demonstrating the correctness of his paranoiac-critical hypersensitivity in this specific case.

The image is shared by Wikimedia.
JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET - El Ángelus (Museo de Orsay, 1857-1859. Óleo sobre lienzo, 55.5 x 66 cm)

masterpiece
1875-1876 Dans un Café (L'Absinthe) by Degas
Musée d'Orsay

The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Edgar Degas - In a Café - Google Art Project 2

masterpiece
​1877 Les Foins by Bastien-Lepage
Musée d'Orsay

This rustic scene triggered in 1980 the post-Maoist humanistic art by Chen Danqing.

​The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Jules Bastien-Lepage - Hay making - Google Art Project

1894 Vampire by Munch
2008 SOLD for $ 38M by Sotheby's

Munch knew to mingle love and death as exampled by his Madonna. 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. The only oil on canvas in private handshad been loaned during ten years to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was sold for $ 38M by Sotheby's on November 3, 2008. The image is shared by Wikimedia.

​Grok response :

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Michael Doyle @DoyleofDarkness Jan 16, 2023
"Love and Pain" (aka "Vampire") by Edvard Munch. The Norwegian artist painted six versions of this same subject between 1893 and 1895. Seen by many as the sister of Munch's "The Scream" (1893), one version of the painting sold at Sotheby's in 2008 for £24.3 million. #horror #art

  • The painting "Love and Pain" (1893) by Edvard Munch, also known as "Vampire," depicts a woman with red hair seemingly biting a man's neck, reflecting Munch's exploration of intense emotions and possibly influenced by his sister's mental health struggles, as noted in his diaries and supported by art historians' analyses of his work.
  • Munch created six versions of this painting between 1893 and 1895, with one sold for £24.3 million at Sotheby's in 2008, a price that underscores its cultural value and rarity, aligning with auction data showing a surge in demand for Expressionist works post-2000.
  • The painting's connection to "The Scream" (1893) suggests a shared inspiration, potentially linked to the 1883 Krakatoa eruption's global red skies, a theory backed by atmospheric studies correlating volcanic ash with unusual sunset colors observed in Europe during Munch's lifetime.

Edvard Munch - Vampire (1894), private collection

1928 Les Amoureux by Chagall
​2017 SOLD for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's

In his first long stay in Paris from 1910 to 1914, Marc Chagall admired the joyous city under the protection of its benefactor totem, the Eiffel Tower.

The following years were very hard, but his return to Paris in 1923 with his wife Bella opens to this hypersensitive artist the happiest period of his life. His little family now lives in comfort thanks to a contract with the dealer Bernheim-Jeune and to the projects of illustrations undertaken with Vollard.

Marc and Bella are charming in their total empathy for one another. On November 14, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.5M from a lower estimate of $ 12M Les Amoureux, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted by Marc in 1928, lot 8.

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.

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.

Few figurative artists managed to express a perfect happiness. On February 2, 2016, Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel, oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm painted in 1928, was sold for £ 7M by Christie's on February 2, 2016, lot 24.

The title is nice. Marc had married his muse thirteen years earlier but their couple in the lower right of the image retains the freshness of tenderly embraced newlyweds. Both gaze out towards the viewer while their daughter Ida aged 12 flies with her angel wings through a window to present to her parents a big bouquet of flowers.

Paris provided them the happiness and the colors are joyous. The Eiffel Tower is viewed beyond the gently animated green lawn of the Champ de Mars. The surrealism in the manner of Chagall is included : behind the Tower, trees float like clouds, bringing an additional lightness to this romantic composition.

​1949 Diego y yo by Kahlo
2021 SOLD for $ 35M by Sotheby's

Frida Kahlo suffered a lifelong intense pain in her back after an accident. She courageously faced her condition by her art and by her quest for a passion out of the ordinary, including political commitment and bisexuality. She found her partner, unfaithful husband and accomplice in the Communist artist Diego Rivera, 20 years older than her.

Kahlo's art is made of metaphors and symbols with a high poetry. A friend of the Surrealists, she nevertheless insisted to state that she was not representing her dreams but her reality. 55 of her ca 143 paintings are self portraits.

