Claude Monet, Le Palais Ducal, 1908, Estimate £20,000,000–30,000,000
Monet’s spectacular view of the Doge’s Palace on the Grand Canal belongs to the extraordinary series he created in Venice in the autumn of 1908. The closeness of the buildings to the water’s edge allowed Monet to further his experimentations with light that he had practiced in his earlier London Thames paintings. In Le Palais Ducal the rippling surface of the palace’s arched front conveys how Monet sought to capture the impression of light reflecting off the water and liquefying the façade of the ornate Venetian architecture.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Mädchen auf dem Diwan (Girl on a Divan), 1906, Estimate £2,800,000–3,800,000
Painted during a pivotal year in Kirchner’s artistic development, Mädchen auf dem Diwan reflects the inspiration he found in the post-Impressionist painting by Van Gogh, while at the same time pointing to the highly innovative, expressive sensibility that would define the style of Kirchner’s mature art as well as that of Die Brücke.
Alberto Giacometti, Tête de femme (Annette), 1959,
Estimate £1,800,000–2,500,000
Tête de Femme (Annette) is a stunning composition emblematic of the haunting portraits that the artist produced in post-war Paris and captures a sentiment that the artist expressed in a Surrealist prose poem: ‘The human face is as strange to me as a countenance, which, the more one looks at it, the more it closes itself off and escapes by the steps of unknown stairways’ (quoted in Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden & San Francisco, Museum of Art, 1988-89, p. 37).
René Magritte, L'Etoile du matin, 1938, Estimate £3,500,000–4,500,000
L’Etoile du matin depicts a subject unique within Magritte’s œuvre. Inspired by a photograph that was supplied by his friend, the poet Marcel Mariën, it juxtaposes the profile of a Native American with that of his beloved wife Georgette. The painting was acquired shortly after its execution by a renowned Belgian couple who were close friends and patrons of Magritte, and has remained in the same collection to the present day.
Marc Chagall, Vase de roses, 1929, Estimate £1,500,000–2,000,000
After his return to Paris in the 1920s, following nearly a decade-long exile in the Soviet Union, Chagall began painting bouquets of flowers , a subject which he was to explore obsessively throughout his career. The artist was first struck by the charm of flowers in Toulon in 1924 and they came to represent France for him. Chagall would later describe the 1920s as ‘the happiest time of my life’ (quoted in Jackie Wullschlager, Chagall: Love and Exile, London, 2010, p. 333).
Auguste Rodin, Femme accroupie, petit modèle, Estimate £700,000–1,000,000
Conceived in 1881–82 as part of La Porte de l'Enfer – decorative portals that Rodin designed for a new Museum of Decorative Arts, Femme accroupie is one of Rodin's most remarkable sculptures in its complex rendering of human form. Cast during the artist’s life-time, this bronze was acquired directly from Rodin by the British painter Sir Gerald Kelly. Femme accroupie remained in the collection of Kelly, and subsequently of his widow Lady Kelly, for over seven decades.
A magnificent collection of masterpieces highlights Sotheby's upcoming Impressionist and Modern Art Evening sale (26 February | London), including a unique work by Magritte that juxtaposes the profile of a Native American with that of his beloved wife Georgette. Also featured is a charming bouquet of flowers by Chagall, an emotionally complex bronze by Rodin and a spectacular sunlit view of Venice by Monet. Click ahead for more highlights.