Music and Dance in Art
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Art on paper Self portrait Self portrait II Groups Children Tabletop France Paris Degas Renoir French sculpture Sculpture by painters Kandinsky Gris Picasso < 1907 Picasso 1907-31 Lichtenstein Lichtenstein > 1965
Chronology : 19th century 1870-1879 1879 1905 1913 1914 1919 1920-1929 1927 1937 1990-1999 1994
See also : Art on paper Self portrait Self portrait II Groups Children Tabletop France Paris Degas Renoir French sculpture Sculpture by painters Kandinsky Gris Picasso < 1907 Picasso 1907-31 Lichtenstein Lichtenstein > 1965
Chronology : 19th century 1870-1879 1879 1905 1913 1914 1919 1920-1929 1927 1937 1990-1999 1994
masterpiece
1862 Le Bain Turc by Ingres
Louvre
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1876 Bal du Moulin de la Galette by RENOIR
masterpiece
Musée d'Orsay
In 1863 Charles Gleyre admonishes Monet because he does not follow the model of the antique. Bringing with him three friends, Sisley, Renoir and Bazille, Monet slams the door and manages to paint outdoors.
Their temperaments are different. They are young and tempted by the good life of dancing balls. While Monet is overtaken by his wife, Renoir expresses the carefree joie de vivre of the groups to which he applies the impressionist style. Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette in 1876 and Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, exhibited in 1882, are among the most important masterpieces of painting.
Renoir painted two identical versions of the Moulin de la Galette. The largest, 131 x 175 cm, became the property of the French State through the Caillebotte bequest and is currently at the Musée d'Orsay. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Their temperaments are different. They are young and tempted by the good life of dancing balls. While Monet is overtaken by his wife, Renoir expresses the carefree joie de vivre of the groups to which he applies the impressionist style. Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette in 1876 and Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, exhibited in 1882, are among the most important masterpieces of painting.
Renoir painted two identical versions of the Moulin de la Galette. The largest, 131 x 175 cm, became the property of the French State through the Caillebotte bequest and is currently at the Musée d'Orsay. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1990 SOLD for $ 78 M by Sotheby's
The other version is an oil on canvas 78 x 114 cm damaged by folding. Coming from the Whitney collection, it was sold for $ 78M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Sotheby's on May 17, 1990. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The buyer was a Japanese collector named Ryoei Saito, who had acquired the Portrait of Dr Gachet by Van Gogh two days earlier at Christies for $ 82M. Saito creates some terror in the art world by announcing that at his death he will be cremated with the two paintings to avoid that enormous inheritance rights are required to his heirs.
Saito died in 1996. His threat was not carried out because his wealth had turned down and the artworks were sequestered by his creditors, but the two paintings were never seen again. The Van Gogh was reportedly located in 2007 in the collection of an Austrian financier who has since gone bankrupt.
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Clown @ClownsTrenches Apr 27
Bal du moulin de la Galette – Pierre-Auguste Renoir Price: $78.1 million (1990, Sotheby’s Auction)
The buyer was a Japanese collector named Ryoei Saito, who had acquired the Portrait of Dr Gachet by Van Gogh two days earlier at Christies for $ 82M. Saito creates some terror in the art world by announcing that at his death he will be cremated with the two paintings to avoid that enormous inheritance rights are required to his heirs.
Saito died in 1996. His threat was not carried out because his wealth had turned down and the artworks were sequestered by his creditors, but the two paintings were never seen again. The Van Gogh was reportedly located in 2007 in the collection of an Austrian financier who has since gone bankrupt.
Grok response :
Quote
Clown @ClownsTrenches Apr 27
Bal du moulin de la Galette – Pierre-Auguste Renoir Price: $78.1 million (1990, Sotheby’s Auction)
- The painting "Bal du moulin de la Galette" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, featured in the post, captures a lively 1876 Parisian dance scene and sold for $78.1 million in 1990, reflecting its status as a cornerstone of Impressionism and a record price at the time for a Renoir work.
- Historical context reveals Renoir set up a studio near Montmartre’s Moulin de la Galette to paint this, using local models like Estelle Samary, after failing to convince her sister Jeanne, highlighting the social dynamics and artistic challenges of the era.
- Art market data from Sotheby’s and recent auctions, like the ₹355.77 crore South Asian art sale in 2025, suggest Renoir’s work continues to influence high-value art trends, though its 1990 sale price adjusted for inflation exceeds $180 million today, outpacing many modern records.
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DEGAS
1879 Danseuse au Repos
2008 SOLD for $ 37M by Sotheby's
Degas became interested in the world of dance at the instigation of his friend Ludovic Halévy. In 1875 the inauguration of the Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier opened a new phase in his life and in his art. He attends the performances that take place three times a week, and his subscription allows an unlimited access behind the scenes.
The "petits rats" are of great interest to him. These very young women do not have that need for sexual activity which masks the psychological authenticity of the prostitutes. Their lives are exhausting, in training and on stage, but the glory may reward their efforts.
Degas did not rule out any technique. In 1875 he was seduced by the use of pastel enhanced with gouache on paper. Unlike oil and watercolor, this opaque material very easily allows the many reworks desired by the artist throughout the execution of an artwork.
In 1880 at the 5th impressionist exhibition, Degas displays a pastel and gouache 46 x 67 cm titled Deux danseuses, probably made in 1879. After an exhausting exercise, two ballerinas in tutu are seated side by side on a bench. They ignore each other, only trying to catch their breath, the body leaning forward.
The artist painted in the same technique another work, 59 x 64 cm, titled Danseuse au repos. It was sold by Sotheby's for £ 17.6M on June 28, 1999, lot 4 and for $ 37M on November 3, 2008, lot 14. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The girl on the right side in Deux Danseuses is in exactly the same attitude as before, with the left hand massaging the painful ankle and the other hand resting on the other knee. With her frail limbs and her upturned nose, this young woman has a resemblance to Marie, the model of the sculpture titled Petite danseuse de quatorze ans made by Degas around the same time. In a bold composition as Degas liked, her partner is almost entirely out of field.
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Artologism @artologism Aug 19, 2023
#گینس_هنری: گرانترین نقاشی از ادگار دگا یک نقاشی پاستل از ادگار دگا با عنوان Danseuse au repos مربوط به حدود سال ۱۸۷۹، در سال ۱۹۹۹ در حراجی ساتبیز در نیویورک به قیمت 17,601,500 پوند به فروش رسید و به گرانترین اثر نقاشی از این هنرمند مشهور فرانسوی تبدیل شد.
