Presented as a highlight of the French art market in 2023, the sale of Joan Miró’s painting, “Paintings (Women, Moon, Stars)”, painted in 1949, kept all its promises. The painting was sold on Friday in Paris for 20.7 million euros with fees, a record for a work by this master of Spanish painting in France, announced the auction house Christie’s.
Since its acquisition in the Maeght gallery in 1950, the iconic painting by Joan Miró (1893-1983) has remained at the Colombe d’Or, a legendary inn near Saint-Paul-de-Vence, near Cannes. “Paul Roux’s passion for painting is the origin of what is today one of the most desirable collections of 20th century art,” notes Chritie’s. “His heirs have continued to enrich it, thus preserving the spirit of a place shaped by art and the friendships forged during the stays of its guests. The incredible list of names of artists and celebrities that appear in the guestbook has helped to make the Colombe d’Or a masterpiece and an institution in itself. And to conclude: “The sale on October 20 will ensure its sustainability and preservation.”
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Another record fell with a work by French sculptor François-Xavier Lalanne. “Le Rhinocrétaire I” (1964), was sold for 18.3 million euros with fees, a world record for him, during another evening sale dedicated to this artist alone. The sculpture was estimated at between 4 and 6 million euros!
“Le Rhinocrétaire I”, a manifesto work by François-Xavier Lalanne, comes from the collection of gallery owner Jeanine Restany, the very first to present the work of the couple Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, during the Zoophites exhibition in 1964. Kept out of sight since its creation, the animal was exhibited in 2010 at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, during a retrospective devoted to the two sculptors with an unusual universe. The work which was offered for sale precedes “the Rhinocretaire II”, dated 1966, preserved in the museum’s collections.
This painting and this sculpture are the most expensive works sold in France in 2023 in this art sector, according to Christie’s. The total of the evening sale on European avant-gardes, of which Miró was the flagship lot, reached 62.1 million euros. Christie’s Paris presented three evening sales for which 17 lots were sold for over one million euros, including two for over 15 million euros.
