Throughout the rich tapestry of modern art, the classical genres of still life, landscape, portraiture, and sculpture underwent profound transformations which reflect the continual evolution of artistic practice and the vibrant pulse of the 19th and 20th-century cultural phenomena. Still life arrangements transformed into planes of pure formal experimentation. Landscape paintings departed from realistic simulacrum, embracing a more expressive and emotional use of color and brushwork. Portraits, once primarily commissioned, evolved into tributes of love and friendship, as well as explorations of self-identity. Sculptures, freed from conventional materials and methods, took on innovative abstract forms. Below, trace the progression of these genres through highlights of the Modern Day Auction.

An Enduring Evolution

From elegant figures strolling through sun-drenched parks to energetic city scenes, artists in both the European and American traditions sought to capture the bustle of life in the modern era.

Le Bon Ton

With its hazy café-concerts, rollicking circus domes and ornate opera houses, fin de siècle Paris offered its artistic community ample inspiration. Once the sun went down, the city became abuzz with performance and spectacle, with artists across generations flocking to its theatrical establishments, sketchbooks in hand.

Stage and Spectacle

Historically, many of the most influential female artists of the 20th century have been presented within the context of their male associates – relatives, lovers, or otherwise. Not only are these women responsible for pushing the boundaries of modern art in the their own right, but they also often deeply influenced the work of their male counterparts. This season, we are most honored to present outstanding works by female artists like Camille Claudel, Blanche Hoschedé-Monet, and Frida Kahlo, recognizing these artists as innovators and true masters of their craft.

Where Recognition is Due

The Gelman Collection is the most remarkable holding of Mexican Modernism in private hands. The lifelong passion project of Jacques and Natasha Gelman, the couple embarked on their collecting journey shortly after they were married in Mexico in 1941 and continued until Natasha’s death in 1998. As Jacques, a producer of Mexican cinema, grew his fortune in the 1940s, the couple acquired exceptional works by renowned Mexican artists such as María Izquierdo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Rufino Tamayo, Ángel Zárraga and of course, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Their legacy is defined by a commitment to advancing the global appreciation of Mexican Modernism, and their remarkable lending practices have left an indelible mark on the international understanding of Mexican art and culture. Equally testament to the Gelmans’ collecting vision and connoisseurship, Jacques and Natasha also assembled an outstanding collection of European Modernism: their holdings were so significant that when their European works were bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1998, it constituted the largest single gift in the Museum's history. Their world class collection of both Mexican and European Modernism places it among the most important private collections of 20th century art ever assembled. The Gelmans’ commitment to showcasing their collection through hundreds of exhibitions worldwide - from Asia to Oceania, Europe to North and South America - has not only enhanced the artists' international acclaim but has also established these individual paintings as icons within the artists' oeuvres. The Gelmans were devoted to continuing this tradition of lending after their death: in 1993, Mrs. Gelman wrote a Mexican will that transferred ownership of their Mexican art collection to Robert Littman, an American curator who was a close adviser and friend in the last years of her life. Littman subsequently established the Vergel Foundation to oversee the collection and facilitate loans to museums across the globe.

Collecting Modern Mexico

Jacques & Natasha Gelman: Collecting Modern Mexico

At the 100th anniversary of André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto, themes explored by the global movement have impacted creative production across continents. Here, discover the diverse selection of Surrealist works across the Modern Day Auction.

Surrealism at 100

Collective Hallucination: Surrealism at 100

From to Heilbrunn, Germany to Hollywood, California, browse the holdings of distinguished collectors who assembled the very best of 19th and 20th-century art.

Visionary Collectors

New York

VP | Head of Modern Day Auction

Julia Leveille

SVP | Head of Auctions, Modern & Contemporary Art, Americas

Scott Niichel

SVP | Senior Specialist

Frances Asquith

Associate Specialist, Impressionist & Modern Art

Zoë Zaneteas

Cataloguer, Impressionist & Modern Art

Rachel Hansen

Ellis Anderson

SVP | Head of Sotheby’s Collectors Group, Senior International Specialist 

Peter Kloman

AVP | Specialist

Caroline Seabolt

Associate Specialist

Katie Maher

Senior Vice President | Head of Latin American Art, Americas

Anna Di Stasi

Assistant Vice President | Specialist, Latin American Art

Emily Nice

Associate Cataloguer, Latin American Art

Isabel Rubio-Topete

Pre-Sale Experience Coordinator, Impressionist & Modern Art

Carolina Conzelman

Post Sale Manager | Impressionist & Modern Art

Mary Sullivan

Meet our Specialists

Session 1

Session 2

Highlighted by rare examples of work by Charles Angrand and Camille Claudel, vibrant canvasses by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Marc Chagall, exceptional works of American illustration by Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish, and Latin American masterworks from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, Sotheby’s Modern Day Auction draws together a century of paintings, drawings and sculpture from across Europe and the Americas to showcase the best of Impressionism through to mid-twentieth-century modern art.

Modern Day Auction