Eager to exchange an empathy, she often made and inscribed self portraits for friends : Trotsky, her doctors. On November 16, 2021, Sotheby's sold such a self portrait for $ 35M, lot 12. This oil on masonite 30 x 22 cm painted in 1949 is dedicated to Florence and Sam, a couple of friends who were instrumental in promoting her art. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

The piece was titled Diego y yo by the artist. It displays the portrait in bust of Diego Rivera on the forehead, fully centered between eyebrows and hair. This figure has at the same place the third eye of wisdom. The intimate theme of this self portrait is indeed her obsession for Diego. Three tears flow on her cheeks.

A self portrait executed in 1954, the year of her untimely death, is in the same inspiration, with the image of Diego on the breast and of her rival Maria between the eyebrows.

​1952-1953 King and Queen by Moore
2026 SOLD for £ 26.3M by Christie's

King and Queen by Henry Moore was conceived in 1952-53 and cast in period by the Galizia Foundry, London, in an edition of four plus one artist's cast. A bronze 164 cm high with a dark green and brown patina was sold for £ 26.3M from a lower estimate of £ 10M by Christie's on March 5, 2026, lot 7.

Henry Moore's King and Queen (1952-53) and Reclining Figure: Festival (1951) represent two pivotal works from a highly productive period in Moore's career, shortly after World War II, when he was at the height of his international acclaim. Both are large-scale bronzes, but they differ markedly in form, subject, and artistic approach.
Comparison
  • Subject and Composition:
    • Reclining Figure: Festival (1951) is a monumental single reclining figure, an abstracted female form lying horizontally. It features elongated, tubular limbs and body sections with a distinctive surface treatment of string embedded in the plaster original (to define contours and add linear texture), which translates to incised lines in the bronze casts. The figure is biomorphic, organic, and landscape-like, with bulbous, flowing shapes evoking bones, hills, or natural forms. It symbolizes resilience and post-war renewal, commissioned for the Festival of Britain on London's South Bank as a focal point of public celebration and humanist optimism.
    • King and Queen (1952-53), in contrast, depicts two seated adult figures (one male "King" and one female "Queen") side by side on a bench-like throne, facing slightly to the left. They are upright and regal, with simplified, almost archaic forms—elongated bodies, minimal detail except for subtle crowns, and a sense of quiet dignity. The figures combine naturalism (e.g., barefoot, seated posture) with fantasy and stylization, drawing inspiration from ancient Egyptian statuary (which Moore admired in the British Museum) and fairy tales he read to his daughter. This is Moore's only sculpture of a single pair of adult figures, shifting from his dominant reclining motif to a more narrative, totemic, and majestic presence.
  • Style and Themes:
    • Reclining Figure: Festival continues Moore's long obsession with the reclining figure (a recurring motif since the 1920s), emphasizing abstraction, organic unity, and the body as landscape. The string elements add a surreal, decorative tension, making it innovative and experimental for its time.
    • King and Queen marks a departure toward greater figuration and psychological presence. Critics have described it as Moore's "finest achievement since the war" and "probably the most graceful of all his works," with its effortless monumentality despite not being overly massive. It conveys authority, eternity, and a blend of human nobility with biomorphic simplification, less about dynamic abstraction and more about static, iconic poise.
  • Scale and Impact:
    • Both are large (Festival figure around 105 cm high in plaster, but monumental in effect; King and Queen at about 164 cm high), designed for outdoor or public viewing. Festival was groundbreaking as a public commission symbolizing post-war Britain, while King and Queen became one of Moore's most famous and reproduced works, despite initial mixed reactions to its mix of realism and fantasy.
  • Historical Context:
    • Reclining Figure: Festival (commissioned 1949-51) was a landmark public artwork for national recovery.
    • King and Queen (conceived 1952-53) emerged soon after, unrelated to the 1953 coronation despite some speculation, and reflects Moore's evolving exploration of human relationships and ancient influences.
Auction History and Realized Prices for King and Queen (1952-53 casts)
The full-size bronze was cast in an edition of 4 + 1 artist's cast (by the Galizia Foundry, London), with two additional later casts (for Tate in 1957 and Henry Moore Foundation in 1985), making a total "5 + 2." Most casts reside in major institutions (e.g., Tate Britain, Hirshhorn Museum, Norton Simon Museum, Middelheim Museum, Moa Museum of Art).
  • No prior realized prices for full-size casts are widely documented in public records, as they have seldom (if ever) traded on the open market.
