150 Years of Impressionism

The Modern Evening Auction will present An Eye for Impressionism: Property from an Important American Estate, including masterpieces of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from Claude Monet’s triumphant return to the Haystack motif, Camille Pissarro’s era-defining Pontoise picture, Pablo Picasso’s daring portrayal of bullfighting and Childe Hassam’s American reinterpretation of the French Impressionist aesthetic, and beyond.

Property from an Important American Estate

An Eye for Impressionism

An Eye for Impressionism: Property from an Important American Estate

This season we are thrilled to present a stellar selection of works by women artists, each of whom was a groundbreaking force in her moment. Highlighted by Leonora Carrington’s masterwork, Les Distractions de Dagobert, the selection is as diverse as the artists themselves. In Les Distractions de Dagobert, images of the divine and the terrestrial, flora and fauna, man and machine, entangle with one another; gleaming deities and fanciful human-animal-plant hybrid creatures engage in impenetrable rituals and joyful exploration. Thrilling paintings by Carrington’s dear friends and conspirators at the cutting-edge of the Surrealist movement, Remedios Varo and Leonor Fini, round out this otherworldly selection. Further offerings in the Modern Evening Auction include a Lake George subject by Georgia O’Keeffe and a relief by Sophie Taeuber-Arp embodying the tenets of the Cercle et Carré and Abstraction-Création movements.

Treacherous Images

Treacherous Images: Women Artists of the Twentieth Century

Sotheby’s May 2024 Modern Evening Auction unites masterworks spanning the history of abstraction in the twentieth century. From the New Bauhaus experimentations of László Moholy-Nagy to the Abstract Expressionist creations of Mark Rothko and Norman Lewis, these works redefined the very notion of artistic creation.

Pioneering Abstraction

Rendered in staccato brushstrokes and vivid hues, explore&nbsp; the iconic French landscape animated at the hand of the Fauvist masters.

Exploring Fauvism: A Revolution of Color

From Magritte’s uncanny pairings of commonplace images to Miró’s monumental assemblage of found objects, the Surrealist works in The Modern Evening Auction surprise the eye and continue to delight upon close investigation.

Surrealism and the Hidden Image

From modernist leaders like Georgia O’Keeffe and Stuart Davis to Impressionist pioneer Childe Hassam, the Modern Evening Auction showcases top examples by America's most distinguished painters.

American Masterworks

New York

The Modern Evening Auction will present artworks that capture the spirit of artists working around the globe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who dared to challenge established norms of artistic practice to create a new and wholly modern vision of art. Tracing the historic throughlines and cross-continental dialogues between artists working across Impressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, and Abstract Expressionism, the Modern sale will spotlight these critical developments of the last 150 years. Featuring highlights from An Eye for Impressionism: Property from an Important American Estate and important works by Modern masters such as Pablo Picasso, René Magritte and Marc Chagall alongside Contemporary titans such as Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko, the Modern Evening Auction brings together many of the crucial themes and innovations that changed the course of art history and continue to inspire artists working today. Sale Number: N11401 &nbsp; &nbsp;

VP | Head of Modern Evening Sale

Allegra Bettini

SVP | Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, Americas

Julian Dawes

SVP | Head of Contemporary Art

David Galperin

SVP | Deputy Chairman, Modern Art

Sharon Kim

SVP | Global Head of Research, Modern

Edith Eustis

AVP | Specialist, Modern Evening Auction

Sara Land

Associate Cataloguer | Modern Evening Auction

Genevieve Richardson

Senior Vice President | Head of Latin American Art, Americas

Anna Di Stasi

Senior Vice President | Head of American Art, Americas

Kayla Carlsen

Meet our Specialists

The New York Sales at Sotheby’s this May will present a series of auctions showcasing masterworks spanning over a century of artistic production. The sales feature the major artistic movements of the 19th, 20th and 21st century, from the innovations of the Impressionists to the groundbreaking works by young and emerging artists working today.

For assistance with bidding and registration, please contact: +1 212 606 7000 
 
 <a class="Link" href="mailto:enquiries@sothebys.com" target="_blank">ENQUIRIES@SOTHEBYS.COM</a>

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The May 2024 Modern Evening Auction features artworks that capture the spirits of artists working around the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who dared to challenge established norms of artistic practice to create a new and wholly modern vision of art. Tracing the historic throughlines and cross-continental dialogues from Impressionism, Fauvism, Surrealism and Cubism through to Abstract Expressionism and beyond, the sale spotlights these critical developments of the last 150 years and unites masterworks that define art history as we know it today.