For Sotheby's Hong Kong's first Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction of 2025, on 29 March, the auction house brings to Asia works by prestigious artists from all over the world and features not only paintings but also sculptures.
Gracing the top lots are an array of Western artists such as Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Notably, while the works by Renoir are rare to see at Hong Kong auctions, the ongoing Renoir exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) has injected some excitement and interest by auction houses to bring his paintings to the city.
Leading the sale is Fleurs de printemps (La Cruche aux fleurs de printemps) by Franco-Russian painter Marc Chagall (1887-1985), estimated between HK$22-28 million (around US$2.8-3.6 million). This is followed by a statue by Henry Moore, an artist not as well known in the Asian market and possibly indicative of shifting interests in the region’s collectors.
Sotheby's will bring to the sale 45 lots, with a total low estimate across all of them being around HK$227 million (around US$29.1 million). This is compared to Sotheby's Hong Kong's Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction in April 2024, which had a total of 41 lots and a total low estimate of HK$594 million (around US$76.4 million), and their Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction in November of 2024 which had a combined low estimate of around HK$384 million (around US$48.2 million) across 26 lots.
Lot 14 | Marc Chagall (1887-1985) | Fleurs de printemps (La Cruche aux fleurs de printemps), Oil on canvas
Executed in 1930
72 x 60.6 cm
Provenance:
- Mr. & Mrs. Lee Ault, New York (acquired by 1956)
- Perls Galleries, New York
- Private Collection, United States (acquired from the above on 8 December 1970)
- Private Collection, Chicago (acquired by descent from the above)
- Sotheby's, New York, 14 May 2018, lot 1 (consigned by the above)
- Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Estimate: HK$22,000,000-28,000,000 (around US$2.8-3.6 million)
Throughout his career as a painter, Chagall explored various styles of art and subjects. Cubism and Expressionism were the main vehicles through which Chagall expressed themes of fantasy, personal memories, and Judaism. Chagall also used different mediums to showcase his vision, including paintings, stained glass, murals, and ceramics.
However, one component of Chagall’s work was the way he made use of color as the central way to capture the attention of the viewer. In a way, Chagall prioritized color as the main component of the artwork he produced, equal to the subject matter itself. Chagall often used color as a way to display movement or vivid expressions in his works, something he applied to this painting on sale at Sotheby’s.
Fleurs de Printemps was painted during Chagall’s second Parisian period when he lived in the French capital from 1924 to 1941. During this time, Chagall began using a new motif of framing his works, or “dreamscapes,” with a window. Chagall once stated, “Painting seemed to me like a window through which I could have taken flight towards another world.” This painting is framed somewhat interestingly, as if we, the viewers, are already in the “dreamscape” with the fairies, and the window shows the real world.
The two fairies in the painting which bear similarity to angels in Christian art
The artist Marc Chagall in 1920
The painting itself is representative of spring and the arrival of new life, and Chagall merges this with his interest in Jewish and Christian iconography. In this case, the surreal fairies coming through the window bear similarities to frescos such as Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin, which also features a small angelic figure coming through the window, which also represents similar themes.
This painting was previously in the possession of Lee Ault, a notable New York City art dealer who operated both a gallery and published the magazine Art in America. The lot has since been in private collections and is highly regarded as it’s one of Chagall’s high-quality works from his earlier periods of painting. It has been compared in quality to other Chagall works held by prestigious museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Centre Pompidou.
Lot 21 | Henry Moore (1898-1986) | Working Model for Reclining Figure: Prop, Bronze
Conceived and cast in 1976
Length: 80.5 cm
Provenance:
- Fisher Gallery, London (acquired directly from the artist)
- Private Collection, USA
- Scott White Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California
- Carole & Barry Kate (acquired from the above circa 2000)
- Sotheby's, New York, 6 November 2013, lot 53 (consigned by the above)
- Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Estimate: HK$16,000,000-24,000,000 (around US$2-3 million)
Born in Castleford, in Northern England, Henry Moore was always interested in the more physical aspects of art, including the molding of clay and working with wood. He claims to have desired to become a sculptor at the age of 11 after he learned about Michelangelo in Sunday School. His teachers noticed this interest in more Gothic statues, although his parents opposed it, and he became a teacher. He served in the First World War and, shaken by his experience, used his army grant to go to art school.
Moore’s style as a sculptor evolved as he matured as an artist. However, central to understanding Moore is that the defining figure that he’s portrayed, the reclining person, has never changed. To Moore, the reclining figure was the supreme entity to represent, and more than just historical inspiration, he pulled for art from antiquity. Moore saw this pose as a boundless source of expression free from any formal natural state. Additionally, because of how the body contorts and balances itself, it was the perfect canvas to alter.
Moore started his artistic career by making very standard reclining body sculptures where bent limbs would break away from the body and then reattach. However, in his more mature period as an artist, he would explore very complex and abstract interpretations of the human form. Convex and concave shapes were normal ways in which Moore thought of the human form, and there would be strange voids and spaces throughout the body away from the natural breaks created by the limbs.