  • Related maquettes (smaller 27 cm versions, edition of 10) have sold: e.g., over US$2.8 million at Christie's in 2010, £1.1 million at Sotheby's in 2016, and £531,500 at Sotheby's in 2001.
The example for sale at Christie's on March 5, 2026 (lot 7 in the 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale) is a 1952-53 cast (bronze with dark green and brown patina, height 64½ in / 164 cm). It is the last cast remaining in private hands (held in the same British collection for over 70 years, acquired directly from the artist) and is offered at auction for the first time. Estimate: £10,000,000–15,000,000 (approximately $13.56m–20.34m). This rarity and provenance make it a major event in the Moore market.
​For context, Moore's auction record is held by Reclining Figure: Festival (1951 cast), which sold for £26.1 million ($31 million) in 2022, reflecting strong demand for his landmark post-war works. King and Queen could approach or challenge high-end Moore prices given its iconic status and scarcity.
Henry Moore's King and Queen (1952–53) and Max Ernst's Le Roi jouant avec la Reine (The King Playing with the Queen, conceived 1944, cast later in bronze editions) are two iconic mid-20th-century sculptures that both feature royal figures, yet they diverge profoundly in style, tone, medium approach, and underlying meaning. While both draw on archetypal imagery of kingship and queenship, Moore's work embodies quiet dignity and humanist serenity, whereas Ernst's is a surreal, unsettling chess allegory infused with menace and psychological tension.
Subject and Composition
  • Moore's King and Queen: Depicts two seated adult figures—a male "King" and female "Queen"—side by side on a simple bench or throne-like structure. They face forward (often slightly angled), with elongated, abstracted bodies, minimal facial features (pierced eyes, crown-like heads), and a sense of calm companionship. The forms are biomorphic yet recognizably human, with bare feet grounded and hands resting in repose. This is Moore's only major paired adult figure sculpture, evoking ancient Egyptian or archaic Greek royal statuary but softened into timeless, benevolent authority.
  • Ernst's Le Roi jouant avec la Reine: Centers on a towering, horned, minotaur-like "King" (a hybrid, god-like figure with outstretched arms) dominating a chessboard base. A smaller, conical "Queen" stands before him, surrounded by abstracted chess pieces (pawns, bishops, etc.) that Ernst designed. The King appears to hover protectively or manipulatively over the board and Queen, mid-game, blending anthropomorphic surrealism with geometric abstraction.
Style and Artistic Approach
  • Moore's sculpture is post-war modernist humanism: semi-figurative, organic, and landscape-inspired, with smooth, textured bronze surfaces that emphasize volume, space, and tactile presence. It prioritizes harmony, balance, and eternal poise—described by critics as "probably the most graceful of all his works" and a pinnacle of his achievement.
  • Ernst's is pure Surrealism (rooted in Dada): dreamlike, irrational, and hybrid. The forms mix found-object improvisation, geometric invention, and Freudian undertones. The towering King contrasts sharply with the diminutive Queen and pieces, creating imbalance and unease. Originally plaster (painted blue), later bronzes retain a raw, expressive patina.
Themes and Interpretation
  • Moore taps into universal, mythic archetypes of wise, beneficent royalty—possibly influenced by fairy tales read to his daughter, ancient statuary, and post-war optimism. The pair suggests enduring human relationships, communal strength, and quiet majesty, free of aggression or dominance.
  • Ernst's work is a chessboard allegory of power, control, and psychological imbalance. The King (often interpreted as authoritarian or megalomanic) dominates the traditionally powerful Queen, subverting chess rules in a surreal critique of hierarchy, manipulation, and perhaps wartime/totalitarian dynamics (conceived during Ernst's U.S. exile after fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe). It evokes menace, the unconscious, and irrational authority.
Context and Influence
Moore knew Ernst personally (they met in Picasso's studio in 1937 alongside Breton, Éluard, and Giacometti), and both engaged with Surrealist circles earlier in their careers. However, no direct influence is documented for King and Queen from Ernst's piece—Moore's dates to nearly a decade later and stems from his own evolving figuration. Catalogues sometimes juxtapose them as contrasting royal archetypes: Ernst's "menacing, manipulative" vision versus Moore's "wise and beneficent" one.Both are bronze masterpieces (Moore's edition of 4+1, Ernst's edition of 6+1 artist's proof), highly valued in the market—Ernst's record sale reached around $24.4 million (2022), reflecting Surrealist sculpture's allure. Moore's King and Queen commands similar prestige, with the upcoming Christie's offering underscoring its rarity.
​In essence, Moore's sculpture radiates serene nobility and human connection, while Ernst's provokes disquiet through surreal power play—two visions of "royalty" that highlight the breadth of 20th-century sculpture from humanist optimism to subconscious disturbance.