The "petits rats" are of great interest to him. These very young women do not have that need for sexual activity which masks the psychological authenticity of the prostitutes. Their lives are exhausting, in training and on stage, but the glory may reward their efforts.
Degas did not rule out any technique. In 1875 he was seduced by the use of pastel enhanced with gouache on paper. Unlike oil and watercolor, this opaque material very easily allows the many reworks desired by the artist throughout the execution of an artwork.
In 1880 at the 5th impressionist exhibition, Degas displays a pastel and gouache 46 x 67 cm titled Deux danseuses, probably made in 1879. After an exhausting exercise, two ballerinas in tutu are seated side by side on a bench. They ignore each other, only trying to catch their breath, the body leaning forward.
The artist painted in the same technique another work, 59 x 64 cm, titled Danseuse au repos. It was sold by Sotheby's for £ 17.6M on June 28, 1999, lot 4 and for $ 37M on November 3, 2008, lot 14. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The girl on the right side in Deux Danseuses is in exactly the same attitude as before, with the left hand massaging the painful ankle and the other hand resting on the other knee. With her frail limbs and her upturned nose, this young woman has a resemblance to Marie, the model of the sculpture titled Petite danseuse de quatorze ans made by Degas around the same time. In a bold composition as Degas liked, her partner is almost entirely out of field.
Grok thought :
Quote
Artologism @artologism Aug 19, 2023
#گینس_هنری: گرانترین نقاشی از ادگار دگا یک نقاشی پاستل از ادگار دگا با عنوان Danseuse au repos مربوط به حدود سال ۱۸۷۹، در سال ۱۹۹۹ در حراجی ساتبیز در نیویورک به قیمت 17,601,500 پوند به فروش رسید و به گرانترین اثر نقاشی از این هنرمند مشهور فرانسوی تبدیل شد.
- The post details Edgar Degas's 1879 pastel "Danseuse au Repos," depicting a resting ballerina, which sold for £17.6 million ($28 million) at Sotheby's in 1999, establishing a record for his paintings that persists into 2025 per Guinness World Records.
- Minor inaccuracy: The auction occurred in London, not New York; Degas, a key Impressionist, produced over 1,500 ballerina works, reflecting his backstage access to Paris's Opéra ballet.
- The sale highlights surging demand for Degas's pastels, which capture movement and light innovatively; adjusted for inflation, it equates to about $32 million today, outpacing recent estimates like a 2025 "Trois Danseuses" at $5 million max.
1927 Petite Danseuse de 14 ans (posthumous)
2022 SOLD for $ 42M by Christie's
An original artist with an uneasy temper, Edgar Degas was one of the most innovative graphic artists of the nineteenth century. He knew that he was close to the Impressionists and appreciated their rejection of classicism. His own creative process was very complex, as shown in the example below.
In 1879, Marie draws the attention of the artist. Aged 14, this "petit rat d'Opéra" is an ungrateful teenager, far from physiological maturity, with awkward gestures, but already attracted to her future career as a dancer (which ended before it was to start when she was fired from the dance school for repeated absences).
Degas was a painter, draftsman, sculptor, photographer, printer, but his great art was oil and pastel. He used drawing and sculpture like sketches.
On his first sculpture of Marie, 74 cm high, the girl is naked. This makes sense since the artist wants to study the movements of her body. This is not enough for him. He realized another larger statue in painted wax, a little over 1 m, in the same position, with the unconventional idea to equip it with a dancing dress in cloth and real hair. By its realism that does not reject some ugliness, this portrait of an adolescent girl is indeed a key work of modern sculpture.
As in his many pastels of ballerinas, Degas captures a moment of life which is neither from the performance nor relaxed, which may be a reverie or an exhaustion.
After much hesitation, he shows his Petite danseuse de quatorze ans at the Impressionist exhibition of 1881. After this unique event and until his death in 1917, no sculpture of the master will be exhibited.
Degas had considered that his waxes were too fragile for preparing bronze casts. In 1918 his heirs contracted Adrien Hébrard to produce limited bronze editions of all seventy-four wax sculptures found during the posthumous inventory.
Hébrard worked often on request from collectors. The first complete set of bronzes was finished in 1921. This activity made the founder busy up to 1938 including a total 29 casts of the Petite Danseuse.
Petite danseuse de quatorze ans was edited by Hébrard in bronze with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon.
A bronze 103 cm high not including the wooden base was sold for $ 42M from a lower estimate of $ 20M for sale by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 2C.
In 1879, Marie draws the attention of the artist. Aged 14, this "petit rat d'Opéra" is an ungrateful teenager, far from physiological maturity, with awkward gestures, but already attracted to her future career as a dancer (which ended before it was to start when she was fired from the dance school for repeated absences).
Degas was a painter, draftsman, sculptor, photographer, printer, but his great art was oil and pastel. He used drawing and sculpture like sketches.
On his first sculpture of Marie, 74 cm high, the girl is naked. This makes sense since the artist wants to study the movements of her body. This is not enough for him. He realized another larger statue in painted wax, a little over 1 m, in the same position, with the unconventional idea to equip it with a dancing dress in cloth and real hair. By its realism that does not reject some ugliness, this portrait of an adolescent girl is indeed a key work of modern sculpture.
As in his many pastels of ballerinas, Degas captures a moment of life which is neither from the performance nor relaxed, which may be a reverie or an exhaustion.
After much hesitation, he shows his Petite danseuse de quatorze ans at the Impressionist exhibition of 1881. After this unique event and until his death in 1917, no sculpture of the master will be exhibited.
Degas had considered that his waxes were too fragile for preparing bronze casts. In 1918 his heirs contracted Adrien Hébrard to produce limited bronze editions of all seventy-four wax sculptures found during the posthumous inventory.
Hébrard worked often on request from collectors. The first complete set of bronzes was finished in 1921. This activity made the founder busy up to 1938 including a total 29 casts of the Petite Danseuse.
Petite danseuse de quatorze ans was edited by Hébrard in bronze with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon.
A bronze 103 cm high not including the wooden base was sold for $ 42M from a lower estimate of $ 20M for sale by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 2C.
#AuctionUpdate From the Anne H. Bass Collection, Edgar Degas’s ‘Petite danseuse de quatorze ans’ broke the auction record of the artist tonight; price realized $41.6 million pic.twitter.com/Dn4JLCbWTB
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 12, 2022
1922-1938 Petite Danseuse de 14 ans (posthumous)
2026 SOLD for £ 25M by Sotheby's
An example with no estimate on the possible date was sold by Sotheby's for £ 15.8M on June 24, 2015, lot 14. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It was back for sale at Sotheby's on June 24, 2026, lot 5. Realized price : £ 25M.
