STOCKHOLM.- Christie’s announces a portrait by Anders Zorn, Cecile, Mathilde and Pierre May in their Apartment on the Avenue Hoche, Paris, will be on public display at Christie’s Stockholm on 16 September 2019. It will then travel to New York, where the painting will be one of the highlights of the European Art auction, taking place on 28 October. The work has previously only been once shown in Sweden, when it was lent to the exhibition Porträtt av Anders Zorn which took place at the Zorn Museum in Mora, during the summer of 1990. In the same year, Christie’s established the world auction record price for the artist at US$2.8 million, which stood until 2010, when surpassed for the first and only time.

Though formally trained at the Academy, Zorn became the foremost Impressionist in 19th century Scandinavian painting and one of the most sought-after portraitists of the Gilded Age. The portrait has an auction estimate of $300,000-500,000 and is a highlight of the curated Part I auction of 19th century European masterworks.

In 1888, Zorn moved to Paris and began establishing a reputation that would propel him to new heights of fame within the art world. Through his patron Ernest Cassel, Zorn was introduced to the May family who commissioned Cecile, Mathilde and Pierre May in their Apartment on the Avenue Hoche, Paris.

Christie’s Deborah Coy, Head of European Art, states: “The portrait is a magnificent example of both Zorn’s bravura, Impressionist-inspired brushwork and his skill at capturing his sitters elegantly placed within their milieu. Zorn’s watercolors are a brilliant example of why he was one of the most celebrated artists in the world in his time.”

The two girls pictured, Mathilde and Cécile, who were 18 and 17 respectively at the time of the portrait, are reading in the foreground at a scalloped-edged table topped with books. Their brother Pierre is also reading, and while he is not as central within the portrait as his sisters, Zorn is still able to capture the distinctive and individual nature of his features. In this portrait, as in many of his watercolors, Zorn demonstrates his mastery of a complex and unforgiving medium. He creates magnificent effects, and unlike many artists is able to produce compositions in watercolor which are as nuanced as his oils.

The acclaimed exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris, Anders Zorn, le maître de la peinture suédoise, in 2017 showcased the work for the last time publicly.

Christie’s Sweden was the first Scandinavia office established in 1972 and today our operation is led by Claire Åhman and Louise Dyhlén.

Claire Åhman started her career at Christie’s in 1999, when she joined the Old Master Pictures & 19th Century Art Department in London she oversaw the running and management of the department as Head of Old Master Paintings at Christie’s South Kensington from 2007 to 2014. In 2014, Claire moved to Stockholm, joining Louise Dyhlén in representing Christie’s in Sweden.

Louise Dyhlén holds a Masters in Art History from Södertörns Högskola in Stockholm and joined Christie’s in January 2014 after having worked as an art advisor in Sweden since 2007, as well as at Stockholm’s Auktionsverk AB, the oldest auction house in Sweden, who are holding today the world auction record price for a painting by Anders Zorn.