Kandinsky to lead Christie’s London sale, June 2013

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
Studie zu Improvisation 3, 1909
Estimate: £12-16 million

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
Studie für improvisation 8, 1909
Sold for $23,042,500 in November 2012

Kandinsky to lead Christie’s London sale, June 2013 Wassily Kandinsky’s Expressionist masterpiece ‘Studie zu Improvisation 3’, 1909 (estimate: £12-16 million) will be the highlight of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in London, June 2013.]]>

June 3, 2013, source: Christie’s

Building on the strength of Christie’s vibrant New York sales of Impressionist & Modern Art in May – which welcomed bidders from 30 countries, selling 94% by lot and 90% by value – the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London will take place on Tuesday 18 June. With estimates ranging from £180,000 up to £16 million, the pre-sale estimate is £52,830,000 to £75,800,000.

The auction is led by Wassily Kandinsky’s rare Expressionist masterpiece “Studie zu Improvisation 3”, 1909 (estimate: £12-16 million). With the majority of works from Kandinsky’s ‘Improvisation’ series in major institutions – including the final version of this work which is in the Centre George Pompidou, Paris – this painting provides international collectors with a very exciting opportunity, following Christie’s landmark sale of Studie für Improvisation 8, 1909, which set a record for the artist at auction in November 2012, selling for $23million.

Offered for the first time at auction, “La tige de la fleur rouge pousse vers la lune (The Stem of the Red Flower Grows Toward the Moon)” by Joan Miró (1893-1983) was painted in 1952, a pivotal year in the artist’s oeuvre when he created some of his most revolutionary and acclaimed pictures (estimate: £5.2 – 7million). “Paul Guillaume”, 1916, by Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) is the only one of four portraits that the artist painted of the art dealer – who represented him between 1914 and 1916 – which is in private hands (estimate: £5-7million). Painted in December 1960, “Femme assise dans un fauteuil” by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is one of a group of portraits of his partner Jacqueline Roque – only a few months before their marriage – created after Picasso’s purchase of the Château de Vauvenargues (estimate: £4-6 million)

Related content

Kandinsky’s ‘Studie für improvisation 8’ at Christie’s (news, August 2012)