Having been the subject of forced sales in 1941, Alfred Sisley's Péniches and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Cariatides had been on loan at the Dieppe Museum and the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer since the end of the war. They were returned to the gallery owner's heirs on 16 May 2024 at an official ceremony at the French Ministry of Culture.
Sotheby's was the first auction house to create a department specialising in the subject of restitutions, and is particularly honoured to have been chosen by Grégoire Schusterman's heirs to present these two masterpieces for sale.
PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR, Deux jeunes femmes nues, guirlandes de feuillages et de fruits
Painted in 1909, Caryatids (Estimate: €1,000,000-1,500,000) belongs to a series of four works comprising two diptychs, in which Renoir drew inspiration from the classical ideal of Antiquity and the Renaissance. One of these diptychs is now in the collections of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
ALFRED SISLEY, Vue d'un port, les Péniches
Painted in 1870, Les Péniches (estimate: €800,000-1,200,000) is emblematic of the atmospheric research carried out by Alfred Sisley in the early days of Impressionism. In this work, the painter paid particular attention to rendering the reflections and transparency of the river, as well as the light of the misty sky. From the collection of Charles Pearson, its date of acquisition by Grégoire Schusterman is unknown.
The live sale will take place in Paris at 3.30 CET on 18 October 2024, in partnership with CELINE.
