Tabletop
See also : Flowers Bouquet Art on paper Music and dance France Cézanne Matisse Van Gogh Spain II Spain III Picasso 1907-1931 Koons
Chronology : 19th century 1880-1889 1888 1890-1899 1890 1903 1914 1915 1931 2000-2009
Chronology : 19th century 1880-1889 1888 1890-1899 1890 1903 1914 1915 1931 2000-2009
1888-1890 The Movements of the Tablecloth
2019 SOLD for $ 59M including premium
For Cézanne the work of art is a challenge. The theme is of minor importance since nature can be evoked but is never copied. From the mid-1880s he studies the still life of fruit on a table as a support for his theories of shapes, colors and even movement.
I recently discussed in this column one of the first still lifes of this phase, sold for £ 21M including premium by Christie's on February 27, 2019. The composition seems naively simple until we perceive the imbalance of the plate. The observer awaits the tilting that will roll the fruit onto the table.
The artist will then increase the complexity. Bouilloire et fruits, oil on canvas 49 x 60 cm painted between 1888 and 1890, offers the dynamic contrast between a heavy pot steadily placed on the table and the fruits in a precarious balance in the folds of the tablecloth.
Cézanne reworked each painting tirelessly, seeking a perfection that existed only in his own imagination. Sometimes he stops before it is finished. The handle and the body of the kettle are disjointed. A lemon or an apple that did not suit the artist left some traces without disappearing completely.
It does not matter: the variety of forms and the mingling of the colors that constitute the textures are already satisfactory. Cézanne accepts to sell this unfinished work to a collector.
Bouilloire et fruits was sold for £ 18M including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 1999. This painting is listed as lot 18A by Christie's in New York on May 13. The press release of March 27 announces an estimate in the region of $ 40M. Please watch the very short video shared by the auction house.
Painted in 1893 with a similar inspiration, Rideau, cruchon et compotier, oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 60M including premium by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999. The fruit bowl is not placed on the table.
I recently discussed in this column one of the first still lifes of this phase, sold for £ 21M including premium by Christie's on February 27, 2019. The composition seems naively simple until we perceive the imbalance of the plate. The observer awaits the tilting that will roll the fruit onto the table.
The artist will then increase the complexity. Bouilloire et fruits, oil on canvas 49 x 60 cm painted between 1888 and 1890, offers the dynamic contrast between a heavy pot steadily placed on the table and the fruits in a precarious balance in the folds of the tablecloth.
Cézanne reworked each painting tirelessly, seeking a perfection that existed only in his own imagination. Sometimes he stops before it is finished. The handle and the body of the kettle are disjointed. A lemon or an apple that did not suit the artist left some traces without disappearing completely.
It does not matter: the variety of forms and the mingling of the colors that constitute the textures are already satisfactory. Cézanne accepts to sell this unfinished work to a collector.
Bouilloire et fruits was sold for £ 18M including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 1999. This painting is listed as lot 18A by Christie's in New York on May 13. The press release of March 27 announces an estimate in the region of $ 40M. Please watch the very short video shared by the auction house.
Painted in 1893 with a similar inspiration, Rideau, cruchon et compotier, oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 60M including premium by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999. The fruit bowl is not placed on the table.
Also from The Collection of S.I Newhouse, Cézanne's 'Bouilloire et fruits' realizes $59,295,000 at auction https://t.co/0XESM9gIJx pic.twitter.com/JX9L5TU85u
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 13, 2019
1889-1890 Cézanne playing with Apples
2013 SOLD 42 M$ including premium
Chardin had an innovative interpretation of the still life. He wanted his painting to approach as close as possible to the truth, and brought an extreme care in the texture.
Cézanne plays with apples like an infant with cubes. Fruits are grouped within small uneven piles in which their variety of colors brings an additional appeal. Sometimes a group is interrupted by the frame as if the model was unlimited.
If we consider that the real subject is the painting itself and not the peaceful fruit, Cézanne's apples anticipate abstract art. It puzzles the viewer by its original composition, as if it tried to tell a story or to evoke a feeling, like Kandinsky and Miro later. Each individual element is however realistic like an image by Chardin.
