On 28 June, Christie's kick-started the London Marquee Week with the 20th/21st century evening sale. Two works by Claude Monet, Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume and Nymphéas, temps gris, tied for the top spot – both sold for £30.05 million (US$36.8 million) to the same buyer with paddle number 907. Amongst 61 lots offered, 6 were unsold – which achieved a sale rate of 90 per cent and a sale total of £180 million (US$250 million) with fees. The total hammer price came to £153 million, surpassing the low end of the pre-sale estimate by £20 million. 22 lots were backed by a guarantee ahead of the sale to ensure it would sell – including the top three lots. In the end, all three works elicited active biddings across the saleroom, selling above the third-party guaranteed price. Monet's Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume was hammered down at £26 million
Lot 34 | Claude Monet | Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume, Oil on canvas Created in 1899-1904 65.2 x 100.7 cm Provenance (Amended by The Value):
Estimate: £22,000,000 – 32,000,000 Hammer Price: £26,000,000 Sold: £30,059,000 (around US$36.8 million)
Portraying the Thames through a sunlit haze, Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume is from Monet’s celebrated series known as the Vues du Londres (Views of London). The auctioneer, Jussi Pylkkänen, started the bidding at £14 million. In steady US£2 million increments, the hammer was dropped at £26 million and fetched £30.05 million (US$36.8 million) after fees, going to the telephone bidder with paddle number 907. Last year at Christie’s New York, another Waterloo Bridge, effet de brouillard of the same size garnered US$48.4 million. While last May, Le Parlement, soleil couchant set a record for the Vues du Londres (Views of London) series at US$75.9 million, again at Christie’s New York.
Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume sold to telephone bidder with paddle number 907 The landmark series started in 1899, when Monet was captivated by the unique fog-cloaked vistas of London. He then visited the city twice in 1900 and 1901 to produce almost a hundred of canvases focusing on the play of light across the Thames through three principal subjects – Charing Cross Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, and Waterloo Bridge. Comprising 41 views, each subtly different from the next, 26 of the Waterloo Bridge paintings are now held in renowned museum collections across the world – including Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo – leaving only 15 in private hands.
Claude Monet's particularly fond of the fog-cloaked vistas of London
London’s weather condition is notoriously capricious – the slightest breath of wind over the river could modify the scene in a matter of seconds, causing a shift in the density of the mist or fog. As a result, Monet had to work on multiple canvases at a time, moving from painting to painting to record the landscape that transformed before his eyes. In a letter to his second wife Alice, he revealed how challenging the painting process was: ‘Today was a day of terrible struggle, and it will be the same until the day I leave. I needed more canvases, as the only way of achieving something is to start new ones for [the different] kinds of weather.’
The Waterloo Bridge accross the Thames Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume, portraying the Thames through a sunlit haze
In Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume Monet captures an early morning view, where the entire scenery is enveloped in a soft layer of mist. Under the beaming light of the rising sun, the river drifted gentle ripples, sparkling a golden yellow amidst the delicately-hued soft lilacs and powdery blues – altogether the Thames becomes poetic and ethereal. Completed in 1904, Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume was first purchased by the French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in the following year. Changing hands for several times, it was eventually purchased by Arde Bulova, chairman of the US watch company Bulova in 1951 and passed down through the family. For the past ten years, the work has been on loan to Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland. Waterloo Bridge, effet de brouillard | sold for US$48.4 million in May 2021 at Christie's New York
Le Parlement, soleil couchant | sold for US$75.9 million in May 2022 at Christie's New York
Lot 38 | Claude Monet | Nymphéas, temps gris, Oil on canvas Created in 1907 100.2 x 73.2 cm Provenance:
Estimate: £20,000,000 – 30,000,000 Hammer Price: £26,000,000 Sold: £30,059,000 (US$36.8 million)
