Bacon and Monet landscape artworks will be the leading pieces in Christie’s big 20th and 21st century art sales in London this year. Pieces of both artists couldn’t be seen in auction for a long time. But, art lovers will finally get a chance to enjoy these masterpieces. The paintings in question are Landscape near Malabata, Tangier (1963) by Francis Bacon. Also, Matinée sur la Seine, temps net (1897) by Claude Monet.
Bacon and Monet to Highlight Christie’s Sale
Estimated price for “Landscape near Malabata, Tangier” (1963) is between £15 million-£20 million. Irish-born British figurative painter, known for his raw, unsettling imagery, created the piece in honour of Peter Lacy. With Lacy, the artist had had a passionate, frequently violent, relationship for years. Bacon created the artwork in London, one year after Lacy’s terrible death in Tangiers at the age of 46.
The painting remained in the same possession for almost 20 years. Then, it sold at Sotheby’s New York for $517,000 in 1985. The last time it went up for auction, it brought in the highest price of any Bacon ever. Currently, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, a 1969 image, holds the all-time record for artist’s auction sales. It sold at Christie’s New York for $142.4 million in 2013.
Marlborough Gallery originally sold the artist’s piece in 1963. Also, as Christie’s stated, it appeared on display in 32 shows in 27 different global cities. This includes the 1971–72 retrospective at the Grand Palais in Paris and the Royal Academy of Arts+s “Francis Bacon: Man and Beast” in 2022.
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Father of Impressionism Created Pieces On a Boat
One of the twenty-one images in Claude Monet’s “Mornings on the Seine” series is Matinée sur la Seine, temps net (1897). Every piece in it explores a distinct moment of day on the same stretch of the well-known river. For the first time in forty-five years, Matinée sur la Seine, temps net, is expected to fetch between £12 and £18 million at bidding. The artist created the piece in his bateau-atelier (studio-boat).
The boat was midway along the river that meandered through Giverny. Giverny is the rural community where Monet produced some of his most well-known pieces. This includes the “Nymphéas” (Water Lilies) series. The last time Matinée sur la Seine, temps net appeared in the exhibition was in 1990.
It was part of the “Monet in the ’90s: The Series Paintings”, held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Christie’s New York will be showing the Bacon artwork through February 19; Christie’s London will be showing both images from March 1 to March 7.
