Evening Sale Prague at Expo 58 ART

EVENING SALE PRAGUE
Sunday April 21, 2024 in Expo 58 ART EXHIBITION HALL
(Letenske sady 1500/80, Prague 7, Czech Republic)

The auction of contemporary and modern art organized by the Adolf Loos Apartment and Gallery in Prague was a historic success.

The most important item in the auction was Frantisek Kupka's Conception/Danae, which fetched an impressive EUR 5 060 000. The painting thus became the most expensive work ever auctioned in the Czech Republic. It also became a new record for a painter in the Czech Republic.

This famous painting is Kupka's "Mona Lisa" - Kupka encoded the old mythological story of Danae into the painting Conception / Danae, in which Zeus, in an attempt to give birth to a son with Danae, transformed himself into a golden rain and in this form penetrated to the hidden princess. In this way, Kupka has woven an ancient mythological source into a machinic image that combines the power of the machine and sexual connection. In this phenomenal, dynamic image he summed up the entire universe, combining surviving and modernist modes of representation, while also using both to express the state of the art of the time. This is one of the most remarkable oils Kupka ever created.

The auction also included an exceptional French collection of paintings, with 14 artworks by the Czech-French painter Josef Sima. This collection, which the French collector had until recently displayed in his vast chateau in a beautiful park in Normandy, was highly sought after by bidders. The auction sold all the works on offer with high premiums. Sima's Paysage bleu lumière 1 was auctioned for EUR 401 720, the other magnificent oil Paysage bleu for EUR 295 240. The oil Soleil froid achieved a price of EUR 179 080. The finer oil Paysage bleu was auctioned at EUR 150 040, the oil Paysage lumière at EUR 96 800 and the smallest oil at EUR 87 120. Sima's watercolours also fetched high prices, ranging from EUR 18 000 to 26 000.

A unique colour gouache on paper, Abstract Composition (Trégastel) by Frantisek Kupka, was the highlight of the auction. This work, with a starting price of  EUR 54 000, was auctioned for an impressive EUR 251 680 after several long minutes. This is a price increase of 285%.

Another extraordinary convolute of gallery quality that appeared in the auction were works from the collection of Adam Gallery, Brno. Among the eleven works offered from this unique collection, an oil by Vaclav Bostik, Misty, sold for EUR 205 700. The second smaller oil by Vaclav Bostik, Untitled, went for EUR 77 440. A large-format oil by Jan Merta, Leta , also exceeded its high value, with a final sum of EUR 58 080, and a work by Josef Bolf, Untitled, which reached EUR 43 560 - this is a new artist's record achieved in the Czech Republic. Landscape by Karel Malich was auctioned for EUR 34 360, and a rare work by Jan Mancuska, Untitled, for EUR 32 430. Dalibor Chatrny's work, Untitled, was the top lot of the collection, rising by 283% and selling for EUR 22 260. The other paintings in this collection also recorded beautiful results.

Another key work of the auction was Emil Filla' s masterpiece Still Life with Grappa, Grapes and Bottle with a final price of EUR 196 020.

The auction also offered a highly collectible oil Madonne by Jan Zrzavy, which the artist painted in Paris in 1929-1930 and gave to the wife of the famous French historian Edouard Dolleans. The painting reached the sum of EUR 169 400.

An oil painting by the important French painter Maurice de Vlaminck also came from the restitution of the National Gallery in Prague. The painting The Street from 1925 achieved a great result of EUR 145 200.

The auction also offered a unique collage by Toyen Ceci est inévitable from 1949. The painting belonged to the collection of Meret Oppenheim, the first lady of the world surrealist movement, and was included in the auction by her museum in Carona, Switzerland. The result of the auction was EUR 123 420. This is a new auction record of the author (paper work).

Antonin Slavicek and his Road in Kamenicky achieved EUR 113 740.

The famous Czech-Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka and his watercolour Polperro from 1939, which Kokoschka gave to the then Czechoslovak President Edvard Benes and which was later acquired by the famous Oscar-winning actor Peter Ustinov, was auctioned for EUR 75 020. This is a new auction record of the author (paper work).

In total, 93% of the lots offered were auctioned. The average bidding price was EUR 59 435. The average increase in the price of an auctioned lot was 48%.

All artworks have been carefully examined by the most prominent Czech and foreign experts.

The auction house is the only one in the Czech Republic to offer a lifetime guarantee of the authenticity of the offered works of art.

Thank you for your kindness and we look forward to seeing you again!