Evening Sale on 30th May 2025 in Cologne

In the Evening Sale, Lempertz will be auctioning selected objects from the estate of Bauhaus master Oskar Schlemmer. The auction also includes important works of Impressionist and Expressionist art as well as contemporary art by Lucio Fontana, Pierre Soulages, Günther Uecker, Imi Knoebel and Karin Kneffel. 

Following a decades-long legal dispute, a court ruling has now made this auction possible: Central works from the estate of Oskar Schlemmer will be offered in the Evening Sale at Lempertz. His work was decisive for the philosophy of the Bauhaus. To this day, Oskar Schlemmer's work characterises the style that is associated with the Bauhaus worldwide. Not least the famous Bauhaus logo was his design. Forms and proportions, always with a focus on peoples' needs, form the basis of his aesthetics.

The work “Composition on Pink (Reconstruction)” demonstrates Schlemmer's artistic ideas more clearly than perhaps any other. In the piece, which is painted with lacquer and metal paint, he realised a composition that conveys an impression of volume through the different textures and the raised relief. Due to its special position between architecture, relief and painting, the work embodies the universal idea of the Bauhaus. The piece, which was on loan to the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna until 2008, will be leading the evening sale, also in terms of price, with an estimate of €1.2 to €1.5 million euros.

The ‘Sechs-Köpfe-Fries’ from 1935 is another important work from Oskar Schlemmer's late painterly oeuvre that will be auctioned from his estate. The painting was originally intended as a portrait format and was created as part of Schlemmer's most important commission for the Folkwang Museum in Essen. As the terms of the commission changed, Schlemmer returned to the work years later and painted over it with a frieze of six girls' heads, which have a unique aura due to their mysterious lighting. The estimated price of this painting is €600,000 to €800,000.

A small but highly significant drawing also follows in the day sale on the upcoming day. The sketch ‘Bauhaustreppe’ is probably the first draft of Schlemmer's most famous work, namely the painting ‘Bauhaustreppe’, which is now a popular attraction in New York's Museum of Modern Art. The sheet is estimated at €10,000 to €15,000 (to be auctioned on 31st May).

Marc Chagall's “L'Oiseau bleu” from 1952 is an excellently preserved example in tempera, gouache, opaque white and brush and ink from the period on the Côte d'Azur. Chagall had settled there after his return from the USA and experienced a happy period in his life, which is echoed in this typical motif and its distinctive blue colour. Estimated price €350,000 to €400,000.

Heinrich Campendonk's ‘Composition with 2 Figures’ is an important example of his intensely coloured gouaches from 1912. Campendonk had joined the ‘Blauer Reiter’ group the previous year. The gouache comes from the Campendonk family estate and is now being offered at an estimate of €220,000 to €240,000.

Another special work is by Emil Nolde: the oil painting ‘Embarkation’ from 1911 reflects Nolde's North German homeland and his connection to the sea. It shows the hard labour on the coast, where a team of horses braces itself against the force of the waves to pull tree trunks to a ship. Estimated price €300,000 to €500,000.

Max Liebermann's work ‘Spaziergänger im Tiergarten’ shows a much quieter scene as strolling figures experience a warm summer's day in Berlin. The painting, from his late oeuvre, places a greater emphasis on nature than previous works. The estimated price in the Cologne auction is €300,000 to €400,000.

The contemporary art section includes a 'Concetto Spaziale' by Lucio Fontana. The work, which was created in 1958 and belongs to the group of 'Gessi' pieces designed with chalk and emphasising surface texture, has an estimated price of €600,000 to €700,000.

In his work from 1951, Pierre Soulages unusually introduces a further colour in addition to black: With its earthy brown, walnut stain brings an additional tone to the composition, and this combination lends it a finer colour gradation and a warmer note. The estimated price for this meditative work is €200,000 to €250,000.

Black predominates in Imi Knoebel's work from 1991: “Schwarzes Bild I - Metropolis” is a monumental piece, the canvas measures 240 by 450 centimetres and has an estimated price of €100,000 to €150,000.

An extraordinary work by Günther Uecker comes with the same estimate. In ‘Sandmühle’ (Sand Mill) from 1966, nails attached to an iron rod move in a circle through sand. The traces that are created in this way only last as long as the iron rod needs for half a rotation - a ‘kinetic memento mori’, as Uecker himself calls it. An inscription on the inside confirms the work's provenance, including the legendary Galerie Schmela in Düsseldorf.

Paintings by Zdeněk Sýkora are in high demand at Lempertz. His 150 x 150 centimetre canvas ‘Lines No. 22’ will be called in this auction. Circular shapes and dots in striking red and orange as well as darker shades of blue, grey and brown make up the character of this work.

Sýkora already began using computers to support his artistic work in the 1960s, and he began creating the ‘Lines’ series as of 1973. The work ‘Lines No. 22’, created in 1982, has an estimated price of €180,000 to €230,000.

Karin Kneffel began creating photo-realistic depictions of fruit in the 1990s. ‘F. XIX’ was painted in 1996. The oil on canvas work, measuring 2 x 2 meters, lets the viewer’s gaze oscillate between near and far. The estimate for this work, which has been exhibited in Munich, Stockholm, and Milan, lies between €150,000 and 200,000.

Jan Bykowski
Press and Public Relations
info@lempertz.com
Tel. 0221 925729 -57