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1884 La Grande Jatte by Seurat
1999 SOLD for $ 35M by Sotheby's
Georges Seurat seeks to define a new painting technique that will support his anti-bourgeois ideal. The composition is based on the balance of proportions. The perceived colors are not those of his palette but a reconstruction of the spectrum by the opposition of the complementary.
He wants his demonstrations to be perfect. His achieved paintings are very rare. The very long preparation phases include drawings and oil sketches. In 1884 he exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants his first major work, Une Baignade à Asnières, oil on canvas 2 x 3 m.
Seurat immediately begins another project, on the same social theme of the aberrant life of the bourgeois. He chooses a green corner by the Seine in the leisure park on the island of La Grande Jatte, on the border between Neuilly and Levallois.
Three oil sketches on canvas are started in parallel in May 1884. One of them is a Paysage empty of any character, 65 x 79 cm, on which he sets up the theoretical elements of its composition. The second is a full version 70 x 104 cm, scaled as one third of the size of the final work. The other sketch is a study for the couple in the foreground.
Unlike the Bathing in Asnières, the colors are dull, with too much space provided to the shadows in the foreground. Signac will succeed in convincing Seurat that the brightest lights bring a much better effect to the divisionist technique, but for Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte, which will be finished in 1886, it is already too late.
The preparatory Paysage was sold for $ 35M by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999.
He wants his demonstrations to be perfect. His achieved paintings are very rare. The very long preparation phases include drawings and oil sketches. In 1884 he exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants his first major work, Une Baignade à Asnières, oil on canvas 2 x 3 m.
Seurat immediately begins another project, on the same social theme of the aberrant life of the bourgeois. He chooses a green corner by the Seine in the leisure park on the island of La Grande Jatte, on the border between Neuilly and Levallois.
Three oil sketches on canvas are started in parallel in May 1884. One of them is a Paysage empty of any character, 65 x 79 cm, on which he sets up the theoretical elements of its composition. The second is a full version 70 x 104 cm, scaled as one third of the size of the final work. The other sketch is a study for the couple in the foreground.
Unlike the Bathing in Asnières, the colors are dull, with too much space provided to the shadows in the foreground. Signac will succeed in convincing Seurat that the brightest lights bring a much better effect to the divisionist technique, but for Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte, which will be finished in 1886, it is already too late.
The preparatory Paysage was sold for $ 35M by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999.
1885 A Summer with Seurat
2018 SOLD for $ 34M including premium
Georges Seurat wants his art to be for social criticism. He blames the Impressionist techniques for being emotional and not strict enough. He begins in 1884 a demonstration painting in very large size 208 x 308 cm : Un dimanche après-midi à l'Ile de la Grande Jatte.
Everything is important but everything is mingled. An image with rising lines and warm colors will look optimistic. The Grande Jatte will have to be chilling, with an invading shadow in the foreground and stiff figures symbolizing the aberrations of the bourgeoisie.
The young artist is receptive to ideas about the balance of colors. Chevreul's psychophysiological observations that the vision of a pure color is accompanied by the perception of a halo of its complementary color convince him that the composition of the colors of a painting must not slavishly follow the nature.
Seurat spends the summer 1885 at the seaside, in Grandcamp, on the advice of Signac who also invites him to take an interest in intense lights. Seurat then tests with marine views his interpretation of Chevreul's theories, developing his new technique of dividing colors by horizontal brush strokes that will soon become dots. He names that practice the chromo-luminarisme.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 18 La Rade de Grandcamp, oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm on the rather happy theme of a regatta of horizontally aligned white sails.
The achievement of the Grandcamp series pleases him. Back in his studio, he retouches the Grande Jatte by reducing chromatic variations and by introducing the pointillism. When this work is completed in 1886, it triggers the inevitable break with the Impressionnistes. Only Fénéon is convinced. In 1887 Fénéon coins the neo-Impressionist wording to try showing that Seurat's art is not an opposition to Impressionism but another step on the path to a new art.
Passionate about his theories, Seurat retouched his artworks. Rade de Grandcamp is perhaps the only example left in its original state from his very first experiences in complementary color techniques.
Everything is important but everything is mingled. An image with rising lines and warm colors will look optimistic. The Grande Jatte will have to be chilling, with an invading shadow in the foreground and stiff figures symbolizing the aberrations of the bourgeoisie.
