Public Exhibition Open at King Street 22 to 28 February

Giovanna Bertazzoni, Vice Chairman, 20th / 21st Century Art Department, Christie’s: “Our dynamic London 20/21 sale series responds to and amplifies the defining themes of the market today. Offering exquisite collections, iconic works, and a strong representation of pioneering female artists who powerfully shaped the Surrealist movement, we have assembled a vibrant, diverse and celebratory group of works, the majority never seen at auction before, that exemplify the purpose of Christie’s signature 20/21 category:  to unite contemporary names with their artistic forebears.”

• Christie’s 20^th / 21^st Century: London Evening Sale will offer works by artists that defined the artistic movements of the 20^th Century, while showcasing their artistic legacy in those artists shaping the 21^st Century
• 66% of the 20^th / 21^st Century: London Evening Sale has never before been offered at auction. Exquisite paintings by Paul Cezanne and Vincent van Gogh have been treasured in two distinct collections, each for more than 100 years, while Alexander Calder’s The Ghost has remained in the same family collection since 1947
• The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale presents Memory of a Surreal Journey: Property from an Important San Francisco Bay Area, a collection of 25 works showcases the magical interpretations of the world by artists including Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Dorothea Tanning and Leonor Fini. Presented through Christie’s unique sale platform exclusively devoted to Surrealist art, the collection was built over more than two decades around a formative trip to Mexico and highlights the dialogues across Latin and Northern America as well as Europe. With an emphasis on revolutionary female artists, this singular collection encapsulates a zeitgeist perceived across the art world, repositioning discussions on Surrealism and the artists who came to represent the movement.
• René Magritte’s lyrical gouache Le retour (1957, estimate: £4,000,000-6,000,000) presents a dream-like variation on one of the artist’s most poetic motifs: the oiseau de ciel, or ‘sky-bird’
• Christie’s, as the leading auction house for works by Picasso, joins the art world in a global commemoration of the artist and his legacy, on the 50^th anniversary of his death. Pablo Picasso’s Femme dans un rocking-chair (Jacqueline) (1956, estimate: £15,000,000-20,000,000) will lead the sale alongside four additional works by the artist
• Cecily Brown’s magnificent painting Make it Rain (2014, estimate: £3,500,000-5,500,000) was first shown in Paris in 2014 and has remained in the same collection
• Presented by Christie’s for the first time, Michaela Yearwood Dan’s Love me nots (2021, estimate: £40,000-60,000) highlights the dynamism of 21^st century painters – her work draws on her personal experience while the central voids in her compositions seem to reference the sky ceilings of Renaissance Italy

CHRISTIE’S 20^TH / 21^ST CENTURY: LONDON EVENING SALE AND THE ART OF THE SURREAL EVENING SALE SELECTED STORIES

• How the women of Surrealism defied a male-dominated world to ‘carve out their own space’
• Two Freud paintings revealing a love of nature that led his father to call him a ‘wild animal’
• Two masterpieces by Georg Baselitz, Elke I and Frau Paganismus, from the Hess Art Collection
• René Magritte’s Le retour will be a leading highlight of Christie’s The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale

René Magritte, Le retour (circa 1950, estimate: £4,000,000-6,000,000)
Alexander Calder, The Ghost (1945, estimate; £800,000-1,200,000)