ZURICH.- Works by the most celebrated artists of the Modern era will be offered in the 6 December auction: Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and Cézanne and Renoir are among the modern masters represented. "Nymphs" by Henri Matisse is an entrancing charcoal drawing from circa 1945 (lot 3241, CHF 120,000/180,000). Here the artist takes up a theme that permeated his work throughout his career, and his creative process is visible in the partially effaced traces of the underlying charcoal strokes. In "Bol, boîte à lait et bouteille" (lot 3225, CHF 300,000/500,000), Paul Cézanne experiments with the shifts in perspectives that made him a pioneer of modern art for many later artists. Still lifes by Cezanne are rare on the market: in the past ten years, only 13 have come to auction.

Pablo Picasso's coloured chalk and felt-tip pen drawing "Trois personnages" is dated twice: begun on 11 July 1966, he reworked the image eleven days later. By indicating both dates, Picasso marks the importance of both stages of the work, even though days and not years had separated them (lot 3256, CHF 280,000/350,000). Several works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir will be featured in the 6 December auction, including a charming closeup of roses (lot 3246, CHF 120,000/160,000). Marc Chagall is represented by a classically mystical work, "Repos sur coq et chevauchée au village rouge", 1975-78 (lot 3249, CHF 120,000/180,000).

The Swiss Art auction on 6 December features the last version of Albert Anker's "Town Clerk" still in on the market (lot 3013, CHF 600,000/900,000), one of the artist's best-known subjects. The sale also includes two particularly interesting works by an artist in the process of being rediscovered, Peter Robert Berri. Originally a physician by training, Berri was encouraged by Giovanni Segantini and Giovanni Giacometti to follow his artistic vocation, and he produced masterful views of the Swiss Grisons, such as the two works offered here ("Lej de Suvretta" and "Piz Julier", lots 3041 and 3074, CHF 60,000/100,000 and CHF 50,000/80,000).

Giovanni Giacometti is represented by several works in the 6 December auction, including a view of the Monte del Forno in the Bregaglia Range (lot 3047, CHF 80,000/120,000) and a forest landscape painted in 1908, the same year that Giacometti exhibited with the Expressionist group "Die Brücke" in Dresden (lot 3054, CHF 80,000/120,000). Works by both Segantinis, father and son, are featured in this auction, with Giovanni Segantini's "L'ultima fatica del giorno" (The day's last chore), 1884-86 (lot 3033, CHF 150,000/250,000), and a view by his son Giovanni Segantini of their native Maloja entitled "Paesaggio paradisiaco (Idyllic landscape)", 1920 (lot 3066, CHF 100,000/150,000).

The PostWar & Contemporary Art and Prints & Multiples sales on 7 December will include four works by Art Brut artist Jean Dubuffet. "Site avec 5 personnages", 1981 (lot 3444, CHF 160,000/240,000) typifies the period in which Dubuffet reintegrated his early work into his late production: using the colourful palette of the 1960s, he painted with an expressive brush stroke and created cell-like landscapes with figures in a child-like style. Two equally colour-saturated works by Karel Appel will be offered, "Don't Bother", 1963 (lot 3430, CHF 100,000/200,000) and "Cochon avec femme", 1971 (lot 3429, CHF 40,000/60,000). Op-Art artist Victor Vasarely is also represented by two classic paintings: "Kezdi-Rsz", 1966-1974 (lot 3494, CHF 90,000/140,000) and "AR. NY-II", 1983 (lot 3497, CHF 70,000/90,000).

Among the Contemporary works is a wooden sculpture (Untitled (wooden ball), 2010) from activist artist Ai Weiwei's "Divina Proportione" series, inspired by drawings by Leonardo da Vinci (lot 3466, CHF 90,000/140,000). Stephan Balkenhol's installation "Man with green shirt and domino relief", 2007, employs shifts in proportion with his characteristic deadpan humour (lot 3517, CHF 50,000/70,000). Two colour screenprints enhanced with diamond dust by Andy Warhol will be offered in the Prints & Multiples sale on 7 December: "Superman", 1981 (lot 3709, CHF 120,000/180,000) and "The New Spirit", 1985 (lot 3708, CHF 24,000/28,000), alongside another pop icon, Robert Indiana's "The Book of Love", 1996, a portfolio containing 12 colour screenprints of the famous LOVE logo in various colour combinations (lot 3716, CHF 80,000/140,000).