SWISS MADE UNLOCKED
A BRAND-NEW MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ONLINE AUCTION
OVER 200 LOTS | 13 COLLECTING CATEGORIES | 23-30 JUNE

EXTRAORDINARY ART & OBJECTS
IN CONVERSATION AT SOTHEBY’S ZURICH

Zurich, 23 June 2020 – Shaking up the conventions of category and calendar, Sotheby’s Switzerland is to launch a brand-new cross-category online sale, bringing together art and rare objects from 13 fields of artistic creation. Embracing the interdisciplinary approach which many collectors take when assembling their collections, the online auction will juxtapose Old Masters, Swiss Art, Impressionist & Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Photographs, African & Oceanic Art, Jewellery, Watches and more. This innovative online sale will be open for bidding on sothebys.com from the 23rd to the 30th of June.

All of the lots on offer showcase the astonishing diversity of art in and from Switzerland. They include masterworks by Switzerland’s blue-chip painters, led by Ferdinand Hodler, Félix Vallotton, Albert Anker and Cuno Amiet. Challenging narrow definitions and playing with contrasts, it will also include an array of renowned artists and creators from Switzerland and abroad, whose work could effortlessly be added to any international collection. This rich and sometimes surprising dialogue will include a group of 17th-century miniatures and a large-scale work of Orientalism by Auguste Veillon, alongside Modernist compositions by Serge Poliakoff, Victor Vasarely and Verena Loewensberg and Contemporary works by Erwin Wurm, Robert Rauschenberg and George Baselitz.

Speaking ahead of the sale, Caroline Lang, Chairman of Sotheby’s Switzerland, commented, “Working mostly from home these past months, the Swiss team has pulled together its creative forces to assemble this sale across 13 categories. It has always struck me that private collections in Switzerland truly reflect the individuals who put them together, making surprising connections between artists across different periods, movements and categories. Each collector, with their artistic eye, has composed something unique to them – as unique as each of the 26 cantons which make up Switzerland. We can’t wait to make new and exciting connections around the pieces we have brought together for Swiss Made Unlocked.”
Stéphanie Schleining, Head of the Swiss Art department, added, “I am proud to showcase the openness and diversity of the art we have here. I am very excited that for the first time, we will be placing masterworks of Swiss Art alongside international artists. I have always championed the important contribution of Swiss artists to the key international movements of art history – and their appeal to global collectors! It has been hugely exciting to break down barriers and work with Contemporary and Modern Art specialist Nick Deimel and the whole Swiss team, to weave together this innovative and thought-provoking sale.”