The group of apples for sale at Sotheby's on May 7 in New York is both simple and bold. This oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm painted in 1889-1890 is estimated $ 25M. Here is the link to the catalog.
Sold for $ 60M including premium at Sotheby's on May 10, 1999, another composition, 60 x 73 cm, painted four years later is more ambitious. The folds of the white tablecloth generate a complex interplay of fruit, the pitcher is the referee and the curtain states that the still lifes of Cézanne are indeed dramas.
POST SALE COMMENT
Cezanne's still lifes are the most remarkable modernist advances of their time. This painting was sold $ 42M including premium.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
Cézanne plays with apples like an infant with cubes. Fruits are grouped within small uneven piles in which their variety of colors brings an additional appeal. Sometimes a group is interrupted by the frame as if the model was unlimited.
If we consider that the real subject is the painting itself and not the peaceful fruit, Cézanne's apples anticipate abstract art. It puzzles the viewer by its original composition, as if it tried to tell a story or to evoke a feeling, like Kandinsky and Miro later. Each individual element is however realistic like an image by Chardin.
The group of apples for sale at Sotheby's on May 7 in New York is both simple and bold. This oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm painted in 1889-1890 is estimated $ 25M. Here is the link to the catalog.
Sold for $ 60M including premium at Sotheby's on May 10, 1999, another composition, 60 x 73 cm, painted four years later is more ambitious. The folds of the white tablecloth generate a complex interplay of fruit, the pitcher is the referee and the curtain states that the still lifes of Cézanne are indeed dramas.
POST SALE COMMENT
Cezanne's still lifes are the most remarkable modernist advances of their time. This painting was sold $ 42M including premium.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
1890 Wild Flowers for Dr Gachet
2014 SOLD for $ 62M including premium
After he entered the asylum at Saint-Rémy de Provence in May 1889, the health of Vincent van Gogh did not improve. But they had to look for a solution. Auvers-sur-Oise is a pretty village frequented by artists. His visit is prepared by his brother Theo in consultation with Dr. Gachet.
In May 1890 Vincent moved into a room at the local inn in Auvers. He did not have a studio and regularly attended the home of Gachet, a friend of the Impressionists and Cézanne.
Since he is sick, Vincent is terrorized by the idea of failure and by the risk of a new crisis of dementia. With the energy of despair, he gives a new impetus to his old ambition to become the best painter of all time, the only one capable of a synthesis of all genres. Gachet has a painting by Cézanne showing a bouquet of flowers. Vincent wants to do better.
Spring brings forth the flowers into the fields. On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 66 x 50 cm painted by Vincent on 16 and 17 June 1890, lot 17 estimated $ 30M. Executed in the clear intention to thank Gachet for his help, this artwork shows a vase filled with daisies and poppies.
The composition is powerful and the colors are gorgeous, dominated in the center by the fiery red poppies. The groups of flowers shine like some characters within the ultimate tragedy of Vincent.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
In May 1890 Vincent moved into a room at the local inn in Auvers. He did not have a studio and regularly attended the home of Gachet, a friend of the Impressionists and Cézanne.
Since he is sick, Vincent is terrorized by the idea of failure and by the risk of a new crisis of dementia. With the energy of despair, he gives a new impetus to his old ambition to become the best painter of all time, the only one capable of a synthesis of all genres. Gachet has a painting by Cézanne showing a bouquet of flowers. Vincent wants to do better.
Spring brings forth the flowers into the fields. On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 66 x 50 cm painted by Vincent on 16 and 17 June 1890, lot 17 estimated $ 30M. Executed in the clear intention to thank Gachet for his help, this artwork shows a vase filled with daisies and poppies.
The composition is powerful and the colors are gorgeous, dominated in the center by the fiery red poppies. The groups of flowers shine like some characters within the ultimate tragedy of Vincent.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
1893-1894 Rideau, cruchon et compotier by Cézanne
1999 SOLD 60 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
In 1886 Paul Cézanne inherited from his father. He found comfort in Jas de Bouffan, got married, and began the most experimental phase of his art, which would include the geometric deconstruction of the views of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire and of the still lifes. In his tabletops, he gradually breaks the laws of perspective in order to modify the respective volumes of objects.