The present lot was acquired by the same buyer of Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume. Started at £15 million, it attracted at least three interested bidders on the telephone. A total of 17 bids propelled the artwork to the hammer price of £26 million. After fees, it was also sold for £30.05 million (US$36.8 million). Nymphéas, temps gris last went under the hammer in 2006, when it was sold for US$11.2 million. The result last night was an over threefold increase in 16 years. Nymphéas, temps gris also sold to the client with paddle number 907 The peak of a lifetime’s study of nature, Monet’s Nymphéas (Water Lillies) series are among the most important works of not only the artist’s oeuvre, but of the Impressionist era. Painted in 1907, Nymphéas, temps gris is one of a small series where Monet employed a vertical format to depict the famed lily pond at his garden in Giverny, northern France. Of the 15 vertical Nymphéas of 1907, eight are now held in museum collections including the Artizon Museum, Tokyo and Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris. Water Lily Pond (1907) | The Artizon Museum, Tokyo Water Lilies (1907) | Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
In the 1890s, Monet moved to rural Giverny with his family and purchased a land near his property, intending to build something ‘for the pleasure of the eye and also for the purpose of having subjects to paint.’ The result was the now world-renowned ‘Giverny Garden’. He tore the existing kitchen garden up and began cultivating his own garden, adding a Japanese-style footbridge and a free-form pond. Around the pond was filled with weeping willows, iris, trees and other seasonal flowers. Today's ‘Giverny Garden’
During the last 30 years of Monet's life, the artist immersed himself in his horticultural oasis to draw the water landscapes. These works replaced the varied contemporary subjects he had painted in his early artistic career with two celebrated subjects: Japanese bridge and water lilies. In more than 250 canvases, Monet captured the changing images of the water lilies and their reflections on the pond at all hours of morning, day and evening. While the early paintings in the series encompass a larger scenery including the plants, bridge and the horizon, he gradually moved his focus closer to the surface of the water, experimenting with the transitory effects of sunlight on it. In this Nymphéas, temps gris, Monet chooses to depict the mirror of water under a late afternoon light. With a vertical format, the Impressionist Master skilfully portrays both the reflections of light on the surface of his beloved pond, and the changing hues in its depths.
Lot 31 | Yves Klein | Anthropométrie de l’époque bleue, (ANT 124) (Anthropometry of the Blue Period), (ANT 124)), Dry pigment and synthetic resin on paper laid down on canvas Created in 1960 154.5 x 317 cm Provenance:
Estimate on request (expected to fetch £24 million in the region) Hammer Price: £23,500,000 Sold: £27,197,000 (US$33.3 million)
Coming to the auction block for the first time, Yves Klein's Anthropométrie de l’époque bleue, (ANT 124) was the third most expensive lot of the sale. The lot opened at £17 million. With 9 bids, it achieved a hammer price of £23.5 million and garnered £27.1 million (US$33.3 million) with fees – exceeding the pre-sale expection by the auction house. Measuring 154.5 by 317cm, the present lot is one of a handful of large-scale works from Yves Klein's Anthropométries series to remain in private hands. His Anthropométries painting was last seen at auction two years ago, when Untitled Anthropometry (ANT 132), measuring 150 by 96 cm – much smaller than the present lot, was sold for £6.7 million (around US$8.2 million) at Sotheby’s London. Yves Klein is known for his International Klein Blue (IKB) Untitled Anthropometry (ANT 132), sold for £6.7 million at Sotheby’s London
Yves Klein is a leading figure in the European Post-War art world, pioneering in the development of performance art as well as minimal art and pop art. His Anthropométries series – named after the study of sizes and proportions in physiology – began with his invention of a deep blue hue which he patented and named International Klein Blue (IKB). In his early twenties, Klein began drawing monochrome paintings with all kinds of shades. In 1955, he planned to present an orange monochrome painting for a grand exhibition in Paris. To his surprise, the organizers turned him down, saying a single color is not enough to constitute a painting. Klein, however, continued undeterred. He developed a new blue formula that included ultramarine, from which he created a series of blue monochrome paintings. The color was met with widespread acclaim and has made profound impact on not only the art world, but also the fashion industry up to the present.
