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Showing posts from February, 2017

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale Sotheby’s 1 March 2017: Klimt, Picasso, Gauguin & Modigliani

D Gustav Klimt, Bauerngarten (Blumengarten), oil on canvas, painted in 1907 (Estimate upon request)  Among the finest works by Gustav Klimt ever to come to auction, Bauerngarten was painted during the golden years of Klimt’s career and was a highlight of the critically acclaimed Painting the Modern Garden exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London last year. This profoundly beautiful work is to be offered at auction for the first time in over two decades, set to lead Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London on 1 March 2017.  KLIMT’S GOLDEN YEARS  While Klimt is largely revered for his opulent, symbol-laden portraits of the Viennese bourgeoisie, these works were just one aspect of his artistic expression. It is, arguably, in his landscapes, that he found the freedom to express himself, and to experiment, more freely. His landscapes, therefore, not only represent an important and highly personal facet of his career, but are also critical to our apprec

Sotheby’s London, 1 March 2017 Surrealist Art Evening Sale

Salvador Dalí Moment de transition oil on canvas Painted in 1934. Estimate: £6,000,000-8,000,000  A rare masterpiece from the crucial decade in which Dalí was creating his most famous imagery,  Moment de transition is one of only a handful of works of this calibre that have appeared at auction in the last decade.  Transforming images were a pivotal subject of Dalí’s art in the 1930s, as he used his inventive powers to undermine reality. The visual instability provoked by the experience of misreading a given object or configuration could be both a source of pleasure and disquiet. Moment de transition is a magnificent example of Dalí’s exploration of illusory perceptions within haunted landscapes – in this case a Catalan landscape with a horse-drawn cart approaching a small, distant town. However, at closer observation, the wheels of the cart are no more than two sticks stuck in the ground, and the rider is revealed to be one of the buildings in the