NEW YORK, 1 May 2019 – Sotheby’s is pleased to unveil highlights from our Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art on 14 May in New York. Led by one of the finest examples from Claude Monet’s iconic Haystacks series, the 56 lots on offer will go on public view in Sotheby’s newly-reimagined and expanded York Avenue galleries beginning Friday, 3 May – the first time that the space will be unveiled to the public.

ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES FROM CLAUDE MONET’S FAMED HAYSTACKS SERIES

An enduring symbol of Impressionism from Claude Monet’s iconic Haystacks series leads a group of eight Impressionist masterworks on offer in the May Evening Sale from the same important private collection.

Meules from 1890 is one of the most celebrated images in art history and one of only four works from Monet’s acclaimed series to come to auction this century (estimate in excess of $55 million). Of the 25 canvases that the artist created in the early 1890s, Meules is one of only eight examples remaining in private hands. The other 17 examples reside in distinguished museum collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Musée d’Orsay, Paris and, perhaps most notably, six in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The radiant canvas is further distinguished by its illustrious provenance, having been acquired by wealthy Chicago socialites and fervent collectors of Impressionist works, Mr. and Mrs. Potter Palmer, directly from the artist’s dealer in the 1890s.

August Uribe, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department in New York, commented: “It is a privilege to present one of Claude Monet’s defining Impressionist paintings in our Evening Sale this May. One of the most recognizable images in art history, Monet’s Haystacks series has long served as an inspiration to countless artists since its creation in the early 1890s and continues to inspire anyone who has viewed one of these canvases first hand. Prior to 2016, a Haystack had not been presented to collectors since Sotheby’s London offered a work from the series in June 2001, nearly 20 years ago. In addition, the seven pictures that round out this collection are exceptional in their own right, and the group as a whole is among the finest assemblages of Impressionist works that we have seen in recent years. Anytime a work, such as Meules, that has been so formative in the canon of art history comes to auction there is a palpable energy that ricochets through the market. It is with this immense enthusiasm that we look forward to presenting this wonderful group to collectors worldwide this May.”

Meules belongs to a group of eight outstanding works by Impressionist masters on offer this May from the same important private collection, including defining examples by Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Signac, Alfred Sisley and Édouard Vuillard. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the collection will significantly benefit two world-renowned, not-for-profit institutions in the fields of science and music. Separate release available

WATCH: Step into Monet’s Radiant Icon of Impressionism
POWERFUL LATE PORTRAITS BY PABLO PICASSO
The Evening Sale will offer a strong selection of eight paintings and works on paper by Pablo Picasso, spanning more than six decades of his prolific career from 1906 to 1968. Paintings from the last 20 years of Picasso’s life are increasingly sought after as prime examples of the artist’s fully developed work; the May sale is led by two monumental canvases from the 1960s:

Completed over the course of nearly a month at the end of 1962, Femme au chien is a portrait that depicts Jacqueline Roque enthroned in an armchair and petting Picasso’s Afghan hound, Kaboul (estimate $25/30 million). Roque was Picasso’s beloved second wife who remained with him until his death in 1973, and his renderings of her constitute the largest group of images of any woman in his life. Kaboul is rendered with clear affection and humor, and is a nod to Picasso’s adoration of these creatures – canines of various sorts are present in Picasso’s works throughout his oeuvre: the emaciated figures of his Rose Period; his serial reinterpretations of Velazquez’s Las Meninas; and his dachshund Lump (who he “borrowed” from David Douglas Duncan for many years) along with his Afghan hounds, Kasbek and Kaboul, and his boxer Jan.

Helena Newman, Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department, said: “This large-scale masterpiece exemplifies the creative force that Picasso wielded with his brush during the final years of his life. Having remained in the same private collection for almost 30 years, this long-unseen painting ranks among the very best of the artist’s late works to ever appear at auction. Recently married to his beloved Jacqueline and together ensconced in their new home in the South of France, Picasso not only felt reinvigorated when he painted Femme au chien, but also deserving of his self-appointment as the rightful successor to the great Spanish masters, a lineage that includes Zurbarán, Velázquez and Goya.”