VENDREDI 27 MARS 2026 
Parisian posters and lithographs are also represented through several impressions by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The lithograph La Loge au mascaron doré (1893) demonstrates the artist’s exceptional mastery of colour lithography. This extremely rare impression from the first state, signed and dedicated, reveals Lautrec’s interest in high society. Two major posters complete this group. Reine de Joie (1892), designed to promote Victor Joze’s novel, illustrates Lautrec’s provocative and satirical spirit. Its imagery – a young woman kissing a portly banker on the nose – caused a genuine scandal in Parisian financial circles, to the extent that some posters were torn down from walls (estimate: €50,000–60,000).
Another visual icon, Aristide Bruant aux Ambassadeurs (1892), immortalises the silhouette of the famous Montmartre chansonnier, recognisable by his dark coat and red scarf. This now emblematic poster helped popularise both its subject and Lautrec’s distinctive graphic style (estimate: €50,000–60,000).
The centrepiece of the sale, however, remains L’Angoisse (Angstgefühl) by Edvard Munch, a lithograph produced in 1896. Printed in around one hundred impressions for the first Album des peintres-graveurs published by Ambroise Vollard, the work reprises the motif of a painting created by Munch two years earlier (estimate: €250,000–300,000). Here, the artist deploys an intense, Symbolist visual language: rigid figures advance across a bridge within a twilight landscape, where stark contrasts of black and red heighten the psychological tension.
Bringing together major figures of graphic modernity, the sale offers a remarkable overview of technical experimentation, aesthetic innovation and expressive power.
Printmaking at its Finest: Cassatt, Lautrec and Munch in Focus
T he Old Master Prints and Posters sale, organised by auction house Ferri at Hôtel Drouot on 27 March, highlights some of the leading figures in late nineteenth-century graphic art. At the heart of this selection are works by Mary Cassatt, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edvard Munch – three artists who profoundly renewed the expressive possibilities of printmaking.
Among the standout lots, La Toilette (Woman Bathing) by Mary Cassatt, created circa 1891, perfectly embodies the artist’s technical and aesthetic boldness. This colour print, executed in drypoint, ranks among the most accomplished works in her oeuvre. It reflects Cassatt’s fascination with Japanese printmaking, which influenced her compositions, flat areas of colour, and intimate subject matter. Estimated at €60,000–80,000, it is one of the highlights of the sale.
Parisian posters and lithographs are also represented through several impressions by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The lithograph La Loge au mascaron doré (1893) demonstrates the artist’s exceptional mastery of colour lithography. This extremely rare impression from the first state, signed and dedicated, reveals Lautrec’s interest in high society. Two major posters complete this group. Reine de Joie (1892), designed to promote Victor Joze’s novel, illustrates Lautrec’s provocative and satirical spirit. Its imagery – a young woman kissing a portly banker on the nose – caused a genuine scandal in Parisian financial circles, to the extent that some posters were torn down from walls (estimate: €50,000–60,000).
Another visual icon, Aristide Bruant aux Ambassadeurs (1892), immortalises the silhouette of the famous Montmartre chansonnier, recognisable by his dark coat and red scarf. This now emblematic poster helped popularise both its subject and Lautrec’s distinctive graphic style (estimate: €50,000–60,000).
The centrepiece of the sale, however, remains L’Angoisse (Angstgefühl) by Edvard Munch, a lithograph produced in 1896. Printed in around one hundred impressions for the first Album des peintres-graveurs published by Ambroise Vollard, the work reprises the motif of a painting created by Munch two years earlier (estimate: €250,000–300,000). Here, the artist deploys an intense, Symbolist visual language: rigid figures advance across a bridge within a twilight landscape, where stark contrasts of black and red heighten the psychological tension.
Bringing together major figures of graphic modernity, the sale offers a remarkable overview of technical experimentation, aesthetic innovation and expressive power.