The Sotheby's example (the one from the Lewis Collection, reoffered in 2026) is a posthumous Hébrard bronze cast of Degas's iconic Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans (Little Dancer Aged Fourteen), conceived in wax circa 1879–81 and cast in bronze around 1922. Key features include:
Price differences explained (£15.8M in 2015 vs. $42M in 2022):
The Sotheby's example (the one from the Lewis Collection, reoffered in 2026) is a posthumous Hébrard bronze cast of Degas's iconic Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans (Little Dancer Aged Fourteen), conceived in wax circa 1879–81 and cast in bronze around 1922. Key features include:
- Markings: Inscribed "Degas," numbered "HER," and stamped with the foundry mark "A.A. HÉBRARD CIRE PERDUE" (on the base). The "HER" designation indicates it was one of the casts reserved for the Degas heirs or the foundry (typically two such marked examples existed among the ~29 total casts).
- Materials and appearance: Bronze with a muslin (tarlatan/tulle) skirt and satin hair ribbon on a wooden base. Height including base: 101.3 cm (about 39⅞–40 in.). It retains the characteristic brown patina, with the fabric elements evoking the original wax's hyper-realism (real clothing, hair ribbon, etc.).
- Provenance highlights: Previously owned by Émile Peyonat, then Claude Glassey, a European private collection (acquired 1964); sold at Sotheby's London in 2000 (lot 3), then again in 2015 (lot 14) for £15.8 million (about $24.8 million at the time). Now from the Lewis Collection.
- Context: Like all bronze versions, it derives from the unique original wax (now at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), which Degas exhibited in 1881. This cast captures the controversial realism—posed with hands behind her back, chin up, in ballet attire—that shocked viewers for its unidealized depiction of a working-class "petit rat" (Marie van Goethem).
- Markings: Stamped with the foundry mark "A.A. HÉBRARD CIRE PERDUE" (on her left thigh); no specific letter or "HER" noted in primary descriptions (it was cast in 1927).
- Materials and appearance: Bronze with brown patina, muslin skirt, and satin hair ribbon on wooden base. Height excluding base: 40½ in. (102.9 cm)—very similar dimensions.
- Provenance highlights: Commissioned directly from the Hébrard foundry in 1927 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Liebman; later through Knoedler, the Payson family, Wildenstein, and acquired by Anne H. Bass in 1985. Strong, fresh-to-market American blue-chip provenance from a prominent collector.
Price differences explained (£15.8M in 2015 vs. $42M in 2022):
- Market timing and inflation: Art market prices for ultra-blue-chip Impressionist/Modern works rose significantly between 2015 and 2022. The Bass sale benefited from strong post-pandemic demand and a record-setting single-owner collection context.
- Provenance and freshness: The Bass example had exceptional, long-held American institutional/dealer provenance and was offered in a tightly focused, high-profile single-collection sale (expected to exceed $250M overall). The Lewis one had been on the market more recently (sold in 2000 and 2015), which can slightly temper enthusiasm compared to a "rediscovered" or freshly consigned trophy.
- Sale venue and competition: Christie's New York evening sale with intense bidder interest (it set the Degas record) vs. Sotheby's London. Currency fluctuations (GBP to USD) and overall economic conditions also play roles.
- Condition, presentation, and intangibles: Both are similar in quality, but subtle factors like patina, fabric condition, or the specific "HER" marking (which some collectors prize for its direct link to the estate) could influence perception. The Bass sale had broader hype around Anne Bass's taste and ballet connection.
- Rarity context: Only a handful of these remain in private hands (most in museums), so both are major opportunities, but auction dynamics drive final prices more than minor cast variations.
masterpiece
1889-1890 Le Chahut by Seurat
Musée Kröller-Müller
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
PICASSO
The guitar is one of Pablo Picasso's most enduring and versatile motifs, appearing across multiple phases of his long career (1881–1973). It evolves from a symbol of human suffering and melancholy in his early work to a formal and innovative vehicle in Cubism, and later as a recurring element in still lifes that blend personal, cultural, and artistic references.
Blue Period (1901–1904): Symbol of Poverty, Blindness, and Resilience
In Picasso's Blue Period, marked by themes of misery, alienation, and poverty, the guitar often represents the sole source of sustenance or solace for the downtrodden. The most iconic example is The Old Guitarist (1903–1904, Art Institute of Chicago), depicting a blind, emaciated musician hunched over his instrument in a monochromatic blue palette (with the guitar as the only warm brown accent).
The guitar here is both a literal object and a metaphor: the musician's only hope for survival through street performance, evoking empathy and the artist's own struggles with poverty. Its elongated form draws from El Greco, emphasizing emotional distortion over realism.
Cubism (Especially 1912–1914): Formal Innovation and Breakthrough
The guitar becomes central during Picasso's Analytic and especially Synthetic Cubism phases. It served as an ideal subject for deconstruction and reconstruction, allowing exploration of multiple viewpoints, negative space, collage, and assemblage.Picasso produced numerous drawings, paintings, collages, and sculptures of guitars around 1912–1914.
Key works include:
Later Career: Still Lifes, Personal Symbolism, and Continuity
Post-WWI and into later decades, guitars appear in vibrant still lifes, often alongside mandolins, sheet music, or fruit—evoking music, domesticity, and Spanish heritage. Examples include works from the 1920s (e.g., Mandolin and Guitar, 1924) and beyond, blending Cubist fragmentation with neoclassical or surreal elements.
The motif persisted as a versatile symbol: of sound/sight synesthesia, national identity (Spanish guitar), and artistic play. It bridged abstraction and representation throughout his output.
Overall theme: The guitar embodies Picasso's Spanish roots, his fascination with music and performance, and his constant innovation in form and material. From emotional empathy in the Blue Period to radical experimentation in Cubism and playful continuity later, it reflects his evolution while remaining a constant anchor in his visual vocabulary. MoMA's focused exhibition "Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914" highlights its pivotal role in modern art history.
Blue Period (1901–1904): Symbol of Poverty, Blindness, and Resilience
In Picasso's Blue Period, marked by themes of misery, alienation, and poverty, the guitar often represents the sole source of sustenance or solace for the downtrodden. The most iconic example is The Old Guitarist (1903–1904, Art Institute of Chicago), depicting a blind, emaciated musician hunched over his instrument in a monochromatic blue palette (with the guitar as the only warm brown accent).