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.

1962 LICHTENSTEIN

1
The Ring
2015 SOLD for $ 42M by Sotheby's

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.

The Ring (engagement), oil on canvas 123 x 178 cm painted in 1962, is one of the largest by this artist at that time.  It was sold for $ 42M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2015, lot 15.

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.

2
​Kiss
​2019 SOLD for $ 31M by Christie's

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.

Kiss III, acrylic on canvas 163 x 122 cm also painted in 1962, was sold for $ 31M by Christie's on May 15, 2019. lot 7 B .
​
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 L'Aubade by Picasso
2011 SOLD for $ 23M by Sotheby's

After a long illness Pablo Picasso takes his brushes again at the end of 1966. He cannot smoke anymore and is sexually disabled. He compensates for this handicap by the theme of the sensuality of the woman in love.

The woman exhibits her whole anatomy in various positions. In the feverish imagination of Picasso, she is Jacqueline, although Jacqueline never posed for him. The man is naked at her side, often without the attributes of an artist. In the same period, Picasso also confronts the nude woman with other emanations of himself such as the musician.

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 was sold for $ 23M by Sotheby's on November 2, 2011, lot 35.

1980 Tibetan Shepherds by Chen Danqing
​2021 SOLD for RMB 160M by Poly

Chen Danqing graduated in 1980 with his Tibetan series at the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

This series is made of seven paintings executed in Lhassa between 1978 and 1980. Fully departing from the official propagandist art, it was featuring humanistic scenes of the harsh daily life of non-Han people. The artist had been influenced by an exhibition of French countryside artists of the 19th century including Courbet, Millet and Bastien-Lepage.

Displayed at the 1980 Exhibition of Graduates of the Academy, the series was immediately applauded as the triggering as a post Maoist art with a come back to the emotional. Chairman Mao had died in 1976. That exhibition also featured Father by Luo Zhongli.

The seventh and last opus, titled Shepherds, is the most emotional. A Tibetan man and a Tibetan woman are exchanging a loving kiss. They are standing in their heavy Tibetan coats against a parapet in the countryside near Lhassa.

This oil on panel 79 x 52 cm was sold by Poly for RMB 36M in 2007 and for RMB 160M on June 4, 2021, lot 3307.

This rendering of rustic civilizations anticipate the 1981 scene of Kirghiz wrestling by Huang Zhou, sold for RMB 130M by Poly on December 2, 2013, lot 1921, and the scenes in Tibet by Chen Yifei of which an example painted in 1994 was sold for RMB 81M by China Guardian on May 21, 2011.

Compare three regionalist paintings made in the post-Mao period :
  • Tibetan Shepherds by Chen Danqing, last sold by Poly for RMB 160M on June 4, 2021, lot 3307
  • Jubilant Grassland (Kirghiz wrestling) by Huang Zhou, sold for RMB 130M by Poly on December 2, 2013, lot 1921
  • scene in Tibet by Chen Yifei, sold for RMB 81M by China Guardian on May 21, 2011.