Klein covered the female model with IKB paint
How the imprints on the painting were made
In these Anthropométries paintings, the artist abandoned the traditional approach of paint application, and instead invited naked female models as “living paintbrushes” to imprint his IKB paint onto paper or canvases. Painted in 1960, Anthropométrie de l’époque bleue, (ANT 124) represents an early instance of this newly-discovered technique. Just weeks after the present painting was created, Klein staged a revolutionary performance of the same title at the Galerie Internationale d’Art Contemporain in Paris, where he was to create these paintings in front of a live audience.
Other Highlight Lots: Lot 40 | René Magritte | Souvenir de voyage, Oil on canvas Created circa 1962-1963 41.1 x 33.3 cm Provenance:
Estimate: £5,000,000 - 7,000,000 Hammer Price: £13,800,000 Sold: £16,090,500 (US$19.7 million)
Lot 30 | Jeff Koons | Balloon Monkey (Magenta), Mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent colour coating Created in 2006-2013 Provenance:
Estimate: £6,000,000 - 10,000,000 Hammer Price: £8,600,000 Sold: £10,136,500 (US$12.4 million)
Lot 37 | Jean-Michel Basquiat | Untitled (Self Portrait), Oilstick and ink on paper Created in 1982 75.9 x 55.9 cm Provenance:
Estimate: £4,000,000 - 6,000,000 Hammer Price: £6,700,000 Sold: £7,961,000 (US$9.7 million)
Lot 33 | Barbara Hepworth | Hollow Form with White Interior, Nigerian guarea wood with white paint Created in 1963 98 x 81 x 43.2 cm Provenance:
Estimate: £4,000,000 - 6,000,000 Hammer Price: £4,800,000 Sold: £5,785,500 (US$7.09 million)
Lot 57 | Alexander Calder | Red, White, and Blacks, Hanging mobile-sheet metal, wire and paint Created in 1957 109.2 x 205.7 x 27.9cm Provenance (Amended by The Value):
Estimate: £1,800,000 - 2,500,000 Hammer Price: £2,600,000 Sold: £3,162,000 (around US$3.8 million)
Lot 44 | Pablo Picasso | Femme s'essuyant les pieds (Françoise), Oil and sgraffito on canvas Created in Vallauris on 30 March 1953 46 x 33 cm Provenance:
Estimate: £1,500,000 - 2,500,000 Hammer Price: £1,650,000 Sold: £2,022,000 (around US$2.4 million)
Lot 45 | Ernie Barnes | Main Street Pool Hall, Oil on canvas Created in 1978 60.3 x 121.9 cm Provenance (Amended by The Value):
Estimate: £80,000 - 120,000 Hammer Price: £1,200,000 Sold: £1,482,000 (US$1.8 million)
Lot 21 | Simone Leigh | Untitled V (Anatomy of Architecture series), Terracotta, porcelain, manganese, 14k gold luster, raffia, india ink and epoxy Created in 2016 63.5 x 52.1 x 48.3 cm Provenance:
Estimate: £300,000 - 500,000 Hammer Price: £575,000 Sold: £724,500 (US$888,962)
Lot 25 | Anna Weyant | Ingrid With Flowers, Oil on canvas Created in 2020 101.6 x 76.2 cm Provenance:
Estimate: £150,000 - 200,000 Hammer Price: £320,000 Sold: £403,200 (US$494,726)
Lot 26｜Lucy Bull | No More Blue Tomorrows, Oil on linen Created in 2018 106.7 x 106.7 cm Provenance:
Estimate: £60,000 - 80,000 Hammer Price: £220,000 Sold: £277,200 (US$340,124)
Auction Details: Auction House: Christie's London Sale: 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale Date: 28 June 2022 Number of lots: 61 Sold: 55 Unsold: 6 Sale Rate: 90% Sale Total: £180,973,400 (around US$220 million)