The guitar here is both a literal object and a metaphor: the musician's only hope for survival through street performance, evoking empathy and the artist's own struggles with poverty. Its elongated form draws from El Greco, emphasizing emotional distortion over realism.
Cubism (Especially 1912–1914): Formal Innovation and Breakthrough
The guitar becomes central during Picasso's Analytic and especially Synthetic Cubism phases. It served as an ideal subject for deconstruction and reconstruction, allowing exploration of multiple viewpoints, negative space, collage, and assemblage.Picasso produced numerous drawings, paintings, collages, and sculptures of guitars around 1912–1914.
Key works include:
- Cardboard Guitar (1912, MoMA) — A pioneering construction that shifted sculpture from modeling to assemblage.
- Sheet Metal Guitar (1914, MoMA) — A more durable version that "turns the guitar inside out," with the sound hole projecting outward.
Later Career: Still Lifes, Personal Symbolism, and Continuity
Post-WWI and into later decades, guitars appear in vibrant still lifes, often alongside mandolins, sheet music, or fruit—evoking music, domesticity, and Spanish heritage. Examples include works from the 1920s (e.g., Mandolin and Guitar, 1924) and beyond, blending Cubist fragmentation with neoclassical or surreal elements.
The motif persisted as a versatile symbol: of sound/sight synesthesia, national identity (Spanish guitar), and artistic play. It bridged abstraction and representation throughout his output.
Overall theme: The guitar embodies Picasso's Spanish roots, his fascination with music and performance, and his constant innovation in form and material. From emotional empathy in the Blue Period to radical experimentation in Cubism and playful continuity later, it reflects his evolution while remaining a constant anchor in his visual vocabulary. MoMA's focused exhibition "Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914" highlights its pivotal role in modern art history.
1905 Au Lapin Agile
1989 SOLD for $ 41M by Sotheby's
Cabarets had a preponderant place in Picasso's youth. It is indeed at the 4 Gats in Barcelona that he feels the desire to have a bohemian life in Montmartre.
Le Lapin Agile is perfectly located in the heart of Montmartre, rue des Saules. Before 1900 its reputation had been sordid. Its name is a pun on the sign created by the cartoonist André Gill showing a happy rabbit jumping out of a pan.
Picasso arrives in Paris at the time when a new steward nicknamed Frédé organizes evenings in this cabaret during which poets, comedians and artists from Montmartre play music, sing, recite poems, chat with conviviality. Frédé plays guitar and cello.
Au Lapin Agile is an oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm painted by Picasso in 1905 on a commission from Frédé. Pablo prepares it in the graphic style of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, without any style link either with the blue period or with the pink period. It was sold for $ 41M by Sotheby's on November 27, 1989.
The couple in the foreground, seated in front of glasses of wine, is made up of Picasso dressed as a Harlequin and of Germaine, the woman who had rejected Casagemas but was probably Pablo's mistress throughout the blue period. Behind them, Frédé plays the guitar.
Picasso's painting hung on the wall of the cabaret until 1912. It was therefore a silent witness of the most famous hoax in the history of art.
In 1910 on the cabaret terrace, the writer Roland Dorgelès accompanied by an accomplice attaches brushes to the tail of Lolo, Frédé's donkey. In the presence of a bailiff, they dip the brushes in pots of orange, yellow, red and blue paint and offer the animal a carrot. The frantic movement of the tail creates on a 54 x 81 cm canvas the masterpiece titled Et le Soleil s'endormit sur l'Adriatique, signed J.R. Boronali, an anagram of Buridan's famous donkey, Aliboron.
They exhibit this Sunset at the Salon des Indépendants as a manifesto of the Excessivisme. The fruitful debates that the hoax has aroused about the meaning of art are thus a direct consequence of the artists' meetings at the Lapin Agile. Picasso's painting is a rare rendering of this environment.
Grok thought :
Quote
Alex Jacob @whoisalexjacob Apr 12, 2019
Au Lapin Agile (1904), Pablo Picasso Sold in 1989 for $40.7 million to Walter Annenberg, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. and publisher of TV Guide and Seventeen magazine. Bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), where it is currently on display.
Le Lapin Agile is perfectly located in the heart of Montmartre, rue des Saules. Before 1900 its reputation had been sordid. Its name is a pun on the sign created by the cartoonist André Gill showing a happy rabbit jumping out of a pan.
Picasso arrives in Paris at the time when a new steward nicknamed Frédé organizes evenings in this cabaret during which poets, comedians and artists from Montmartre play music, sing, recite poems, chat with conviviality. Frédé plays guitar and cello.
Au Lapin Agile is an oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm painted by Picasso in 1905 on a commission from Frédé. Pablo prepares it in the graphic style of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, without any style link either with the blue period or with the pink period. It was sold for $ 41M by Sotheby's on November 27, 1989.
The couple in the foreground, seated in front of glasses of wine, is made up of Picasso dressed as a Harlequin and of Germaine, the woman who had rejected Casagemas but was probably Pablo's mistress throughout the blue period. Behind them, Frédé plays the guitar.
Picasso's painting hung on the wall of the cabaret until 1912. It was therefore a silent witness of the most famous hoax in the history of art.
In 1910 on the cabaret terrace, the writer Roland Dorgelès accompanied by an accomplice attaches brushes to the tail of Lolo, Frédé's donkey. In the presence of a bailiff, they dip the brushes in pots of orange, yellow, red and blue paint and offer the animal a carrot. The frantic movement of the tail creates on a 54 x 81 cm canvas the masterpiece titled Et le Soleil s'endormit sur l'Adriatique, signed J.R. Boronali, an anagram of Buridan's famous donkey, Aliboron.
They exhibit this Sunset at the Salon des Indépendants as a manifesto of the Excessivisme. The fruitful debates that the hoax has aroused about the meaning of art are thus a direct consequence of the artists' meetings at the Lapin Agile. Picasso's painting is a rare rendering of this environment.
Grok thought :
Quote
Alex Jacob @whoisalexjacob Apr 12, 2019
Au Lapin Agile (1904), Pablo Picasso Sold in 1989 for $40.7 million to Walter Annenberg, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. and publisher of TV Guide and Seventeen magazine. Bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), where it is currently on display.
- This post catalogs the 1989 Sotheby's auction of Pablo Picasso's 1904 Rose Period painting "Au Lapin Agile," depicting the artist and poet Max Jacob in a Montmartre cabaret, sold for $40.7 million to media magnate Walter Annenberg.