Cézanne no longer needs his art to earn a living and does not date his works. The chronology of his still lifes can only be based on the evolution of their complexity. His vision weakened by a diabetes identified in 1890 may have prompted him to seek these new solutions.
He tirelessly changes the position of the same objects, with the same varieties of fruit, seeking the extreme limit of balance. It is only by a very careful inspection that the observer discovers that a dish is not placed on the top of the table but bent over a hidden support.
The crumpled white tablecloth becomes an essential element of the composition, bringing the impression of the imminent fall of the objects and fruits that are placed on it. The arrangements are becoming increasingly complex.
In 1893 or 1894, Cézanne painted two similar compositions, with the same jug and stemcup on the same table, and the same curtain.
Pichet et fruits sur une table is less dramatic because it does not include the tablecloth. The visual confusion is brought by the cup whose real position in relation to the table is not discernible because it is half hidden by the pitcher. This oil on paper 42 x 72 cm was sold for £ 11.8M including premium by Sotheby's on February 3, 2010.
Rideau, cruchon et compotier dangerously distributes the fruits in the folds of the tablecloth. The cup, with a spectacular stacking of fruit, is here hidden behind a rise in the tablecloth. All this will fall to the ground in a few moments. This oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm was sold for $ 60M including premium by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
La Corbeille de pommes, oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm kept at the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrates similar conceptions : the lower part of the cup is hidden by some fruit. Here the very tilted position of the basket is partially explained by a thick wedge whose usefulness in real life is questionable.
Cézanne no longer needs his art to earn a living and does not date his works. The chronology of his still lifes can only be based on the evolution of their complexity. His vision weakened by a diabetes identified in 1890 may have prompted him to seek these new solutions.
He tirelessly changes the position of the same objects, with the same varieties of fruit, seeking the extreme limit of balance. It is only by a very careful inspection that the observer discovers that a dish is not placed on the top of the table but bent over a hidden support.
The crumpled white tablecloth becomes an essential element of the composition, bringing the impression of the imminent fall of the objects and fruits that are placed on it. The arrangements are becoming increasingly complex.
In 1893 or 1894, Cézanne painted two similar compositions, with the same jug and stemcup on the same table, and the same curtain.
Pichet et fruits sur une table is less dramatic because it does not include the tablecloth. The visual confusion is brought by the cup whose real position in relation to the table is not discernible because it is half hidden by the pitcher. This oil on paper 42 x 72 cm was sold for £ 11.8M including premium by Sotheby's on February 3, 2010.
Rideau, cruchon et compotier dangerously distributes the fruits in the folds of the tablecloth. The cup, with a spectacular stacking of fruit, is here hidden behind a rise in the tablecloth. All this will fall to the ground in a few moments. This oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm was sold for $ 60M including premium by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
La Corbeille de pommes, oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm kept at the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrates similar conceptions : the lower part of the cup is hidden by some fruit. Here the very tilted position of the basket is partially explained by a thick wedge whose usefulness in real life is questionable.
1902-1906 Breakfast at Les Lauves
2020 SOLD for $ 28.7M including premium
Paul Cézanne, like the old Dutch masters, uses still life to express light. His workshop at Les Lauves, set up in 1902, is well lit in the morning. The motley objects await on a shelf the role that the master will want to give them. He cannot work by imagination or by spontaneous construction : he chooses in advance the elements of his next assembly and determines distance and perspective.
He is a perfectionist of geometric projection. The paper is flat but the fruits are volumes that the light reaches through their middle. Breakfast utensils, such as a teapot or sugar bowl, are also convex.
The work begins with a drawing of the outlines on a sheet of paper. Each surface is filled with colors that reflect the lighting zones without overlapping. This phase should be intermediate but Cézanne is never satisfied : the finished product, which is oil on canvas, becomes scarce. His rare visitors, like Emile Bernard, are disconcerted by the complexity and slowness of his creative process. His reinterpretation of nature is so innovative that he creates modern art.
On October 6 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 13 a still life in watercolor and gouache made in the largest paper size used by the artist, 48 x 62 cm. The focal point is the green melon, with its bright color and its central position in the image. It is however placed on the other side of the table, partially hidden by the milk jug and the sugar bowl. The press release of August 26 announces an estimate in the region of $ 25M.
