Picabia leads the “Surrealism and its Legacy” auction at Sotheby’s

Picabia leads the “Surrealism and its Legacy” auction at Sotheby’s

Francis Picabia — Pavonia — 1929Hans Arp — LO et lU de loiseau — 1928

The €10 million ($11 million) paid for “Pavonia” (1929) is a new auction record for the artist, whose “Nu de de deux” (1940–42) fetched 3.3 million euros.

Images: Francis Picabia, “Pavonia” (1929) ·· Hans Arp, “L’O et l’U de l’oiseau”, 1928

The “Surrealism and its Legacy” auction at Sotheby’s Paris, which fetched a total of €33 million, included 25 works of art by a remarkably heterodox group of artists, ranging from those usually considered a fundamental part of the Surrealist movement (Magritte, Masson, Ernst, etc.) to others whose relationship with Surrealism is rather less direct, such as Lucio Fontana.

Described by Sotheby’s as “one of the most impressive and majestic examples of Picabia’s iconic ‘transparences’”, “Pavonia” surpassed its most optimistic pre-sale estimate (€8 million) to achieve a new record price for the artist, thus also surpassing the prices obtained for other Picabia ‘transparences’, such as “Atrata” (£3.7 million at Sotheby’s London, 2019) “Ligustri” (£3.5 million at Christie’s London, 2020), “Minos” (almost €4 million at Sotheby’s Paris, 2020), and “Adam et Ève” (€1.95 million at Sotheby’s Paris, 2021). “Nu de dos”, a female nude in a more classical style, was auctioned for €3.3 million, barely beating its more conservative pre-sale estimate.

“L’O et l’U de l’oiseau”, an interesting example of the organic minimalism of Hans Arp (1886–1966), one of the most prominent members of the Dada, and then part of the Surrealist movement during the second half of the 1920s, achieved the second highest price of the auction, selling for €3.4 million.

The big surprise of the auction was “Chambre secrète sans serrure” by the Czech artist Toyen (Marie Čermínová, 1902–1980), which sold for €1.5 million, more than double its most optimistic pre-sale estimate, which, coupled with the recent success of Valentine Hugo’s “Portrait of Arthur Rimbaud”, could mean a well-deserved increase in recognition for surrealist painters. The negative note of the auction was “La lumière de la jungle” by Wilfredo Lam (1902–1982), which had a pre-sale estimate of between €2.5 million and €3.5 million, but failed to find a buyer. #2022 #ArtMarket #Sothebys #theartwolf