- It forms part of Jeopardy! champion Alex Jacob's trivia thread on late-1980s art market highs, where Japanese buyers fueled records like van Gogh's $82.5 million "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" the next year, signaling a speculative boom.
- The work, bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2002, remains on permanent display there, its sale price equivalent to about $100 million today amid persistent inflation in Modern art valuations.
Special Report
Guitar Sculptures
Picasso's cardboard guitar sculptures, particularly the seminal 1912 example at MoMA, represent a pivotal breakthrough in modern art. They mark the shift from Analytic to Synthetic Cubism and the birth of constructed sculpture through assemblage rather than traditional carving or modeling.
The Iconic 1912 Cardboard Guitar
Created in Paris between October and December 1912, this work is assembled from humble materials: cardboard, paper, string, and wire. Picasso cut, folded, threaded, and glued these elements into a three-dimensional construction that "resembled no sculpture ever seen before."
Key features and construction:
Significance and Innovation
The 1914 Sheet Metal Version and Legacy
In 1914, Picasso recreated the form in more durable ferrous sheet metal and wire, preserving the innovative structure while making it sturdier. The sound hole still projects dramatically. Both versions bracket an intense period of experimentation.
These guitars influenced 20th-century sculpture profoundly, paving the way for assemblage, readymades, and open-form works by artists like Julio González or later Constructivists. They also connect to Picasso's broader guitar motif across paintings, collages, and drawings from 1912–1914 (and beyond).
Picasso's cardboard guitars are fragile artifacts of radical invention—ephemeral yet foundational, turning a familiar Spanish instrument into a manifesto for modern form, space, and materials. They remain among the most studied objects in Cubism's history.
The Iconic 1912 Cardboard Guitar
Created in Paris between October and December 1912, this work is assembled from humble materials: cardboard, paper, string, and wire. Picasso cut, folded, threaded, and glued these elements into a three-dimensional construction that "resembled no sculpture ever seen before."
Key features and construction:
- Composed of about 8 parts: front and back planes, a box-like body, a cylindrical sound hole (projecting outward like a tube), a curved neck, a triangular headstock, and strings made of ordinary string.
- The sound hole—normally a recessed void—boldly projects forward, turning negative space into positive form. This inversion (inside-out guitar) plays with perception of volume and void.
- It could be installed variably: as a freestanding object or wall relief, sometimes with a semi-circular base suggesting a tabletop.
- Fragile and improvisatory, it was never intended as a permanent "finished" piece but as an experimental maquette.
Significance and Innovation
- Revolution in sculpture: Picasso moved from modeling solids (e.g., his earlier Head of Fernande, 1909) to open, planar assemblage using everyday materials. It has no solid core—space flows through it—challenging traditions of bronze, marble, or wood.
- Synthetic Cubism catalyst: The guitar series bridges flat collages (with real materials like newspaper) and three-dimensional form. Planes and signs (curves, circles, triangles) shift meanings by context, creating a visual language of synecdoche (parts standing for wholes).
- Influences: Likely inspired by African Grebo masks (cylindrical eyes), contemporary toys, or even early airplanes. It embodies Cubist simultaneity—showing multiple views and insides/outsides at once.
- Puns and identity: As a Spanish guitar ("el guitare"), it asserted Picasso's heritage amid his Paris collaborations with Braque. It invites wordplay and questions what is "real" (a silent instrument that evokes music).
The 1914 Sheet Metal Version and Legacy
In 1914, Picasso recreated the form in more durable ferrous sheet metal and wire, preserving the innovative structure while making it sturdier. The sound hole still projects dramatically. Both versions bracket an intense period of experimentation.
These guitars influenced 20th-century sculpture profoundly, paving the way for assemblage, readymades, and open-form works by artists like Julio González or later Constructivists. They also connect to Picasso's broader guitar motif across paintings, collages, and drawings from 1912–1914 (and beyond).
Picasso's cardboard guitars are fragile artifacts of radical invention—ephemeral yet foundational, turning a familiar Spanish instrument into a manifesto for modern form, space, and materials. They remain among the most studied objects in Cubism's history.
1913 Homme à la Guitare
2026 SOLD for $ 41M by Christie's
The Pablo Picasso 1913 canvas highlighted in preliminary announcements for Christie's May 2026 evening sales (as part of the S.I. Newhouse collection) is Man with a Guitar (also known as Homme à la guitare), a key work from the height of Picasso's Synthetic Cubism period. It was sold for $ 41M from a lower estimate of $ 35M by Christie's on May 18, lot 3A.
Background and Acquisition by Newhouse
In 2000, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) deaccessioned the painting to raise funds for acquisitions and expansions. Newhouse, then a MoMA trustee, resigned from the board to purchase it (reportedly for around $10 million via dealer Larry Gagosian, who handled the transaction). This move avoided any conflict-of-interest issues under museum guidelines at the time. The painting had been in MoMA's collection previously (gift of financier André Meyer). It has remained in Newhouse's holdings since and has not appeared at public auction.
This 1913 work fits squarely in Picasso's transition from Analytic to Synthetic Cubism (roughly 1912–1914), where he and Georges Braque moved toward brighter colors, flatter planes, and the incorporation of collage-like elements or simulated textures (e.g., wood grain, printed patterns) while still fragmenting forms.
Artistic Context and Key Features
1913 was a pivotal year for Cubism. Picasso produced numerous still lifes and figure compositions exploring the guitar (a recurring motif symbolizing music, everyday life, and Spanish heritage) alongside bottles, newspapers, and human figures. Man with a Guitar represents a seated male figure holding or positioned with a guitar, broken into geometric planes, overlapping facets, and bold color blocks. Typical of Synthetic Cubism:
Comparable 1913 Cubist canvases by Picasso measure in the medium-to-large range, often around 100–130 cm in one dimension.
Significance and Legacy
Man with a Guitar stands as a prime example of Picasso's inventive peak in Cubism, a movement that dismantled Renaissance conventions and laid groundwork for 20th-century abstraction. It reflects Picasso's fascination with musical instruments (guitars appear frequently from 1912 onward) as symbols of harmony amid fragmentation—perhaps echoing the cultural atmosphere before World War I. The painting's deaccession from MoMA sparked debate about museum practices, but its quality as a "museum-grade" work has kept it in elite private hands.
