MARDI 27 OCTOBRE 2026 
Chagall and the École de Paris Artists at Auction
T he “École de Paris” sale brings together artists from across Central and Eastern Europe who helped transform Montparnasse and Paris into a laboratory of modernity. Throughout the catalogue, certain works stand out for their quality, history or rarity. The first of these is also the most ambitious: a double-sided painting by Mela Muter, Women on the Banks of the Rhône at Avignon / Sketch for a Male Portrait, dating from around 1940 (estimate: €60,000–80,000).
A Franco-Polish artist who settled in Paris in 1901, Muter depicts three standing women carrying jars and a basket, seemingly continuing on their way above the Rhône. The repetition of the female figure lends the composition an almost architectural presence, while the blue, appearing on each of the figures, creates a diagonal that guides the viewer’s eye. On the reverse, a sketch of a male portrait reveals the artist’s mastery in rendering the human face. The painting was executed during the war, when Muter was hiding in Avignon with the help of local residents.
Of comparable quality, though in a more intimate vein, Nude from Behind, 1953, by Moïse Kisling (estimate: €30,000–40,000), depicts a young woman seen from behind, her red hair set against a halo of green and ochre.
Henri Hayden, meanwhile, portrayed himself in 1915 in Self-Portrait of the Painter (lot 48, €30,000–40,000). Shown in a bust-length composition, slightly turned three-quarters towards the viewer, he stands before a green curtain. The face, constructed through broad planes of shadow and light, is striking, while the almost entirely black eyes lend the gaze a particular intensity.
The power of the human form lies at the heart of Wrestlers by Károly Ferenczy (lot 212, €30,000–40,000), painted in 1912. Two naked men grapple in a tightly fought struggle against a midnight-blue background. The work is an outstanding example of Ferenczy’s output in the early 1910s, and of the artist whose influence would be keenly felt by future generations of Hungarian artists.
With Marc Chagall, the sale takes on a more personal dimension. Thank You for the Sausage (estimate: €25,000–30,000), executed in 1976, bears the dedication “In thanks for the sausage”. On returning from a stay in Albi, Jules Cavaillès had presented the painter with a sausage, a regional speciality of south-western France. Chagall responded with this drawing as a token of his gratitude.
In a similar spirit, Winged Painter in Blue and Reclining Nude for M. Bordeneuve (lot 74, €20,000–30,000) dates from 1957. This work in watercolour, gouache and ink appears on the double-page front endpaper of Chagall, the Complete Etchings and is dedicated to Jacques Bordeneuve. Its lively line and translucent colours, blue and orange, evoke Chagall’s distinctive menagerie, poised between dream and reality.
Finally, The Dervish by Vera Pagava (estimate: €20,000–30,000), dating from around 1935, belongs to her figurative period, before the abstraction that would later define her work. Created while Pagava was working in Roger Bissière’s studio at the Académie Ranson, the painting is a particularly valuable example of her work in the mid-1930s.
Of comparable quality, though in a more intimate vein, Nude from Behind, 1953, by Moïse Kisling (estimate: €30,000–40,000), depicts a young woman seen from behind, her red hair set against a halo of green and ochre.
Henri Hayden, meanwhile, portrayed himself in 1915 in Self-Portrait of the Painter (lot 48, €30,000–40,000). Shown in a bust-length composition, slightly turned three-quarters towards the viewer, he stands before a green curtain. The face, constructed through broad planes of shadow and light, is striking, while the almost entirely black eyes lend the gaze a particular intensity.
The power of the human form lies at the heart of Wrestlers by Károly Ferenczy (lot 212, €30,000–40,000), painted in 1912. Two naked men grapple in a tightly fought struggle against a midnight-blue background. The work is an outstanding example of Ferenczy’s output in the early 1910s, and of the artist whose influence would be keenly felt by future generations of Hungarian artists.
With Marc Chagall, the sale takes on a more personal dimension. Thank You for the Sausage (estimate: €25,000–30,000), executed in 1976, bears the dedication “In thanks for the sausage”. On returning from a stay in Albi, Jules Cavaillès had presented the painter with a sausage, a regional speciality of south-western France. Chagall responded with this drawing as a token of his gratitude.
In a similar spirit, Winged Painter in Blue and Reclining Nude for M. Bordeneuve (lot 74, €20,000–30,000) dates from 1957. This work in watercolour, gouache and ink appears on the double-page front endpaper of Chagall, the Complete Etchings and is dedicated to Jacques Bordeneuve. Its lively line and translucent colours, blue and orange, evoke Chagall’s distinctive menagerie, poised between dream and reality.
Finally, The Dervish by Vera Pagava (estimate: €20,000–30,000), dating from around 1935, belongs to her figurative period, before the abstraction that would later define her work. Created while Pagava was working in Roger Bissière’s studio at the Académie Ranson, the painting is a particularly valuable example of her work in the mid-1930s.