A 32 x 48 cm watercolor from the same period was sold for $ 25.5M including premium by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 14M. This close-up still life is focused in similar conditions on a green melon behind a goblet.
He is a perfectionist of geometric projection. The paper is flat but the fruits are volumes that the light reaches through their middle. Breakfast utensils, such as a teapot or sugar bowl, are also convex.
The work begins with a drawing of the outlines on a sheet of paper. Each surface is filled with colors that reflect the lighting zones without overlapping. This phase should be intermediate but Cézanne is never satisfied : the finished product, which is oil on canvas, becomes scarce. His rare visitors, like Emile Bernard, are disconcerted by the complexity and slowness of his creative process. His reinterpretation of nature is so innovative that he creates modern art.
On October 6 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 13 a still life in watercolor and gouache made in the largest paper size used by the artist, 48 x 62 cm. The focal point is the green melon, with its bright color and its central position in the image. It is however placed on the other side of the table, partially hidden by the milk jug and the sugar bowl. The press release of August 26 announces an estimate in the region of $ 25M.
A 32 x 48 cm watercolor from the same period was sold for $ 25.5M including premium by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 14M. This close-up still life is focused in similar conditions on a green melon behind a goblet.
'The greatest Cézanne watercolour to be offered in decades' — #Cézanne's Nature morte avec pot au lait, melon et sucrier from the collection of Edsel & Eleanor Ford House will be offered in the 20th Century Evening Sale on 6 October in New York: https://t.co/gJGcA3KMtr pic.twitter.com/Ss3mrhbAH9
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) August 30, 2020
1911 Les Coucous, tapis bleu et rose by Matisse
2009 SOLD for € 36M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
Born in northern France, Henri Matisse very early visited the local weaving workshops. Throughout his life, he will be a creator of forms on the most varied supports, overlapping figuration and abstraction.
Fauvism is a short but decisive phase during which he experiences the power of pure colors. Seeking exotic solutions, he travels to Algeria in 1906 and spends two months in Spain in 1910 studying Moorish art. At that time, collectors ahead of their time like Shchukin no longer support the traditional separation between art and decoration.
In 1910 in Madrid, Matisse bought in an antique shop a two-tone rug in fairly poor condition, whose arabesques were naturalistic without being identifiable. He was seduced by the expressive force of this anonymous textile, close by chance to the new style that he had developed for La Danse in 1909.
By varying the colors, he uses his rug as a decorative element in several paintings. In L'Atelier rose, oil on canvas 180 x 221 cm painted for Shchukin in 1911, it is spread over the large screen.
Les coucous - tapis bleu et rose, oil on canvas 81 x 66 cm painted in spring 1911, appears as a preparatory work for L'Atelier rose. On the table, the vase of primroses (coucous) is the pretext for this image, but the rug used as a tablecloth is indeed the main theme by its invitation to abstraction. The turquoise wall at the back is enhanced with pink reflections.
Yves Saint-Laurent saw in the image of this fabric a precursor to his own work. This painting which offers a link between two great designers went to be the most expensive lot of the sale of his collection by Christie's on February 23, 2009 : it was sold for € 36M including premium over a lower estimate of € 12M, lot 55.
Fauvism is a short but decisive phase during which he experiences the power of pure colors. Seeking exotic solutions, he travels to Algeria in 1906 and spends two months in Spain in 1910 studying Moorish art. At that time, collectors ahead of their time like Shchukin no longer support the traditional separation between art and decoration.
In 1910 in Madrid, Matisse bought in an antique shop a two-tone rug in fairly poor condition, whose arabesques were naturalistic without being identifiable. He was seduced by the expressive force of this anonymous textile, close by chance to the new style that he had developed for La Danse in 1909.
By varying the colors, he uses his rug as a decorative element in several paintings. In L'Atelier rose, oil on canvas 180 x 221 cm painted for Shchukin in 1911, it is spread over the large screen.
Les coucous - tapis bleu et rose, oil on canvas 81 x 66 cm painted in spring 1911, appears as a preparatory work for L'Atelier rose. On the table, the vase of primroses (coucous) is the pretext for this image, but the rug used as a tablecloth is indeed the main theme by its invitation to abstraction. The turquoise wall at the back is enhanced with pink reflections.