The young artist is receptive to ideas about the balance of colors. Chevreul's psychophysiological observations that the vision of a pure color is accompanied by the perception of a halo of its complementary color convince him that the composition of the colors of a painting must not slavishly follow the nature.
Seurat spends the summer 1885 at the seaside, in Grandcamp, on the advice of Signac who also invites him to take an interest in intense lights. Seurat then tests with marine views his interpretation of Chevreul's theories, developing his new technique of dividing colors by horizontal brush strokes that will soon become dots. He names that practice the chromo-luminarisme.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 18 La Rade de Grandcamp, oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm on the rather happy theme of a regatta of horizontally aligned white sails.
The achievement of the Grandcamp series pleases him. Back in his studio, he retouches the Grande Jatte by reducing chromatic variations and by introducing the pointillism. When this work is completed in 1886, it triggers the inevitable break with the Impressionnistes. Only Fénéon is convinced. In 1887 Fénéon coins the neo-Impressionist wording to try showing that Seurat's art is not an opposition to Impressionism but another step on the path to a new art.
Passionate about his theories, Seurat retouched his artworks. Rade de Grandcamp is perhaps the only example left in its original state from his very first experiences in complementary color techniques.
#AuctionUpdate Georges Seurat’s ‘La rade de Grandcamp (Le port de Grandcamp)’ auctions for $34,062,500. https://t.co/Dvt3rbsVQ1 pic.twitter.com/2OZswikdNo
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 9, 2018
1932 The Phryne of Modern Art
2011 SOLD 25.2 M£ including premium
The very young Marie-Thérèse Walter was a beauty. Picasso, who had met her by chance in a Paris street, was dazzled by her body and face.
Pablo was married and waited five years before turning into art his passion for Marie-Thérèse. The art market has already twice acknowledged these portraits made in 1932 as major works of modern art and masterpieces of eroticism.
The beautiful blonde was at once voluptuous and innocent, and Pablo loved to see her in her sleep. She is naked and lying asleep next to the image of her carved bust, in the painting sold for $ 106.5 million including premium at Christie's on May 4, 2010.
Lightly dressed, she dozes in an armchair in the painting titled Le Rêve (The Dream), 130 x 97 cm. Steve Wynn wanted it to become the world's most expensive artwork, but the transaction foreseen at $ 139M was set aside when he accidentally damaged the canvas in October 2006.
La Lecture (The Reading), oil on panel 65 x 51 cm, has a composition similar to the Dream. Marie-Thérèse, a little more undressed, forgets the book on her lap and sleeps chastely and candidly, her head turned upward. The same sinuous lines surround the head and body, getting a remarkable realism by a geometric drawing of great simplicity, as shown in the illustration of the press release shared by Artdaily. The solid colors are close to a Matisse or a Léger.
Estimated £ 12M, La Lecture is for sale on February 8 in London by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
La Lecture takes its deserved place among the masterpieces of Picasso. This painting was sold £ 25.2 million including premium, well above the estimate.
Pablo was married and waited five years before turning into art his passion for Marie-Thérèse. The art market has already twice acknowledged these portraits made in 1932 as major works of modern art and masterpieces of eroticism.
The beautiful blonde was at once voluptuous and innocent, and Pablo loved to see her in her sleep. She is naked and lying asleep next to the image of her carved bust, in the painting sold for $ 106.5 million including premium at Christie's on May 4, 2010.
Lightly dressed, she dozes in an armchair in the painting titled Le Rêve (The Dream), 130 x 97 cm. Steve Wynn wanted it to become the world's most expensive artwork, but the transaction foreseen at $ 139M was set aside when he accidentally damaged the canvas in October 2006.
La Lecture (The Reading), oil on panel 65 x 51 cm, has a composition similar to the Dream. Marie-Thérèse, a little more undressed, forgets the book on her lap and sleeps chastely and candidly, her head turned upward. The same sinuous lines surround the head and body, getting a remarkable realism by a geometric drawing of great simplicity, as shown in the illustration of the press release shared by Artdaily. The solid colors are close to a Matisse or a Léger.
