Wassily Kandinsky’s Le Rond Rouge (1939) will headline Christie’s 20th/21st Century evening sale in London on March 5. The house put a £15.5 million high estimate, or about $21.3 million, on the Russian modernist heavyweight’s painting, which measures 35 inches by 45.7 inches.
It was painted when Kandinsky lived in Paris with his wife Nina toward the end of his career. The couple moved to France from Germany in 1933 to escape the growing hostility of the Nazi regime. Kandinsky quickly immersed himself in the Paris’ avant-garde art circles and developed a new visual vocabulary that pushed his work into unexpected directions.
“Le Rond Rouge is recognized as a key work from Kandinsky’s Paris period: a powerful, vibrant and large scale expression of his enduring commitment to abstraction, experimentation, and the emotional power of colour and form,” Keith Gill, Christie’s vice-chairman of 20th/21st century art, said in a statement. “It is an honour to present this masterpiece in our London season, as I remember the work well from its long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery [from 2002 to 2018].”
The composition centers on a bold red circle amid playful biomorphic forms and geometric shapes, suggesting a break from convention. Typical of Kandinsky’s late style, it blends Surrealist influences with his signature Bauhaus abstraction.
Le Rond Rouge remained in Kandinsky’s personal collection until his death in 1944, passing to his widow Nina, who inherited works that he believed best represented his artistic vision. Its subsequent provenance includes Galerie Maeght, the Swiss collector Gustav Zumsteg, and the Fridart Collection, and it was last sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2018 for $20.6 million
Also headlining Christie’s 20th/21st Century evening sale is a fresh-to-auction Henry Moore sculpture titled King and Queen (1952-53). The 64-inch-tall bronze has a £15 million ($20.5 million) high estimate. Katherine Arnold, Christie’s vice chairman of 20th/21st century art and head of post-war and contemporary art for Europe, told ARTnews that the bronze is “the most exciting sculpture I’ve ever seen brought to market.”
Both works will be on public view at Christie’s London from February 25.