From different angles, this statue takes on the more abstract shapes of the reclining form
A more abstract Moore work titled Large Reclining Figure outside Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
This sculpture, coming late in Moore’s life and career, takes on different shapes, and different open spaces can be observed from different angles. The work also makes use of detailed texture, visible in the hands and feet, alongside more abstract and non-descript waves and smooth shapes. There also appear to be small waves in the sculpture that give the impression of movement.
The sculpture also makes use of negative space within the statue through its break between body parts and strange concave and convex proportions. This allows Moore to distort the human form and play with how we would consider normal mass and volume within a human being. This work is almost a paragon of Moore’s later sculptures of abstract female figures with empty spaces and voids between limbs.
Lot 23 | Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) | Le Baiser, modèle avec base simplifiée, Bronze
Conceived in 1885 and cast by the Alexis Rudier Foundry in January 1943
Height: 85.8 cm
Provenance:
- Musée Rodin, Paris
- M. Goertz, Germany (acquired from the above in July 1943)
- Private Collection, Hamburg (acquired by 1959)
- Private Collection (acquired by descent from the above)
- Sotheby's, London, 24 June 2015, lot 12 (consigned by the above)
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$16,000,000-24,000,000 (around US$2-3 million)
The artist behind the iconic The Thinker statue, Rodin’s work focused on the human condition as naturally presented to him, avoiding the pitfalls of idealism seen in Greek statues or the decorative beauty of Baroque works, instead seeking to portray the individual in its flesh. This was best exhibited through his talent of modeling the details of the human body so that no part lagged and that everything contributed to the totality of the work.
This specific Rodin work is a smaller version of the famed statue Le Baiser, or The Kiss in English. It was originally a component of the monumental Rodin work The Gates of Hell. Le Baiser depicts the embrace between two characters in Dante’s Inferno. Its two subjects are Francesca da Rimini, for whom the original name of this piece was named, an Italian noblewoman who was murdered by her husband for having an affair with his younger brother Paolo Malatesta, and the statue’s other subject, who was also killed.
Contrary to the title of the piece, the two lovers’ lips do not touch, in the original sculpture. While they were indeed having an affair, this leaves the context of this piece up to mystery. On the one hand, they could be kissing; on the other hand, they could be in the moment that Francesca’s husband was preparing to murder the two of them, and this was the embrace before imminent death.
The Gates of Hell by Rodin was what inspired him to make Le Baiser. This specific sculpture is the property of Museo Soumaya in Mexico City
This scaled-down version of the original was one of the many made by Rodin’s employees. When Rodin was still alive, his employees would make these simplified versions specifically not made from marble, unlike the original, as it was easier to make. Rodin would then add the finishing touches to the piece.
This one was produced after Rodin’s death, and while the original mold was made when he was still alive, the actual producer was Alexis Rudier, a foundry owner who made sculptures derived from famous artists. A total of 26 casts of Le Baiser were made by the Rudier Foundry, with evidence showing that it was around the 15th cast to have been produced in total. Originally owned by the Musée Rodin, it now comes to Hong Kong, where Rodin's works are not often seen on the city’s auction floor.
Lot 20 | Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) | Le miroir, Oil and sand on canvas
Executed on 23 June 1947
61 x 50.2 cm
Provenance (edited by The Value):
- Kootz Gallery, New York (acquired directly from the artist)
- Mr & Mrs William A. M. Burden, New York (acquired from the above by 1957)
- The Museum of Modern Art, New York (no. 347.1985, acquired as a gift from the above in 1985)
- Christie's, New York, 10 May 2001, lot 453 (consigned by the above)
- Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)
- Christie's, London, 27 February 2019, lot 40 (consigned by the above)
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$15,000,000-25,000,000 (around US$1.9-3.2 million)
While Picasso is best known for his work such as Guernica, which exhibited the horrors of war, and his art of the 1940s was made under the conditions of German occupation while living in Paris, the postwar period was an era of tranquility for the Spanish artist. He had become wealthy by this point, affording villas along the Mediterranean where he could live a more relaxed life. Filled with emotions of relief, joy, and optimism, those ideas are poured out onto this canvas where he produced Le miroir.
This is a playful, bright painting that is dominated by a black-framed mirror in the center with a large blue dot. The mirror is a recurring motif in Picasso’s work as a symbol of self-reflection, a way to identify one's self, and the transience of life. However, in the postwar period, lifted from the stresses of life under occupation and conflict, the mirror still represents those ideas but in a more humorous and less draining way.
The cherries are another key theme of the painting, personal to Picasso. At the time Picasso’s partner was Françoise Gilot, whom he met in 1943 when they met at a restaurant and Picasso brought her a bowl of cherries. The cherries are meant to represent that moment and, with their bright red color, represent romance and indulgence.
One of the most important parts of this painting, and what elevates its value, is that from 1985 to 2001 it was a part of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. It was originally a gift to the museum from the collection of William A. M. Burden, an American banker, philanthropist, diplomat, and art collector. MoMA held onto the lot before consigning it to be sold with Christie’s. When it sold with Christie's for a second time in 2019, it went for around £1.2 million (around US$1.5 million).