Yves Saint-Laurent saw in the image of this fabric a precursor to his own work. This painting which offers a link between two great designers went to be the most expensive lot of the sale of his collection by Christie's on February 23, 2009 : it was sold for € 36M including premium over a lower estimate of € 12M, lot 55.
1914 Invention of the Mixed Media
2018 SOLD for $ 32M including premium
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.
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 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 2 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 including premium 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 including premium by Christie's on February 4, 2014.
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.
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 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 2 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 including premium 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 including premium 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
1915 Inventory on a Checked Tablecloth
2014 SOLD 35 M£ including premium
The Cubism of Juan Gris experienced a rapid and powerful development. At first, the analysis of forms is deconstructing the figurative subject. The loss of the third dimension leads to collages.
In 1915, the art of Gris suddenly separates from Picasso and Braque. Gris gathers the objects of his everyday life. Arranged on the table, they make up his universe. Outside, in Paris, it is war. His objects are playing to constitute a new theater, like Cézanne's apples or Arcimboldo's vegetables.
In this sense, Gris is a precursor of surrealism. Painted in March 1915, Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux is a complex and colored composition, where the arrangement in a triangle forms a mask over the comforting support of the tabletop. This oil on canvas 116 x 90 cm, is estimated £ 12M, for sale by Christie's in London on February 4.
1915 is the year of the highest creativity for Gris. Staging a lesser variety of objects, two less dreamlike paintings had been discussed earlier in this column.
Livre, pipe et verres, 73 x 91 cm, was sold for $ 21M including premium at Christie's on November 6, 2008. Le Livre, 73 x 60 cm, was sold for £ 10.3 million including premium at Christie's on February 7, 2012 .
POST SALE COMMENT
By its bold composition and vivid colors, this painting is a masterpiece of Cubism. It was sold for £ 35M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's announcing the still life painting of the 2014 sale. The image is shared by Wilimedia.
In 1915, the art of Gris suddenly separates from Picasso and Braque. Gris gathers the objects of his everyday life. Arranged on the table, they make up his universe. Outside, in Paris, it is war. His objects are playing to constitute a new theater, like Cézanne's apples or Arcimboldo's vegetables.
In this sense, Gris is a precursor of surrealism. Painted in March 1915, Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux is a complex and colored composition, where the arrangement in a triangle forms a mask over the comforting support of the tabletop. This oil on canvas 116 x 90 cm, is estimated £ 12M, for sale by Christie's in London on February 4.
1915 is the year of the highest creativity for Gris. Staging a lesser variety of objects, two less dreamlike paintings had been discussed earlier in this column.
Livre, pipe et verres, 73 x 91 cm, was sold for $ 21M including premium at Christie's on November 6, 2008. Le Livre, 73 x 60 cm, was sold for £ 10.3 million including premium at Christie's on February 7, 2012 .
POST SALE COMMENT
By its bold composition and vivid colors, this painting is a masterpiece of Cubism. It was sold for £ 35M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's announcing the still life painting of the 2014 sale. The image is shared by Wilimedia.
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1931 The Forbidden Portrait
2018 SOLD for $ 30M including premium
In 1930 Picasso buys Boisgeloup to install a sculpture workshop where he will not disturb the neighbors and which he will use as a nest of love for his young muse Marie-Thérèse, away from peeping eyes. Their affair is secret and Pablo does not take the risk that Olga identifies the girl by his painted portraits of her. With cubist sculpture based on the proportions of volumes, realism is not obvious.
While he waited to stabilize his situation, we can imagine the feverishness of the artist. La Lampe, oil on canvas 162 x 130 cm, is dated January 21, 1931 and June 8, 1931. It is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 11, lot 22 A.
The theme of the artwork is not the young woman but her bust in white plaster, seen in profile. The stems and leaves of the philodendron create a pattern like a church window which makes even less easy the identification of the model. The oil lamp hanging from an invisible ceiling provides a moon shaped golden light that can be interpreted as the model's ponytail.
