Still Life Works from Impressionist & Modern & Surrealist Art

Georges Braque, Marguerites sur une caisse, 1946.
Estimate: £1,000,000–1,500,000.

The subject of the still-life was central to Braque's artistic vision and appears throughout his œuvre in many guises, from his early Cubist paintings to the large-scale oils of the 1940s and 1950s. Painted in 1946, Marguerites sur une caisse is a striking example of the artist's mature style; vividly coloured in greens and yellows, with highlights of ochre and orange among the flowers, it illustrates Braque’s continued use of the still-life motif as means of exploring 'tactile' space.

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
28 February 2018 | London

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André Derain, Nature morte, 1901.
Estimate £250,000—300,000.

Nature morte was most likely painted in the wake of the artist’s formative encounter with fellow artist Maurice de Vlaminck, which took place on 18th June 1900.The midnight blue jug stands at the centre of the still life, drawing the viewer's eye to the heart of the composition through the use of chiaroscuro in contrast to the light blue foreground and swathe of bold yellow pigment at the upper left.

Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale
1 March 2018 | London

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Juan Gris, Siphon et verre, 1916.
Estimate: £500,000–700,000.

Considered one of the leaders of the Cubist movement, Juan Gris created his Siphon et verre in the midst of World War I, just when Cubism was at the high point of its 'synthetic' pictorial reconstruction. No longer satisfied with collage, Gris translated all of his constructive ideas through his draughtsmanship, relying upon convincing pictorial recreations of patterns and texture to convey the assembled appearance of papier collés.

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
28 February 2018 | London

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Marc Chagall, Vase de fleurs, couple et coq, 1957.
Estimate: £600,000–800,000.

The subject of colourful bouquets of flowers fascinated Chagall since the late 1920s, and was endlessly explored throughout his career. The artist was first struck by the charm of flowers in Toulon in 1924; he later claimed that he had not known of flowers in Russia, and they came to represent France for him. In Vase de fleurs, couple et coq a bouquet of red and white flowers in a vase looms large on a table top. Surrounded by a table, chair and a fruit bowl, the flowers rise from a domestic interior to an outdoor night-time setting, with the bright crescent moon and a couple flying on a large cockerel.

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
28 February 2018 | London

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Marc Chagall, Le Village Bleu.
Estimate: 1,500,000—2,500,000.

Colour was always central to Chagall's art and it took on a new significance in the years after the Second World War when he settled in the small town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Like many artists before him, he was captivated by the unique intensity of light and colour that he found on France's Mediterranean coast.

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
28 February 2018 | London

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Vincent van Gogh, recto: Couple Walking and Still Life: Can, Books, Wineglass, Bread and Arum, verso: Sketch of Two Women, 1890.
Estimate: £120,000–180,000.

In this double-sided work, Van Gogh’s varied use of indicative pencil strokes and choice of subject matter make the drawing a fascinating glimpse into his creative process. "What is drawing" Van Gogh asked in an 1882 letter to his brother Theo, "How does one get there? It is working one's way through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. How can one get through that wall – since hammering on it doesn't help at all? In my view, one must undermine the wall and grind through it slowly and patiently" (quoted in Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten & Nienke Bakker, Vincent van Gogh: The Letters, The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition, London, 2009, vol. III, no. 274).

Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale
1 March 2018 | London

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Alexej von Jawlensky, Hyazinthentöpfe (Hyacinth Pots), 1902.
Estimate: £180,000—250,000.

Hyazinthentöpfe is an exceptional example of Alexej von Jawlensky's ability to transform traditional subject matter, such as a still life, into self-expression.

Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale
1 March 2018 | London

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Pablo Picasso, Pomme et verre, 1923.
Estimate: £450,000–650,000.

Steeped in art-historical tradition of genre painting, Picasso repeatedly returned to still life as a theme and continued to develop the subject throughout his artistic career continuing to examine a new, modern approach to this genre. "The still life was the genre which Picasso would eventually explore more exhaustively and develop more imaginatively than any other artist in history" (John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, New York, 1991, vol. l, p. 441).

Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale
1 March 2018 | London

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Théo van Rysselberghe, Faux-poivriers et abutilon, 1913.
Estimate: £70,000–100,000.

Théo van Rysselberghe was a founding member of the avant-garde group Les XX in 1884. They were among the first admirers and adherents of Neo-Impressionism, which rejected the spontaneity of Impressionist painting and favoured instead a methodical application of paint governed by the scientific principles of colour theory. Faux-poivriers et abutilon is an exceptional example of the artist's command over his medium.

Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale
1 March 2018 | London

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René Magritte, Le coup au cœur, 1956.
Estimate: £500,000–700,000.

Le coup au cœur was Magritte's solution to what he called 'the problem of the rose'. The contradiction between the sweetness and softness of the rose and the cruel sharpness of its thorns is a paradox that intrigued him, and he sought to underline it by augmenting the rose's natural weapon – its thorn – with an actual weapon – a dagger.

Surrealist Art Evening Sale
28 February 2018 | London

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Amédée Ozenfant, Nature morte puriste, 1922.
Estimate: £30,000–40,000.

Executed in 1922, Nature morte puriste is a tightly structured, architectural still-life composition, in which Ozenfant’s Purism finds its most poised expression. Purism derived its basis from the deconstructive elements of Cubism but emphasised a perfectionist, refined aesthetic based on mathematical order, purity and logic, perhaps reflective of the communal desire for a return to order after the turmoil of World War I. This is expressed in the present work, in which the components of the still-life composition are reduced to their purest geometric forms and are explored using a pared-down palette.

Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale
1 March 2018 | London

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