Lot 51. MIRAGE
oil on canvas
60 x 120 cm
signed and dated lower right: TOYEN 67
Provenance:
– collection of Toyen
– collection of André-Francois Petit, Paris (bought directly from Toyen)
– Galerie Cyrille de Gunzburg
– private collection Paris
Exhibited:
– Toyen, Prague City Gallery, Dum U Kammeneho zvonu (12. 5.– 6. 8. 2000), curator Karel Srp, exhibition concept Lenka Bydzovska
– Toyen: Dreaming Rebel / Toyen: l ́écart absolu, National Gallery Prague(9. 4.–15. 8. 2021), Hamburger Kunsthalle (24. 9. 2021–13. 2. 2022), Musée d ́Art Moderne de Paris (25. 3.–24. 7. 2022)
Publications:
– José Pierre Surrealist Painting 1940–1970, The little library of art, 1971, published by Methuen & Co.
– Radovan Ivsic Toyen, Paris 1974, Editions Filipacchi, p. 54
– Ragnar von Holten Toyen, published by Lindfors Forlag, 1984, fig. 29, p. 26
– Dr Karel Srp Toyen, published by Argo and the Prague City Gallery in 2000, reproduced on page 256 under number 337
– Toyen Annie le Brun, Annabelle Gorgen-Lammers, Anna Pravdová), reproduced on page 272, under number 460
– Toyen: l ́écart absolu, published by Paris Musées, 2022 (expert textsby a collective of authors, eds: Annie le Brun, Annabelle Gorgen-Lammers, Anna Pravdová), reproduced on page 292, under number 493
An expert’s report written by the recognized expert on Toyen’s work, Dr Karel Srp enclosed.
The painting was originally acquired directly from Toyen by the Galerie André François Petit in Paris, with whom she had occasionally collaborated since the mid-1960s, and for which she even planned a solo exhibition, though never realised. The last owner of the painting was Galerie Cyrille de Gunzburg, which lent it to the recent retrospective exhibitions Toyen: The Dreaming Rebel / l ́écart absolu, National Gallery Prague, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Musée d ́Art Moderne de Paris.
This work is one of Toyen's most important oil paintings of the post-war period.
The painting was given a central place during the recent Toyen exhibition at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. The work is also featured in a new documentary film by director Andrea Sedlackova, Toyen – Baroness of Surrealism.
Consulted with Dr Irena Zantovska Murray HonFRIBA, Professor Jaromir Zemina, Dr Jiri Machalicky, and Vladimir Lekes.