In the months that follow, Picasso is emboldened. On March 8, 1932 Marie-Thérèse introduces herself as a nude sleeper amidst the same statue and plant. The profile of the head becomes recognizable. This painting was sold for $ 106M including premium by Christie's on May 4, 2010.
The next day, March 9, 1932, Picasso painted the same sleeper in the Nu au Fauteuil Noir. The philodendron, symbol of vitality, is still there. The bust has been removed : it is no longer useful beside the real model. This painting was sold for $ 45M including premium by Christie's on November 9, 1999.
While he waited to stabilize his situation, we can imagine the feverishness of the artist. La Lampe, oil on canvas 162 x 130 cm, is dated January 21, 1931 and June 8, 1931. It is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 11, lot 22 A.
The theme of the artwork is not the young woman but her bust in white plaster, seen in profile. The stems and leaves of the philodendron create a pattern like a church window which makes even less easy the identification of the model. The oil lamp hanging from an invisible ceiling provides a moon shaped golden light that can be interpreted as the model's ponytail.
In the months that follow, Picasso is emboldened. On March 8, 1932 Marie-Thérèse introduces herself as a nude sleeper amidst the same statue and plant. The profile of the head becomes recognizable. This painting was sold for $ 106M including premium by Christie's on May 4, 2010.
The next day, March 9, 1932, Picasso painted the same sleeper in the Nu au Fauteuil Noir. The philodendron, symbol of vitality, is still there. The bust has been removed : it is no longer useful beside the real model. This painting was sold for $ 45M including premium by Christie's on November 9, 1999.
2004 Three Tons of Tulips by Koons
2012 SOLD 33.7 M$ including premium
The turning point in the work of Jeff Koons is around 1995. After exploiting the stupidity of the contemporary symbols conveyed by the popular imaging, he then began his great series of Celebrations, particularly appreciated now by the market.
The earliest were also the first to be auctioned: balloon flower, hanging heart, diamond. These works of monumental dimensions in stainless steel with a finish of pure color interact with their environment through an intense mirror effect for which the artist seeks perfection. Each model is produced in five variants, each variant in a different color.
Then we saw at auction the Easter eggs with their ribbons. On November 14 in New York, Christie's sells a copy of Tulips, which is an even more complex step in the development of the art of Koons.
The subject, a bouquet of seven flowers placed on a surface, is simple and universally recognizable, like all other themes in the Celebrations. The artwork, completed in 2004, can not go unnoticed: 203 x 457 x 520 cm. It weighs 3 tons. Here is the link to the catalog.
The tulips within the bouquet are of different colors, so that the interaction of their reflections covers the entire spectrum of light. The work was carried out in five copies with different arrangements of colors, extrapolating the logics of the previous Celebrations, and the reflection of the surroundings and of the public remains an essential element of the exhibition of the artwork.
I invite you to play the video featured by Christie's, in which Koons himself introduces this artwork.
POST SALE COMMENT
Koons's art is easy to see, but highly complex to implement. This technological feat was sold $ 33.7 million including premium.
The earliest were also the first to be auctioned: balloon flower, hanging heart, diamond. These works of monumental dimensions in stainless steel with a finish of pure color interact with their environment through an intense mirror effect for which the artist seeks perfection. Each model is produced in five variants, each variant in a different color.
Then we saw at auction the Easter eggs with their ribbons. On November 14 in New York, Christie's sells a copy of Tulips, which is an even more complex step in the development of the art of Koons.
The subject, a bouquet of seven flowers placed on a surface, is simple and universally recognizable, like all other themes in the Celebrations. The artwork, completed in 2004, can not go unnoticed: 203 x 457 x 520 cm. It weighs 3 tons. Here is the link to the catalog.
The tulips within the bouquet are of different colors, so that the interaction of their reflections covers the entire spectrum of light. The work was carried out in five copies with different arrangements of colors, extrapolating the logics of the previous Celebrations, and the reflection of the surroundings and of the public remains an essential element of the exhibition of the artwork.
I invite you to play the video featured by Christie's, in which Koons himself introduces this artwork.
POST SALE COMMENT
Koons's art is easy to see, but highly complex to implement. This technological feat was sold $ 33.7 million including premium.
