PARIS.- On 28 June, the 20/21 London to Paris sale series returns after the huge success of previous editions. Celebrating the cultural dialogue between Paris and London, the season offers a broad selection of 20th and 21st century art, including exceptional collections and remarkable masterpieces.

Etienne Sallon and Joséphine Wanecq, Heads of Sale: “For this new edition of the 20/21 London to Paris sale series, we are very pleased to be able to present a strong selection of artists who have left their mark on the 20th and 21st centuries that include Yves Klein, Jean Paul Riopelle, Kazuo Shiraga, and Pierre Soulages. With the last edition in June 2021 reaching nearly €200m in sales, we are confident about the importance and appeal that the two capitals represent in the international contemporary art landscape”.

PARIS EVENING SALE – 28 JUNE

Yves Klein’s Cosmogonie sans titre, (COS31) (1960, estimate: €2,500,000–€3,500,000) will lead the 20th / 21st Century: Paris Evening Sale, which directly follows the two Evening Sales in London. This rare piece by Klein was originally in the collection of the artist's godfather and adorned the walls of the apartment located at Quai d'Orsay, which was decorated by Alberto Pinto. Created in 1960, it brings together two of the painter's major series, the Cosmogonies and the Anthropométries. The sale will feature a second rare piece by Yves Klein, Sculpture Éponge rose sans titre, (SE 207) (€1,600,000–€2,200,000), one of only seven pink sponges ever made by the artist. Yves Klein’s work is also presented in the Le Grand Style sale, taking place in Paris on 30 June.

The 20th / 21st Century: Paris Evening Sale will also feature the remarkable work of the only artist to have exhibited at the Louvre in his lifetime since Picasso: Pierre Soulages. Two complementary works are included; the first is a monumental canvas by the artist, Peinture 143 x 202cm., 4 décember 1970 (€1,500,000–€2,000,000) from the important European collection The Eclectic Eye. The second, Peinture 54.5 x 38 cm., 27 novembre 1956 (€600,000–€800,000) is a canvas that encapsulates the full force and maturity of the artist's painting in the late 1950s.

Echoing the major retrospective currently on view at the Fondation Louis Vuitton to celebrate the centenary of his birth, the sale includes a seminal work by Simon Hantaï. The double canvas presents a Tabula on the front and an Étude on the back (€350,000–€550,000) and will be exhibited to the public for the first time in 15 years.




Gotthard Graubner’s historical canvas, Sans titre (Farbraumkörper) (1978-88, estimate: €300,000–€500,000) bears witness to the extremely sensitive and complex plastic research that the artist undertook at the turn of the 1970s.

Marc Chagall, Robert Delaunay, Francis Picabia, Jean Paul Riopelle, Jean Hélion and Zao Wou-Ki will also be included in the 20th / 21st Century: London Evening Sale. A rediscovered work by the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Arcade house with yellow tower from 1953 (€250,000–€350,000), was the subject of an exchange between the artist and the American sculptor Shinkichi Tajiri and has in his family for more than 60 years.

POST WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART DAY SALE, PARIS – 29 JUNE

Abstract art will for a dedicated section with five works by Hans Hartung, including T1962-E, an acrylic on canvas painted in 1962 (ill. opposite, €200,000–€300,000) which will lead the sale. These are presented alongside two paintings by Martin Barré from the 1950s; (Sans titre, 1956, €150,000–€200,000 and 58-40-III, 1958, €100,000–€150,000). Olivier Debré’s Nature morte verte clair (€70,000–€100,000) is a vibrant abstract oil painting in green tones dating from 1957. Two further works by Olivier Debré are offered; Ocre Rouge (1971, estimate: EUR 25,000 – EUR 35,000) and Signe personnage foncé (1968, estimate: EUR 40,000 – EUR 60,000).

The sale also includes two works by Jean Paul Riopelle from the Jacques Dubourg collection dating from 1962; Retourner la marmite Doek and Sans titre (€80,000–€120,000 and €150,000–€200,000). A strong work by Karel Appel, Têtes dans la tempête, dated 1957 (€140,000–€190,000) will also highlight the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale.

Six works by Robert Combas, including the monumental canvas Maurice le Génie Béjart le Malabar (€70,000–€100,000), illustrate the artist's colourful, figurative universe and is sold in aid of the Prix de Lausanne on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. Rubiks Mosaic by street artist Invader (€35,000–€55,000), known for his urban mosaics scattered around the world, and Spanish artist Edgar Plans, whose work Eat your peak form a key element of the contemporary section of the sale.

Germaine Richier’s L’échiquier (petit modèle) represents a chessboard and five pawns, combining surrealist figures with animals in an imagined universe (estimate €180,000–€250,000). Two iconic blue sculptures by Yves Klein, Victoire de Samothrace [Victory of Samothrace] (€70,000–€100,000) and L’Esclave mourant d’après Michel-Ange (€40,000–€60,000), stand alongside a Rosine by César (€50,000–€70,000) and an emblematic Running Nana by Niki de Saint Phalle (€150,000–€200,000).

Proceeds from the sale of selected lots offered in London (within the First Open online auction) and Paris will be donated to Art for Tropical Forests, a foundation committed to the protection and conservation of tropical forests. Five works from the Paris day sale are part of this charity section, including Yi Ding’s Appearance of Crosses 2019-B11 (€25,000–€30,000).