Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002)
These lots have been imported from outside the EU … Read more
Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002)

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Details
Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002)
En marche
signed 'riopelle' (lower right)
oil on canvas
18 1/8 x 24in. (46 x 61cm.)
Painted circa 1957
Provenance
Galerie Jacques Dubourg, Paris.
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired in 1958).
Private Collection, Basel (acquired from the above in 1958).
Private Collection, Basel (thence by descent from the above).
Acquired from the above by the present owner.
Special Notice
These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Lot Essay

‘In a conversation I had with him not long ago, I was struck principally by his sensitivity to things natural, to cold, to heat, and to the resulting connection--unconscious no doubt--between the execution of his paintings and, for example, the seasons. This great shower of vivid reds, of fresh greens, of bright yellows bursting in all directions, like the vegetative explosion that marks the return of warm weather, was actually painted in the spring, and probably because it was spring; it was during one of our gloomy Parisian winters, however, that he created this melancholy symphony of grey, black and livid whites that is so in tune with the unpleasant season from which it likely sprang. Linked, as they are, to life and nature, how could his paintings be other than alive? Especially since they embody the abstract mode to perfection.’ BERNARD DORIVAL

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