Auction Christie's «The Art of Surrealism", scheduled for February 6, 2013, boasts a selection of works by Joan Miro, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, Paul Delvaux, Oscar Dominguez and others

February 6, 2013 will be the largest and most significant in the history of Christie's evening auction of "The Art of Surrealism", the top lot of which will be painting by Joan Miro "Rescue Ladder", first appears in the market over the last 60 years (estimate 5-8 million pounds). In addition, the auction put up a number of iconic works by leading representatives of surrealism, including René Magritte, Max Ernst, Paul Delvaux and Oscar Dominguez. The total estimate of all auction items is 30,88-46,87 million pounds (up 50%compared to the record level of the previous year). The total combined estimate of the auction and the evening auction "Impressionist and Modern Art," which will also be held on February 6, is 98,35-146,58 million pounds.

Olivier Camus, vice chairman of the Department Impressionist and Modern Art Christie's: «Surrealism today is the growing interest of all members of the art market ... <...> Character works by leading representatives of surrealism serve as a link between the judges of impressionist and modern art - they may find something to your tastes like those and others. According to one of the leaders of the movement, André Breton, the Surrealists "sought to resolve the conflict between dreams and reality and create a kind of absolute reality, superreality" ».

• Rescue ladder. 1939
  Christie's. 6.02.2013
  Estimate: 5-8 million pounds
  Source: Press Release Christie's

Written in 1939 painting by Joan Miró (1893-1983) "Rescue Ladder" (estimate 5-8 million pounds) is one of two papers with the same name, created by the artist in an important period of his life . The second, "Stairs" - dated 1940 gouache relating to the earliest examples of a series of works by Miró named "Constellation" - is in the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art. The image of the stairs was important to Miro and often repeated in his work since the 1920s. Through him as an artist would unite the two worlds - the real and the imaginary. Stairs helped Miro make a kind of escape from the world of reality into a world that he created on his canvases. "Rescue Ladder" was written by Miro in Normandy during the so-called "Phoney War" - a few months in 1939, when France Watch out German invasion. Thus, the difficult circumstances and oppressive forced to focus on Miro's favorite motifs of his work: a bird, women, and the night sky.

• Joan Miró
  Woman. 1969
  Christie's. 6.02.2013
  Estimate: 3-5 million pounds
  Source: Press Release Christie's

Sculptures Joan Miro became a real ornament of his late work. Monumental work, "Female" (estimate 3-5 million pounds) was established in 1969 and has been in private collections in New York for the past 30 years. Clay prototype of the Miro sculpture created in the early 1940s, while in Barcelona, ​​where he worked on a series of ceramics with Josep Llorens Artigas. Miro sculpture resembles stone statues of the goddess of fertility, but the same time can be considered as an enlarged image of a human face. This duality perfectly illustrates what the artist calls "the true nature" of mankind, which is characterized by overflowing one form to another. At the auction exhibited one of seven copies signed by Miro, the production of which he was directly involved. Other instances of sculptures are in the National Center of Art and Culture Georges Pompidou (Paris), the Art Institute of Detroit (USA) and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (USA).

• Bathing Nymphs. 1938
  Christie's. 6.02.2013
  Estimate: 3-5 million pounds
  Source: Press Release Christie's

first offered for sale, pictures of Paul Delvaux (1897-1994) "Bathing Nymphs" (estimate 3-5 million pounds) is one of the most ambitious and complex in the composition for his work. The picture was painted in 1938 when the artist came the recognition among the Surrealists. It is part of a series of works is as dark and contains a number of images that distinguish the mysterious landscapes Delvaux late 1930s. The compositional center of the canvas is a group of naked women frolicking in the waves. In the background you can see a lone male figure, dressed in a severe business suit. The artist considered similar figures "elements of reality, inclusion of which in the picture, especially in the face of naked female bodies, should contribute to a shock effect, is caused by a combination of this».

