511 - Serge Poliakoff* (Moskow 1899 - 1969 Paris)

Serge Poliakoff* (Moskow 1899 - 1969 Paris) Composition Red, Yellow, Blue lithography/paper 57 x 43,5 cm signed Serge Poliakoff, numbered 6/20 SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 2000 - 4000 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 2000 Poliakoff was born in Moscow on January 8, 1900. Following the Russian Revolution, he left his homeland in 1917 and initially spent time in several European cities. For years, he earned his living as a guitarist and cabaret musician before dedicating himself permanently to painting. He settled in Paris in 1923 and became a French citizen in 1962. His artistic training took him to institutions such as the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and, between 1935 and 1937, the Slade School of Art in London. Encounters with Wassily Kandinsky and with Sonia and Robert Delaunay were pivotal in his shift toward abstraction. Starting from figurative painting, Poliakoff developed an increasingly non-representational visual language from the late 1930s onwards. In his mature works, he arranged asymmetrical, puzzle-like interlocking planes of color into cohesive pictorial structures. His aim was neither spatial illusion nor pure geometric construction, but rather the intrinsic nature of color and form—focusing on materiality, layering, and chromatic vibration. With his finely nuanced color harmonies—often characterized by a matte finish—he became a leading figure of Lyrical Abstraction and the École de Paris. Poliakoff died in Paris on October 12, 1969. Today, his works are held in major public collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Centre Pompidou, the Tate, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.