Paul Gauguin
Nature morte à L’Espérance
Painted in 1901
estimate: £7 million to £10 million
Important still life by Gauguin at auction ‘Nature morte à L’Espérance’, an historically important still life painted by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) in 1901 while he was living in Tahiti, is the highlight of the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Auction at Christie’s, London, 9 February 2011]]>
January 11, 2011, source: Christie’s
The work has been exhibited at over 20 major museum exhibitions including the artist’s first landmark Retrospective at the Grand Palais, Paris, in 1906. It is expected to realise £7 million to £10 million.
The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale will offer 46 lots with a total pre-sale value of £54,680,000 to £80,960,000. Led by the Gauguin, the auction will also include works by other leading artists of the field including Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Edgar Degas and Fernand Léger, among others.
Nature morte à “L’Espérance” by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was executed in 1901 and is one of four paintings of sunflowers painted by the artist in that year as a tribute to his friend and fellow artistic pioneer Vincent van Gogh. The work was shown at the artist’s first landmark Retrospective in 1906, and has subsequently featured in over 20 major Museum exhibitions at, among other places, MOMA, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, Tate London and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It has been unseen in public since 1989.
‘Bateaux à Collioure’ by André Derain (1880-1954) was painted in 1905, and is from a pivotal, early moment of the Fauve movement. Executed in Collioure where the artist was painting alongside his great champion Henri Matisse, it is an exceptionally vibrant work that has been in the collection of the present owner since circa 1960 and was last seen in public in 1965 (estimate: £4 million to £6 million).
The auction will offer 4 works to be sold by the Art Institute of Chicago led by ‘Nature morte à la guitare’ (rideaux rouge), 1938, by Georges Braque (1882-1963) (estimate: £3.5 million to £5.5 million). This painting was formerly in the possession of the celebrated collectors Mr. and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, the parents of Mrs. Brody who owned Pablo Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust which sold at Christie’s New York in May 2010 for $106.5 million – a world record price for any work of art sold at auction. The other paintings offered by the Art Institute of Chicago are Sur l’impériale traversant la Seine, an early painting executed in Paris by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) in 1901 (estimate: £2 million to £3 million); Femme au fauteuil, 1919, a striking portrait by Henri Matisse (estimate: £1 million to £1.5 million); and Verre et pipe, 1919, a cubist jewel by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).
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