Background and Acquisition by Newhouse
In 2000, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) deaccessioned the painting to raise funds for acquisitions and expansions. Newhouse, then a MoMA trustee, resigned from the board to purchase it (reportedly for around $10 million via dealer Larry Gagosian, who handled the transaction). This move avoided any conflict-of-interest issues under museum guidelines at the time. The painting had been in MoMA's collection previously (gift of financier André Meyer). It has remained in Newhouse's holdings since and has not appeared at public auction.
This 1913 work fits squarely in Picasso's transition from Analytic to Synthetic Cubism (roughly 1912–1914), where he and Georges Braque moved toward brighter colors, flatter planes, and the incorporation of collage-like elements or simulated textures (e.g., wood grain, printed patterns) while still fragmenting forms.
Artistic Context and Key Features
1913 was a pivotal year for Cubism. Picasso produced numerous still lifes and figure compositions exploring the guitar (a recurring motif symbolizing music, everyday life, and Spanish heritage) alongside bottles, newspapers, and human figures. Man with a Guitar represents a seated male figure holding or positioned with a guitar, broken into geometric planes, overlapping facets, and bold color blocks. Typical of Synthetic Cubism:
- Fragmented but more legible forms compared to the earlier, more monochromatic Analytic phase.
- Use of flat, decorative elements with hints of texture or pattern.
- Play between representation and abstraction—viewers discern the man (head, torso, perhaps a face) and guitar amid shifting planes and spatial ambiguity.
- Vibrant yet structured palette, often with greens, blues, browns, and earth tones, emphasizing compositional rhythm over illusionistic depth.
Comparable 1913 Cubist canvases by Picasso measure in the medium-to-large range, often around 100–130 cm in one dimension.
Significance and Legacy
Man with a Guitar stands as a prime example of Picasso's inventive peak in Cubism, a movement that dismantled Renaissance conventions and laid groundwork for 20th-century abstraction. It reflects Picasso's fascination with musical instruments (guitars appear frequently from 1912 onward) as symbols of harmony amid fragmentation—perhaps echoing the cultural atmosphere before World War I. The painting's deaccession from MoMA sparked debate about museum practices, but its quality as a "museum-grade" work has kept it in elite private hands.
1919 Guitare sur une Table
2022 SOLD for $ 37M by Sotheby's
Guitar on a tabletop was a preferred theme of the Cubist pioneers, Gris, Picasso and Braque. In 1919 war is over and the synthetic phase of Cubism is giving way to the Neoclassicism.
Under the influence of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Picasso continues in both styles with dynamic pure colors, as demonstrated by a pair of portraits of Olga started simultaneously ca 1917 of which the Cubist version was sold for $ 30.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 7 A.
Guitare sur une table painted by Picasso in 1919 in Paris is a mixed style in which the mandolin shaped instrument is displayed beside a sheet of staves in a flattened trompe l'oeil that includes a joyful blue sky through a window.
This oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2022, lot 108, for the benefit of the MoMA and of charities.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 15, 2022
#AuctionUpdate: In its auction debut, Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guitare sur une table’ achieves a staggering $37.1 million tonight. This rare Cubist painting has been in the private collection of William S. Paley since 1946. #SothebysModern
Under the influence of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Picasso continues in both styles with dynamic pure colors, as demonstrated by a pair of portraits of Olga started simultaneously ca 1917 of which the Cubist version was sold for $ 30.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 7 A.
Guitare sur une table painted by Picasso in 1919 in Paris is a mixed style in which the mandolin shaped instrument is displayed beside a sheet of staves in a flattened trompe l'oeil that includes a joyful blue sky through a window.
This oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2022, lot 108, for the benefit of the MoMA and of charities.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 15, 2022
#AuctionUpdate: In its auction debut, Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guitare sur une table’ achieves a staggering $37.1 million tonight. This rare Cubist painting has been in the private collection of William S. Paley since 1946. #SothebysModern
- Picasso's 1919 Synthetic Cubist painting 'Guitare sur une table' fetched $37.1 million at Sotheby's Modern Evening Auction on November 14, 2022, surpassing its $20-30 million estimate in its auction debut after 76 years in William S. Paley's collection.
- The work, on long-term loan to the Museum of Modern Art for three decades, exemplifies Picasso's bold use of vivid colors and geometric fragmentation to depict everyday objects, bridging Analytic and Synthetic Cubism phases.
- This sale underscored the enduring market strength for Picasso's Cubist output, contributing to Sotheby's $473 million total for the evening and ranking among the top modern art transactions of 2022.
masterpiece
1910 La Danse II by Matisse
Hermitage
La Danse I, painted in 1909, is a study for La Danse II.
The image of La Danse II is shared by Wikimedia with attribution Henri Matisse, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The image of La Danse II is shared by Wikimedia with attribution Henri Matisse, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
1914 La Table de Musicien by Gris
2018 SOLD for $ 32M by Christie's
Juan Gris is close to the artists who develop Cubism : Braque, Léger, Metzinger. He first earns his living with satirical drawings for magazines. In 1911 he begins to paint in oil. Kahnweiler signs in 1913 a contract by which he buys all the current and future work of this young artist, as he had done previously with Braque, Picasso and Léger.
Juan can now devote himself to his art with a freer spirit. He stays in Céret from August to November 1913, without crossing the border because he had escaped his military service and was considered a deserter in his native country.
The choice of Céret is not by chance : Picasso conceived Cubism in that village with Braque in 1911 and was staying there for the third consecutive summer. Juan declares himself as a disciple of Pablo and tries to claim to anyone all the secrets of Cubism. Very annoyed, Picasso avoids this overly enthusiastic young man.
Yet Juan is also an innovator. His works painted in Céret offer the transition between analytical cubism, defined as a flattening of forms, and synthetic cubism, by which objects receive again identifiable contours and bright colors.The first cubism which is called analytical cubism is a search for the integration of the volume of objects within a flat surface. Led from 1910 by Picasso and Braque soon followed by Juan Gris, this technique leads to an explosion of forms that hinders the readability. Perspective and even color become non-existent or secondary.
This hermetic art does not satisfy its own inventor Picasso. In 1912 he sticks real ordinary materials in a composition : ropes and oilcloth. Curiously he does not exhibit this first experience that nevertheless launches the cubist collages. Braque, Picasso himself and Gris continue this exploration of a new artistic language conducive to show the everyday surroundings of table settings and still lifes.
The collage of newspaper clippings is a basic element of the new compositions. Easy to simulate also with the brush, the piece does not break the coherence of the work. It draws the attention of the viewer who seeks some meaning to the words in the context of the image, long before the Dada and Merz revolutions. It is also a fun method to date an artwork.
