Modern Art | November 23, 2016
Dorotheum’s November 2016 modern art auction presents a cross-section of the category’s best from a still-life of a bouquet of flowers into which Marc Chagall channels the energy of a landscape to the urban dynamism of Giacomo Balla.
Marc Chagall’s “Fleurs” from 1924 are not a still life. There is nothing traditional about his bouquets. They are testament to a deep love of nature, an expression of joy, a symbol of life and a sign of hope. Giacomo Balla’s “Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe”, for him, revealed art’s revolutionary and all-encompassing role in redefining the known universe, from the landscape to the stilllife. His “Valori plastici”, which features in Dorotheum’s auction of modern art, is part of this role.
"Valori plastici” is one of the best innovations from among the studies of movement and light that lined the corridor/gallery of the Balla house; the marble clouds looming on the horizon move from the past to the skyline of the new, rising city. The future will be a flash of light. The auction also features strong figurative works by Max Ernst, Otto Mueller, Paul Klee, Giorgio de Chirico, and Francis Picabia as well as many other exciting pieces.