PARIS.- Christie's France will present its Modern Art auction on 22 October during the FIAC, featuring nearly 150 works. Amongst a choice selection, major works will be offered, notably from the Collection of an exceptional art lover who plunges us, with intelligence and elegance, into the heart of 20th century modern art. It brings together the most refined examples of the most sought-after names of the 20th century, such as Miro, Braque, Léger, Giacometti, Kandinsky, Klee, Brauner, Dubuffet, Calder, Ernst, Michaux, etc. This collection is estimated at between 1.7 and 2.5 million euros.

Valérie Didier, specialist in charge of the sale : "What a pleasure it is to organise a sale at a time when Paris is coming to the fore again with the effervescent return of fairs, exhibitions, sales, etc., and also that of collectors after two years of difficult circumstances. We have assembled a large number of masterpieces in this sale of 22 October, the core of which is this important group of 15 works - real 'jewels' - by leading artists. Collectors are sure to be attracted by this colourful and emotionally rich diversity of works.”

The highlight of the sale, from the collection of an exceptional collector, is a superb Paysage Animé by Fernand Léger, estimated at €700,000-900,000. With its graphic construction and colourful palette, this landscape exudes an almost surreal atmosphere - a concept that defines this homogeneous group of works in its pronounced taste for anthropormorphic forms. No less spectacular is Joan Miró's Femme, which through its forms echoes the artist's own visual poetry (estimate: €300,000-500,000). Also from this collection is a paper collage by Georges Braque at the very beginning of the cubist paper collage adventure, La bouteille de Marc (€250,000-350,000). Finally, lovers of Victor Brauner, to whom the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris has devoted a retrospective in 2020, will have a choice of four works by the artist, including this beautiful canvas that was on the retrospective's walls, L'étreinte, €150,000- 250,000.

The sale will also feature works by the precursors of modern art: a beautiful pastel by Odilon Redon, combining the strength of the colours with the delicacy of the pastel (€120,000-180,000). A bucolic vision of Fleurs du potager of Grand-Lemps’ garden by Pierre Bonnard (200,000-300,000€) or a beautiful view of the garden of Collettes by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, through which the painter deploys his entire palette, and invites the viewer to enter the landscape (120,000-180,000€). Also worth mentioning is a watercolour by Wassily Kandinsky, Von Dünn zu Dicht, in which the red circle and graphic lines that punctuate the work embody the artistic research and theories that mobilised the artist during the last years of the Bauhaus (€120,000-180,000).

To represent the turn of the century and embody the great avant-garde movements of the early 20th century, major artists will be highlighted, such as the painter Othon Friesz, who offers here a 1907 Fauvist landscape of La Ciotat, La baie du bec de l'aigle (estimate: €120,000-180,000). Collectors should also be seduced by an impressive pergola glistening with warm colours painted by Henri Martin, Jeune fille traiteant une chèvre sous une des pergola de Marquayrol, (€150,000-250,000) or a beautiful child portrait, Kind Mit Gestütztem Kopf, by Alexej von Jawlensky. The softness of the child's posture and the palette of blue and red create a moving and intimate world (€200,000-300,000).

Finally, the sale will feature a selection of works that closely border on contemporary art, including a magnificent gouache by Marc Chagall dating from the eve of the Second World War, a still life, Corbeille au soleil, estimated at €150,000-250,000. An invitation to rediscover the summer atmosphere through a playful bathing scene full of colours by Kees van Dongen (200,000-300,00€), or the portrait of a very cheerful clown on an orange background, an icon of the work of Bernard Buffet (300,000-500,000€).

In parallel to the FIAC week sales, Christie's has the honour of selling a unique and intimate group of 46 works by Balthus from the collection of Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, the artist's son. This is an online sale that will be open for bidding from 15 to 26 October 2021.