On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 28.6M Violon et Guitare, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm painted by Juan Gris in Céret in September 1913, lot 23.
Kahnweiler is satisfied with Gris's progress and Picasso can no longer ignore his rival, while maintaining his unilateral animosity. Picasso wanted to be seen as the leader of this cubism which indeed could only appeal the theorists. Shortly afterward Picasso, Braque and Gris will try simultaneously but in vain to save the analytical cubism by inserting on their canvases some newspaper clippings, ultimate avatars of the destruction of perspective.
From December 1913 Juan Gris is the champion of this new evolution of cubism which finally retrieves perspective and color while respecting the primary objective of assimilating the represented object and its support. In the following months Malevich reaches the most extreme abstract art : the uselessness of the image in its support is another seminal advance of modernism.
On May 8, 2018, Christie's sold as lot 2 for $ 32M La table de musicien, oil, gouache, pencil and collage of paper on canvas 82 x 60 cm made by Gris in May 1914.
The table is the support of the arrangement. It is shown at an angle in an aerial view. In a subtle balance the collages participate in three different ways : the newspaper on the table, the wall paper and the stylized musical staves drawn on a white paper. The perspective effect allows the drawings of bottle and violin to overlap the painted and glued areas. Transparency effects disrupt the surfaces.
Executed in the following month in a similar technique, a 46 x 27 cm artwork titled Tabac, journal et bouteille de vin rosé was sold for $ 8.8M by Sotheby's on November 6, 2013.
The war stops this playful phase when Kahnweiler with whom Gris was in contract in Paris is obliged to leave for Switzerland. In the following year Gris gives up his mixed technique and returns to oil on canvas with brilliantly colored compositions that imitate his collages. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux, 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M by Christie's on February 4, 2014.
Juan can now devote himself to his art with a freer spirit. He stays in Céret from August to November 1913, without crossing the border because he had escaped his military service and was considered a deserter in his native country.
The choice of Céret is not by chance : Picasso conceived Cubism in that village with Braque in 1911 and was staying there for the third consecutive summer. Juan declares himself as a disciple of Pablo and tries to claim to anyone all the secrets of Cubism. Very annoyed, Picasso avoids this overly enthusiastic young man.
Yet Juan is also an innovator. His works painted in Céret offer the transition between analytical cubism, defined as a flattening of forms, and synthetic cubism, by which objects receive again identifiable contours and bright colors.The first cubism which is called analytical cubism is a search for the integration of the volume of objects within a flat surface. Led from 1910 by Picasso and Braque soon followed by Juan Gris, this technique leads to an explosion of forms that hinders the readability. Perspective and even color become non-existent or secondary.
This hermetic art does not satisfy its own inventor Picasso. In 1912 he sticks real ordinary materials in a composition : ropes and oilcloth. Curiously he does not exhibit this first experience that nevertheless launches the cubist collages. Braque, Picasso himself and Gris continue this exploration of a new artistic language conducive to show the everyday surroundings of table settings and still lifes.
The collage of newspaper clippings is a basic element of the new compositions. Easy to simulate also with the brush, the piece does not break the coherence of the work. It draws the attention of the viewer who seeks some meaning to the words in the context of the image, long before the Dada and Merz revolutions. It is also a fun method to date an artwork.
On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 28.6M Violon et Guitare, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm painted by Juan Gris in Céret in September 1913, lot 23.
Kahnweiler is satisfied with Gris's progress and Picasso can no longer ignore his rival, while maintaining his unilateral animosity. Picasso wanted to be seen as the leader of this cubism which indeed could only appeal the theorists. Shortly afterward Picasso, Braque and Gris will try simultaneously but in vain to save the analytical cubism by inserting on their canvases some newspaper clippings, ultimate avatars of the destruction of perspective.
From December 1913 Juan Gris is the champion of this new evolution of cubism which finally retrieves perspective and color while respecting the primary objective of assimilating the represented object and its support. In the following months Malevich reaches the most extreme abstract art : the uselessness of the image in its support is another seminal advance of modernism.
On May 8, 2018, Christie's sold as lot 2 for $ 32M La table de musicien, oil, gouache, pencil and collage of paper on canvas 82 x 60 cm made by Gris in May 1914.
The table is the support of the arrangement. It is shown at an angle in an aerial view. In a subtle balance the collages participate in three different ways : the newspaper on the table, the wall paper and the stylized musical staves drawn on a white paper. The perspective effect allows the drawings of bottle and violin to overlap the painted and glued areas. Transparency effects disrupt the surfaces.
Executed in the following month in a similar technique, a 46 x 27 cm artwork titled Tabac, journal et bouteille de vin rosé was sold for $ 8.8M by Sotheby's on November 6, 2013.
The war stops this playful phase when Kahnweiler with whom Gris was in contract in Paris is obliged to leave for Switzerland. In the following year Gris gives up his mixed technique and returns to oil on canvas with brilliantly colored compositions that imitate his collages. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux, 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M by Christie's on February 4, 2014.
#AuctionUpdate ‘La table de musician’ by #JuanGris auctions for $31,812,500. https://t.co/kjMtJ5yMWN pic.twitter.com/B4bOAYDloe
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 8, 2018
1937 Tensions Calmées by Kandinsky
2021 SOLD for £ 21.2M by Sotheby's
In 1933, when the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis, Wassily Kandinsky moved to an apartment in Neuilly-sur-Seine where he was to reside until his death. Now freed from teaching, he went into a creative anonymity, keeping himself far away from the Surrealists but enjoying Miro's mingling of poetry and abstraction.
In that new phase, he got rid of the geometric symbols that populated his art at the time of the Bauhaus. He could instead revisit the basic ideas of his early career about the pre-eminence of colors and the link between pictorial creation and music. At that time he took also an interest in micro-biomorphic forms.
Rigide et courbé, painted in 1935 and sold by Christie's for $ 23.3M in 2016, is typical of the new style with the melody simulated by the curves of its central ribbon.
On June 29, 2021, Sotheby's sold for £ 21.2M Tensions calmées, oil on canvas 90 x 116 cm painted in 1937, lot 116. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The title reveals the desire of the artist to express the complexity of the emotions through opposite concepts. It may be a precursor to his L'Elan tempéré of 1944, where the abstract figures are also musicalist.
Details in Tensions calmées may evoke a performing pianist with his keyboard and four converging strings of a violin. Curved figures are joyous, in an obvious desire to express an orchestration.
