This year’s November Evening Auction brings together the titans of Impressionism–master painters like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot and Camille Pissarro whose pioneering studies of light and atmospheric depictions broke with academic standards and helped define fin-de-siècle Paris.

Impressionist Masters

Sotheby’s November 2023 Modern Evening Auction unites exceptional works by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Henri Laurens that tell the story of Cubism.

The Cubist Spirit

From Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Joan Miró to Philip Guston and Hedda Sterne, these artists have pushed the boundaries of abstraction and image in ways that are wholly modern. Through myriad modes of expression, the artists working in abstraction over several decades defied convention and redefined the very notion of artistic creation.

Origins of Abstraction

The use of interior and exterior spaces to denote psychological or spiritual states is a hallmark of Modern art. Artists like Balthus and René Magritte use domestic scenes with uncanny or unfamiliar elements to produce enigmatic and disquieting atmospheres, while Henri Matisse and Richard Diebenkorn utilize the enclosed spaces to experiment with planar perspective and coloration. In contrast, Marc Chagall uses the metaphorical freedom of outdoor spaces to explore spiritual and emotional symbolism.

Interior/Exterior

Sotheby’s is proud to present an exceptional trio of paintings by artists working in Mexico and the United States at the midcentury.&nbsp;

Earthly & Cosmic Journeys

Sotheby’s is honored to present Mark Rothko’s luminous Untitled from the collection of Pitt and Barbara Hyde, offered to benefit the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Held in this collection for nearly 20 years, Rothko’s 1968 work on paper is a quintessential example of the artist’s famed bands of color, distinguished by its exceptionally radiant blue and green palette, and a fitting masterwork to benefit the aims of the Museum.

Property from the Collection of Pitt and Barbara Hyde

Sold to Benefit the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

Compotier et guitare 

New York

The Modern Evening Auction will present artworks that capture the spirit of artists working around the globe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who dared to challenge established norms of artistic practice to create a new and wholly modern vision of art. Tracing the historic throughlines and cross-continental dialogues between artists working across Impressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, and Abstract Expressionism, the Modern sale will spotlight these critical developments of the last 100 years. Sale Number: N11162

Head of Modern Evening Auction

Allegra Bettini

Vice Chairman, Head of Impressionist &amp; Modern Art

Julian Dawes

SVP | Head of Contemporary Art, Co-Head of Marquee Sales, Americas

David Galperin

SVP | Head of Latin American Art, Americas

Anna Di Stasi

AVP | Impressionist & Modern Art

Sara Land

AVP | Latin American Art

Emily Nice

Specialist, Contemporary Art

Kelsey Macpherson

Associate Cataloguer, Impressionist and Modern Art

Genevieve Richardson

SVP | Global Head of Research, Impressionist and Modern Art

Edith Eustis

Meet our Specialists

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The Modern Evening Auction presents works that capture innovative pursuits of artists across the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Impressionism through Abstract Expressionism. Highlighting the innovations of the avant-garde, the Modern Evening Auction spotlights masterworks by the greatest artists of the modern era that define art history as we know it today including Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Balthus, Mark Rothko and Philip Guston.