Magritte Plagiarism. 1940 Christie's. 6.02.2013 Estimate: 2-3 million pounds Source: Press Release Christie's

offered collectors a nine works by Rene Magritte (1898-1967) is a large selection of all the creations of the artist that have appeared on the market since 1998. Tops the list written in 1940 painting entitled "Plagiarism" (estimate 2-3 million pounds). It's never been offered for sale painting was privately Belgian meeting since its writing. "Plagiarism" - extremely rare work. Despite the fact that most of his works are found in several variations, in addition to this there is only one version of this painting, made in a vertical format and dated 1942. The viewer sees on the canvas vase, placed on a table, and the outlines of a bouquet of flowers but instead of the center of the canvas is a landscape with flowering trees. Immediately after his writing in 1940, the picture was taken at the exhibition, with which it has acquired renowned Belgian collector and photographer Ernest van Zeil.

Magritte Every day. 1966 Christie's. 6.02.2013 Estimate: 1,8-2,5 million pounds Source: Press Release Christie's

Another work of René Magritte, titled "Every day," written in 1966, estimated by experts at the auction house 1.8-2.5 million pounds. A year after writing his picture was in a private collection, where it remained for over 40 years. In the background on the canvas desert landscape viewer sees floating in the air men's eyes, nose and mouth. Despite the fragmentation, the human face is guessed correctly. Thus, Magritte made impressive effect realism by absurdities composition.

Magritte's work, entitled "This is not an apple", 1964 (estimate: £ 1-1.5 million) topped the list of four canvases offered for sale in the evening auction "The Art of Surrealism" from the collection of the Museum of the closed Dutch realist art Szeryng (lots 104,105,106,107).

OSCAR DOMINGUEZ Elektroseksualnaya sewing machine. 1934-1935 Christie's. 6.02.2013 Estimate: 1,3-1,8 million pounds Source: Press Release Christie's

Picture Oscar Dominguez (1906-1957) "Elektroseksualnaya sewing machine," written in 1934-1935 (estimate 1.3-1.8 million pounds), is one of universally accepted masterpieces of the artist created during his acquaintance with Andre Breton and the Parisian surrealists. This offer for sale from a private European collection of paintings radiate an atmosphere of brutal sexuality characteristic of the most outstanding works of the artist and an expression of his own difficult and tragic fate. "Elektroseksualnaya sewing machine", the first owned by a prominent collector Eduardo Vesterdal, repeatedly became the showpiece of a number of landmark exhibitions, demonstrating the importance of its place in the artistic heritage Dominguez. The title for his painting Dominguez took from "Songs Maldorora" one of the key writers of Surrealist art - Count Lautréamont (real name - Isidore Ducasse), in which one of the characters says: "It's beautiful ... like the neighborhood on the anatomy table sewing machine Umbrella ».

Max Ernst mind's eye. 1929 Christie's. 6.02.2013 Estimate: 1-1,5 million pounds Source: Press Release Christie's

work called "mind's eye" (estimate of 1-1.5 million pounds) refers to the series of the same name made in 1929, works by Max Ernst (1891-1976) with the image of some creatures resembling birds, egg-shaped contour. It is in this series formed a personal archetype Ernst, portrayed him as a man-bird and later called Loplopom. In 1930 Loplop become one of the central characters of most works Ernst. The artist describes this creature male periodically takes androgynous characteristics, as follows: "it is the highest bird, personal phantom extremely loyal to me." Loplop first appears in dates from the end of the 1920s collages, but soon Ernst said it as his alter ego. It should be noted that the birds from the artist's childhood, played an important role in his real life.

addition, the auction is exposed formed in 1945, the painting by Yves Tanguy (1900-1955) "Bow acceleration "(estimate 0.9-1.2 million pounds), as well as works by artists such as Salvador Dali, Francis Picabia, Giorgio de Chirico, Hans Arp, Kay Sage, Conrad Klafek, Wilfredo Lam, Roberto Matta and Victor Brauner.

Source : Press Release Christie's