Art Moderne

The cover lot of this sale is Dancer by Gino Severini dating from the winter of 1914–15, the most sought-after period of the artist’s œuvre, which has remained in the same French family for a century. A favourite subject of the artist, dance was a rare theme among the futurists, who were more often fascinated by machines. Among the other masterpieces from this sale is an oil on canvas by Miró painted shortly after his first trip to Japan. Its vertical format, reminiscent of Japanese scroll paintings, and its dark black drawing evoking Eastern ideograms, show a strong Japanese influence. Two important works by Max Ernst will also be offered: Coquillages, which belongs to a series realised in the 1920s in which the artist experimented with a new technique which he called ‘grattage’, and La Palette, an introspective painting dating from 1953, the year he won the Grand Prize at the Venice Biennale. The sale also features several pieces by Picasso: the top lot of the sale, an oil on canvas, Mother and Child, painted in 1965; 23 silver plates in repoussé silver; and a vase decorated with an owl and a faun, a unique piece kept by the artist until his death and one of his most original forms.