Estimated £ 12M, La Lecture is for sale on February 8 in London by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
La Lecture takes its deserved place among the masterpieces of Picasso. This painting was sold £ 25.2 million including premium, well above the estimate.
1932 An Epic Rescue
2014 SOLD 31.5 M$ including premium
On May 7 in New York, Sotheby's sells an enigmatic painting by Picasso, estimated $ 14M, lot 24 in the catalog. Titled Le Sauvetage, this oil on canvas 97 x 130 cm made in November 1932 is the ultimate piece in a small series that Picasso explained. But must we ever believe what artists say, especially when they have the wit and humor of Pablo ?
Pablo is madly in love with Marie-Thérèse but could not spend the summer vacation with her. The reckless young woman was seriously ill after a swim in a polluted river. The announced inspiration for Le Sauvetage is a mixing between this tragedy and the happy days of an erotic summer in Dinard a few years earlier.
The composition juxtaposes pleasure and tragedy, by staging a group of young women similar to the ideal image of Marie-Thérèse in all roles: player, swimmer, drowned, lifesaver, rescued. Without any man.
This work was born from the rivalry of Picasso with Matisse who was at the same time preparing for Barnes the huge mural triptych La Danse II. It is not a coincidence that the bodies of Matisse's dancers and of Picasso's bathers are similarly contorted.
Nudes painted by Matisse in La Danse II are decorative and stylized but not at all anecdotal. Picasso wants to stay at the forefront of artistic expression and adds a narrative and even philosophical effect by this opposition between life and death.
If we consider in Le Sauvetage the variety of occupations and the desire for drama, we may state that this bizarre painting is as an epic precursor to Guernica.
POST SALE COMMENT
Picasso fans loved the unusual style and the narrative theme of this painting, sold for $ 31.5 million including premium.
Pablo is madly in love with Marie-Thérèse but could not spend the summer vacation with her. The reckless young woman was seriously ill after a swim in a polluted river. The announced inspiration for Le Sauvetage is a mixing between this tragedy and the happy days of an erotic summer in Dinard a few years earlier.
The composition juxtaposes pleasure and tragedy, by staging a group of young women similar to the ideal image of Marie-Thérèse in all roles: player, swimmer, drowned, lifesaver, rescued. Without any man.
This work was born from the rivalry of Picasso with Matisse who was at the same time preparing for Barnes the huge mural triptych La Danse II. It is not a coincidence that the bodies of Matisse's dancers and of Picasso's bathers are similarly contorted.
Nudes painted by Matisse in La Danse II are decorative and stylized but not at all anecdotal. Picasso wants to stay at the forefront of artistic expression and adds a narrative and even philosophical effect by this opposition between life and death.
If we consider in Le Sauvetage the variety of occupations and the desire for drama, we may state that this bizarre painting is as an epic precursor to Guernica.
POST SALE COMMENT
Picasso fans loved the unusual style and the narrative theme of this painting, sold for $ 31.5 million including premium.
1962 Lemon Marilyn by Warhol
2007 SOLD for $ 28M by Christie's
The series of twelve single Marilyn 51 x 41 cm are made with a single screen printing over acrylic paints of various colors. Two of these paintings are monochromatic. They are the precursors of the global imaging desired by Warhol.
The White Marilyn was sold for $ 41M by Christie's on May 13, 2014. The Lemon Marilyn was sold for $ 28M by Christie's on May 18, 2007, lot 18. The Orange Marilyn was sold for $ 16.3M by Christie's on November 15, 2006, lot 32.
The White Marilyn was sold for $ 41M by Christie's on May 13, 2014. The Lemon Marilyn was sold for $ 28M by Christie's on May 18, 2007, lot 18. The Orange Marilyn was sold for $ 16.3M by Christie's on November 15, 2006, lot 32.
1963 Double Elvis by Warhol
2021 SOLD for $ 37M by Sotheby's
An Elvis 2 Times 207 x 180 cm in silkscreen ink and paint was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 4. The silver paint of the background provides a high reflectivity. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The catalogue includes a photo in period featuring the actress Jean Seberg, aged 25, nicely playing a terror in front of two double Elvis's in Warhol's studio, including the piece narrated above.
The catalogue includes a photo in period featuring the actress Jean Seberg, aged 25, nicely playing a terror in front of two double Elvis's in Warhol's studio, including the piece narrated above.