In that new phase, he got rid of the geometric symbols that populated his art at the time of the Bauhaus. He could instead revisit the basic ideas of his early career about the pre-eminence of colors and the link between pictorial creation and music. At that time he took also an interest in micro-biomorphic forms.
Rigide et courbé, painted in 1935 and sold by Christie's for $ 23.3M in 2016, is typical of the new style with the melody simulated by the curves of its central ribbon.
On June 29, 2021, Sotheby's sold for £ 21.2M Tensions calmées, oil on canvas 90 x 116 cm painted in 1937, lot 116. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The title reveals the desire of the artist to express the complexity of the emotions through opposite concepts. It may be a precursor to his L'Elan tempéré of 1944, where the abstract figures are also musicalist.
Details in Tensions calmées may evoke a performing pianist with his keyboard and four converging strings of a violin. Curved figures are joyous, in an obvious desire to express an orchestration.
masterpiece
1950 Shuffleton's Barbershop by Rockwell
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
One of the reasons for the continued popularity of Norman Rockwell's illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post's cover pages is the variety of his inspiration. After the war, patriotism gives way to burlesque scenes activating many characters.
Rockwell is especially at his best when he is painting scenes of village life. The quiet atmosphere is revealed by a multitude of small details created from individual photos. After the Dutch masters of the 17th century Rockwell carefully checks the realistic geometry of lights and shadows.
By the intimacy of the theme and the complexity of the composition, Shuffleton's Barbershop published by the Saturday Evening Post on April 29, 1950 is one of his most successful covers. The 117 x 109 cm oil on canvas was deaccessioned from the Berkshire Museum. Listed by Sotheby's on November 13, 2017 with an estimate of $ 20M, lot 10, it was sold before the auction to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as reported by the auction house.
The viewer looks through the large shop's window whose inscriptions are truncated at the edges. After the working day the light is off in the room. The stove, the sink, the magazine rack and the cat are waiting for the next day. Three men play their musical instruments in the light of the back shop without a risk of being disturbed.
In his compositions Rockwell re-assembles but does not invent. Rob Shuffleton is in real life the barber of the Vermont village where the artist settled in 1939 and he is also the seated man who holds the cello, half hidden behind the inner door.
Rockwell is especially at his best when he is painting scenes of village life. The quiet atmosphere is revealed by a multitude of small details created from individual photos. After the Dutch masters of the 17th century Rockwell carefully checks the realistic geometry of lights and shadows.
By the intimacy of the theme and the complexity of the composition, Shuffleton's Barbershop published by the Saturday Evening Post on April 29, 1950 is one of his most successful covers. The 117 x 109 cm oil on canvas was deaccessioned from the Berkshire Museum. Listed by Sotheby's on November 13, 2017 with an estimate of $ 20M, lot 10, it was sold before the auction to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as reported by the auction house.
The viewer looks through the large shop's window whose inscriptions are truncated at the edges. After the working day the light is off in the room. The stove, the sink, the magazine rack and the cat are waiting for the next day. Three men play their musical instruments in the light of the back shop without a risk of being disturbed.
In his compositions Rockwell re-assembles but does not invent. Rob Shuffleton is in real life the barber of the Vermont village where the artist settled in 1939 and he is also the seated man who holds the cello, half hidden behind the inner door.
1994 Nude with Joyous Painting by Lichtenstein
2020 SOLD for $ 46M by Christie's
Roy Lichtenstein appropriates images edited or painted by others. By transforming them, he brings another meaning that can be the opposite. The enlargement from a comic maintains the simplicity of the lines which was important for the legibility of the tiny original. He reaches the basics of art, without verbiage and without losing his humor.
Roy also offers his vision of art history. He likes the pure lines of the naked bodies in La Danse by Matisse. Painted in 1974, Artist's Studio - The Dance exhibits that masterpiece of the other artist on the back wall, behind a big mess. On the right side, a truncated image shows some musical notes on a stave.
In 1994 Roy restarts one of his signature themes : the young woman copied from a comic panel, colored with dots that mimic printing patterns. Henceforth the woman is nude, sometimes in the presence of another naked woman, never with a man.
Nude with Joyous Painting, oil and acrylic 178 x 135 cm painted in 1994 was sold for $ 46M from an estimate in the region of $ 30M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 58. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the comic book, the pretty blonde had a love sorrow. Now she is naked and the explanatory text is no longer available : she is simply waiting for something undefined which is probably not a partner. She may be finishing her washing after putting a headband.
The joyous painting announced by the title is the image of a musical stave in volutes, as in the pastiche of La Danse. This musical symbol brings a nice atmosphere of innocent intimacy.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Jul 10, 2020
#AuctionUpdate #RoyLichtenstein’s masterful late work, Nude with Joyous Painting achieves $46,242,500
Roy also offers his vision of art history. He likes the pure lines of the naked bodies in La Danse by Matisse. Painted in 1974, Artist's Studio - The Dance exhibits that masterpiece of the other artist on the back wall, behind a big mess. On the right side, a truncated image shows some musical notes on a stave.
In 1994 Roy restarts one of his signature themes : the young woman copied from a comic panel, colored with dots that mimic printing patterns. Henceforth the woman is nude, sometimes in the presence of another naked woman, never with a man.
Nude with Joyous Painting, oil and acrylic 178 x 135 cm painted in 1994 was sold for $ 46M from an estimate in the region of $ 30M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 58. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the comic book, the pretty blonde had a love sorrow. Now she is naked and the explanatory text is no longer available : she is simply waiting for something undefined which is probably not a partner. She may be finishing her washing after putting a headband.
The joyous painting announced by the title is the image of a musical stave in volutes, as in the pastiche of La Danse. This musical symbol brings a nice atmosphere of innocent intimacy.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Jul 10, 2020
#AuctionUpdate #RoyLichtenstein’s masterful late work, Nude with Joyous Painting achieves $46,242,500
- Christie's post celebrates the $46.2 million hammer price for Roy Lichtenstein's 1994 "Nude with Joyous Painting," a 70-by-53-inch oil and Magna canvas that headlined their July 2020 online relay auction amid COVID-19 restrictions.
- The work belongs to Lichtenstein's Nudes series (1993–1997), which adapts 1960s comic book panels—here from DC's "Surfing Girl"—into abstracted female figures, fusing pop art's irony with Picasso-inspired distortions.
- Provenance from Leo Castelli Gallery to private collections highlights its market prestige, as the sale ranked among Lichtenstein's top auction results, reflecting sustained demand for his late-period innovations.