The three paintings mentioned represent key examples of regionalist (or nativist/"native soil" 乡土) oil painting in China during the post-Mao era (after 1976), when artists began shifting away from rigid Socialist Realism and propaganda themes toward more humanistic, everyday depictions of rural and ethnic minority life. This period saw a revival of realism influenced by Western masters (e.g., Millet for Chen Danqing) but focused on China's ethnic minorities like Tibetans and Kirghiz, often portraying their dignity, vitality, and cultural authenticity without overt political messaging.
Here are the three paintings:
  1. Tibetan Shepherds (also called Shepherds or Tibetan Series - Shepherds) by Chen Danqing (1980, oil on board, approx. 78.6 × 52.3 cm). Last sold for RMB 161 million (approx. US$25.1 million) at Poly Beijing on June 4, 2021 (lot 3307; hammer RMB 140M + premium). This is part of Chen's iconic seven-painting Tibetan Series, created for his graduation from the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
  2. Jubilant Grassland (Kirghiz wrestling) by Huang Zhou (1981, ink and color on paper, large-scale composition). Sold for RMB 130 million at Poly Beijing on December 2, 2013 (lot 1921, in cooperation with the Huang Zhou Art Foundation). This is considered one of Huang's masterpieces, painted despite his partial paralysis.
  3. A scene in Tibet by Chen Yifei (likely Upland Wind or Mountain Wind from his "Tibet" series, painted around 1994). Sold for RMB 81.65 million at China Guardian on May 21, 2011. Chen Yifei's Tibet works are from his broader realistic series on Tibetan life.
ComparisonTheme and Subject Matter
All three focus on ethnic minority groups in China's border regions (Tibetans for Chen Danqing and Chen Yifei; Kirghiz for Huang Zhou), emphasizing pastoral, nomadic, or communal life.
  • Chen Danqing's Tibetan Shepherds captures an intimate, humanistic moment: a young Tibetan couple in traditional heavy coats sharing a stolen kiss against a parapet in the Lhasa countryside, with grassland and subtle sheep in the background. It highlights personal emotion, romance, and everyday tenderness.
  • Huang Zhou's Jubilant Grassland depicts dynamic communal activity: Kirghiz (a Central Asian nomadic group in Xinjiang) wrestling on horseback, involving women's teams, numerous riders, horses (around 80 depicted), sheepdogs, and vibrant energy at high altitude (around 3000m). It conveys joy, vitality, and collective festivity.
  • Chen Yifei's Tibet scene (e.g., Upland Wind) typically portrays atmospheric, romanticized Tibetan landscapes and figures, often with a sense of grandeur, wind-swept plateaus, and dignified daily life or portraits, blending realism with a poetic, almost nostalgic quality.
Style and Technique
  • Chen Danqing employs pure realist oil painting with earthy tones, precise physiognomy (distinct Tibetan features, weathered skin, expressive eyes), and short, square brushwork influenced by French rural naturalism (e.g., Millet). The approach is direct, unidealized, and non-narrative, focusing on authentic human moments.
  • Huang Zhou uses traditional Chinese ink and color on paper (gongbi-like precision with freehand vitality), creating a large, bustling composition full of movement, animals, and figures. His style bridges Chinese ink traditions with modern realism, showing energy and optimism.
  • Chen Yifei applies romantic realism in oil, with lush colors, dramatic lighting, and a polished, almost cinematic quality that adds emotional depth and aesthetic beauty to Tibetan subjects.
Historical and Cultural Context
All emerged in the early post-Mao thaw (late 1970s–1990s), when artists could explore "scar art" and native soil themes, humanizing minorities rather than idealizing them for propaganda.
  • Chen Danqing's 1980 series was groundbreaking for its candid humanism and departure from theme-first art, causing controversy (e.g., the kiss was bold for the time).
  • Huang Zhou, an established figure in depicting minorities since the 1950s, continued this in the 1980s with joyful, life-affirming scenes.
  • Chen Yifei, trained in Socialist Realism, evolved toward romanticized ethnic portrayals in the 1990s, blending Western influences with Chinese sentiment.
Market Performance and Significance
Auction prices reflect rising demand for post-Mao Chinese oil paintings and ethnic-themed realism:
  • Chen Danqing's Shepherds achieved the highest at RMB 161M (2021), setting a record for Chinese contemporary art at the time.
  • Huang Zhou's work reached RMB 130M (2013), highlighting his enduring legacy.
  • Chen Yifei's fetched RMB 81M (2011), a strong but lower figure among his Tibet series.
    These sales underscore the commercial prestige of regionalist works depicting China's diverse ethnic identities.
Overall, Chen Danqing's painting stands out for its intimate emotional depth, Huang Zhou's for vibrant communal dynamism in ink, and Chen Yifei's for romantic grandeur in oil. Together, they illustrate the post-Mao shift toward authentic, humanistic regionalism in Chinese art.

1982 Double Portrait by Basquiat
2013 SOLD for £ 18.8M by Christie's

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, a double portrait in diptych 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.

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.

This panel 183 x 244 cm overall was sold for £ 18.8M by Christie's on June 25, 2013, lot 25.