1963 Early Colored Liz by WARHOL
1
# 3
2014 SOLD for $ 31.5M including premium
Andy Warhol has built much of his initial fame with a single image of Marilyn and a single image of Liz, taken from magazines. They however did not have the same role in the development of his business.
The first Marilyns from 1962 are experimental. Andy's idea is to mix the techniques of acrylic and silkscreen. He makes his hand in a variety of processes, dimensions and positioning of the image that is sometimes already multiplied in juxtaposition on a single canvas.
The Liz selected during the summer of 1963 opens the use of paint for a multiple reproduction with fixed dimensions. She is first seen on a background of silver painting, referring to the movie screens. A first pass of screen printing provides a mark for the colors: pink skin, red mouth, turquoise eye shadows. A second screen printing brings the deep black lines and hair.
In November 1963, Andy is preparing an exhibition of 101 x 101 cm Liz's which will be similar excepted the background color. The paintings used in this exhibition are numbered from 1 to 6. Seven additional specimens were not numbered. The series is identified as the Early Colored Liz.
In the following year, Andy uses his Liz in printed editions, again with backgrounds from various colors.
The Early Colored Liz number 5 on turquoise background was sold for $ 27M including premium by Phillips de Pury on May 12, 2011. The number 1 in a too bright yellow settled at $ 20.3M including premium on November 13, 2013 at Sotheby's (sold). An unnumbered turquoise was sold for $ 23.5M including premium at Christie's on November 13, 2007.
The Early Colored Liz number 3 with green background will be sold on November 11 by Sotheby's in New York, lot 27.
The first Marilyns from 1962 are experimental. Andy's idea is to mix the techniques of acrylic and silkscreen. He makes his hand in a variety of processes, dimensions and positioning of the image that is sometimes already multiplied in juxtaposition on a single canvas.
The Liz selected during the summer of 1963 opens the use of paint for a multiple reproduction with fixed dimensions. She is first seen on a background of silver painting, referring to the movie screens. A first pass of screen printing provides a mark for the colors: pink skin, red mouth, turquoise eye shadows. A second screen printing brings the deep black lines and hair.
In November 1963, Andy is preparing an exhibition of 101 x 101 cm Liz's which will be similar excepted the background color. The paintings used in this exhibition are numbered from 1 to 6. Seven additional specimens were not numbered. The series is identified as the Early Colored Liz.
In the following year, Andy uses his Liz in printed editions, again with backgrounds from various colors.
The Early Colored Liz number 5 on turquoise background was sold for $ 27M including premium by Phillips de Pury on May 12, 2011. The number 1 in a too bright yellow settled at $ 20.3M including premium on November 13, 2013 at Sotheby's (sold). An unnumbered turquoise was sold for $ 23.5M including premium at Christie's on November 13, 2007.
The Early Colored Liz number 3 with green background will be sold on November 11 by Sotheby's in New York, lot 27.
2
# 5
2011 SOLD for $ 27M by Phillips de Pury
Liz Taylor died on March 23, 2011. The next day Phillips de Pury announced in a press release that her portrait by Warhol will be included in their contemporary art auction on May 12, 2011. Of course the negotiations with the seller had taken place before the death of the actress, but the media effect was very strong. It was sold for $ 27M.
This number 5 is the turquoise example from the group of six prepared for an exhibition at the end of 1963.
Unfortunately for her, Liz was sickly. Warhol used an expressionist technique for paying tribute to his idol. The violet contour of the eyes up to the eyebrows, the too dark red lips accentuate the appearance of pale face. The turquoise background of this serial number 5 has a chilling effect.
This number 5 is the turquoise example from the group of six prepared for an exhibition at the end of 1963.
Unfortunately for her, Liz was sickly. Warhol used an expressionist technique for paying tribute to his idol. The violet contour of the eyes up to the eyebrows, the too dark red lips accentuate the appearance of pale face. The turquoise background of this serial number 5 has a chilling effect.
1964 Study for a Self Portrait by Bacon
2012 SOLD for £ 21.5M by Christie's
Francis Bacon went deep into the artistic study of confusion between human beings.
Indeed Picasso did it before him, drawing in a single face the lines of loved women. When he mixes himself with one of his companions, Francis reaches an extreme level of questioning the mankind.