The lot Le miroir seen in MoMA, NYC in 1962 as part of a Pablo Picasso exhibition celebrating his 80th birthday
Lot 22 | Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) | Baigneuse accoudée, Oil on canvas
Executed in 1882
54 x 40.5 cm
Provenance:
- Arsène Alexandre, Paris ((probably) acquired from the artist)
- Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 18-19 May 1903, lot 51 (consigned by the above)
- Gabriel Cognacq, Paris (acquired from the above)
- Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (no. 14080) (acquired from the above on 15 March 1905)
- Galerie Georges Petit, Paris (acquired from the above)
- Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (no. 14419) (acquired from the above on 7 July 1905)
- Paul Cassirer, Berlin (acquired from the above on 21 September 1909)
- Julius Stern, Berlin (acquired from the above on 9 November 1909)
- Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 22 May 1916, lot 80 (consigned by the estate of the above)
- Leo Blumenreich, Berlin (acquired from the above)
- Alfred Hausammann, Zurich (acquired by 1955)
- Mrs Behrens-Hausammann, Switzerland (acquired by descent from the above circa 2001)
- Christie's, London, 6 February 2013, lot 24 (consigned by the above)
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$14,000,000-22,000,000 (around US$1.8-2.8 million)
Within the realm of Impressionist painters, only two stand out as keen painters of the female form: Edgar Degas and the originator of this lot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Early in his career, Renoir often painted women but stepped away from this subject until the 1880s, when this painting was created. In this specific era of paintings, Renoir painted nude women in vast landscapes as he merged various influences.
While many Impressionist paintings featured these large landscapes or cityscapes as their subject in these nude female works, Renoir placed the human as his main subject. This was in part influenced by a trip he took to Italy in 1881, where he saw frescos and ancient art, admiring how they were elegant and informal at the same time. He was disinterested in perfection and the complexities of other portraits; instead, he is quoted as saying that he wanted to capture the average working woman but in an extraordinary moment.
In this painting and other similar ones, Renoir experiments with softer tones and a more subtle selection of colors. A poet at the time described Renoir’s nude works as “fresher,” “alive,” and even “pulsating.” Regarding the landscape, Renoir never makes clear what is in the background of this painting, a contrast to the cityscapes of Paris in his other works. Instead, the distance, composition, and scale are kept very vague, giving a sense of timelessness to the painting rather than dating it within a specific period or cityscape.
This work was once owned by German banker and prolific art collector Julius Stern. It's coming to Hong Kong right now is fitting, as Renoir and fellow Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne are being featured in the first exhibition of these two artists in the city at HKMoA. The timing of the sale with this exhibition may bring more attention to this already prestigious painting.
Other Highlighted Lots:
Lot 27 | Yayoi Kusama (b.1929) | Starry Pumpkin, Fiberglass reinforced plastic and tile
Executed in 2019
130 x 150 x 150 cm
Provenance:
- Ota Fine Arts
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$16,000,000-32,000,000 (around US$2.1-4.1 million)
Lot 40 | Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2013) | 31.08.2001 - 09.09.2002, Oil on canvas
Executed between 31 August 2001 to 9 September 2002
130 x 162 cm
Provenance:
- Marlborough Gallery, New York
- Private Collection, Asia
- Christie's, New York, 20 September 2007, lot 51 (consigned by the above)
- Private Collection (acquired from the above)
- Christie's, Shanghai, 26 April 2014, lot 22 (consigned by the above)
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$11,000,000-20,000,000 (around US$1.4-2.5 million)
Lot 8 | Nicolas Party (b.1980) | Grotto, Soft pastel on linen
Executed in 2019
190.8 x 165.1 cm
Provenance:
- Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
- Private Collection (acquired from the above)
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$11,000,000-20,000,000 (around US$1.2-2.5 million)
Lot 34 | Georg Baselitz (b.1938) | Dreieck zwischen Arm und Rumpf (Triangle between Arm and Torso), Oil on canvas
Executed in 1977
250 x 200 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Heiner Friedrich, Cologne
- Saatchi Collection, London
- Galerie Beyeler, Basel
- Michael Werner Gallery, New York/ Cologne
- Private Collection (acquired from the above in 2006)
- Christie's, London, 6 October 2017, Lot 6
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$9,000,000-15,000,000 (around US$1.1-1.9 million)
Lot 35 | Zeng Fanzhi (b.1964) | Mask Series 1995 no.12, Oil on canvas
Executed in 1995
149.3 x 129 cm
Provenance:
- ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$9,000,000-15,000,000 (around US$1-1.9 million)
Lot 12 | Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) | Snow in Beijing, Oil on canvas
Executed in 1978
68 x 50.4 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Mr. Zhu Junshan (gift from the artist)
- Duo Yun Xuan Auction, Shanghai, 10 July 2005, lot 1629
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$6,000,000-9,000,000 (around US$771,838-1 million)
Auction Details:
Auction House: Sotheby's Hong Kong
Sale: Modern & Contemporary Evening Sale
Date and Time: 29 March 2025 | 7 pm (Hong Kong local time)
Number of Lots: 45