Reality & Surreality: A 20th Century Dialogue

Masterworks from a Distinguished European Collection

In Reality and Surreality: A 20th Century Dialogue Christie’s presents 24 outstanding Modern and Surrealist works whose revolutionary approach to picture- and image-making is matched by the depth and imagination of their collector. It includes three exceptional paintings by Joan Miró — two from the late 1930s, reflecting his angst at the deteriorating political situation in Spain, and a further masterpiece L'oiseau au plumage déployé vole vers l'arbre argenté, celebrating his post-war success though a return to buoyant fantasy.

Further highlights include Les deux filles, one of only five known double portraits by Amedeo Modigliani and one of only two not in a major public collection, and Alberto Giacometti’s Femme de Venise V, from the celebrated series created especially for the French Pavilion at the 1956 and crucial in establishing his reputation as the most important sculptor of the post-war era.

We also present the most extraordinary and extensive group of works by René Magritte to come to auction in recent years, with eight pictures bearing some of the artist’s key motifs and led by the magnificently conceived, eerie Les compagnons de la peur, where sprouting plants transfigure into owls, or vice versa.

The collection is completed by a selection of works by post-war artists to be offered in the London Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day sales on 11–12 February 2015.

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