On June 27, 2012, Christie's sold for £ 21.5M a Study for a self-portrait painted in 1964 by Francis Bacon, 152 x 140 cm, lot 25. Please watch the film shared on the web by Christie's Multimedia.
A man sits in an empty room.
The analysis of this painting by the auction house shows that the head, very distorted, belongs to Francis as suggested by the title. The rest of the body displays the more massive features of Lucian Freud, from a photograph by John Deakin.
This surprising discovery is all the more plausible because 1964 was a very good year for the relations between the two artists. The portrait triptych of Lucian by Francis was sold £ 23M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011.
Indeed Picasso did it before him, drawing in a single face the lines of loved women. When he mixes himself with one of his companions, Francis reaches an extreme level of questioning the mankind.
On June 27, 2012, Christie's sold for £ 21.5M a Study for a self-portrait painted in 1964 by Francis Bacon, 152 x 140 cm, lot 25. Please watch the film shared on the web by Christie's Multimedia.
A man sits in an empty room.
The analysis of this painting by the auction house shows that the head, very distorted, belongs to Francis as suggested by the title. The rest of the body displays the more massive features of Lucian Freud, from a photograph by John Deakin.
This surprising discovery is all the more plausible because 1964 was a very good year for the relations between the two artists. The portrait triptych of Lucian by Francis was sold £ 23M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011.
1982 Yellow Tar and Feathers by Basquiat
2013 SOLD for $ 26M by Sotheby's
After his artistic experience in Modena in the spring of 1981, Basquiat returned under New York influence. His temporary installation in Annina Nosei's basement begins in September.
The activism against the humiliating living conditions of African Americans is gradually becoming his major theme. Pollo Frito, inspired by slavery in the Southern States, is included in the exhibition at the Nosei Gallery in March-April 1982. It was sold for $ 25.7M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2018.
Basquiat leaves immediately afterward for Los Angeles. He has lots of ideas, works fast, and is decidedly inspired by California. This opportunity allows him to experiment with the more complex techniques of mixed media.
The exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles with the support of Nosei in April-May 1982 already includes his first masterpieces of this new phase, including two works forming pendants on the theme of tar and feathers.
The two works have no title defined by the artist and are identified by their dominant color : Yellow Tar and Feathers, and Black Tar and Feathers. With a narrative intention that follows the Pollo Frito, the artist separates each work into two registers. He no longer uses canvas but wood on which he can at will paste photocopies of drawings and stick ugly masses of feathers in the paint.
The yellow version, 245 x 230 cm, was sold for $ 26M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013, lot 10. As in the Pollo Frito, it incorporates a lot of subtleties, some of which are only identifiable by insiders.
At the left of the upper register, a misshapen bag bears the inscription TAR just beside a lynching, the other type of abject abuse traditionally inflicted on Negroes. A little further on, one of the three characters has the head of Harry Geldzahler, the white guru of this modern New York art that Basquiat has just fled.
The activism against the humiliating living conditions of African Americans is gradually becoming his major theme. Pollo Frito, inspired by slavery in the Southern States, is included in the exhibition at the Nosei Gallery in March-April 1982. It was sold for $ 25.7M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2018.
Basquiat leaves immediately afterward for Los Angeles. He has lots of ideas, works fast, and is decidedly inspired by California. This opportunity allows him to experiment with the more complex techniques of mixed media.
The exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles with the support of Nosei in April-May 1982 already includes his first masterpieces of this new phase, including two works forming pendants on the theme of tar and feathers.
The two works have no title defined by the artist and are identified by their dominant color : Yellow Tar and Feathers, and Black Tar and Feathers. With a narrative intention that follows the Pollo Frito, the artist separates each work into two registers. He no longer uses canvas but wood on which he can at will paste photocopies of drawings and stick ugly masses of feathers in the paint.
The yellow version, 245 x 230 cm, was sold for $ 26M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013, lot 10. As in the Pollo Frito, it incorporates a lot of subtleties, some of which are only identifiable by insiders.
At the left of the upper register, a misshapen bag bears the inscription TAR just beside a lynching, the other type of abject abuse traditionally inflicted on Negroes. A little further on, one of the three characters has the head of Harry Geldzahler, the white guru of this modern New York art that Basquiat has just fled.
