Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bouquet de lilas.
Photo: Courtesy of Sothebys
Auction of the Week: Stunning Flower Painting by Renoir Sells for $8 Million
Bouquet de lilas (1878) sold at Sotheby’s after a ten-minute bidding war, doubling its high estimate
Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Evening auction on June 25 achieved a total north of $105 million after being estimated to fetch between $88 million and $125 million. Amid recent economic and political uncertainties in London, art sales and records have been slowing down. In spite of the softening market, there were some eventful moments on the night, one of which was the sale of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Bouquet de lilas (1878), which was acquired after a ten-minute bidding war, fetching around $8.7 million, doubling its high estimate. The work was hitting the auction block for the first time in nearly four decades.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bouquet de lilas. Photo: Courtesy of Sothebys
One of Renoir’s best floral compositions, the work was being celebrated as the perfect balance between technical know-how and radical experimentation. The purple lilacs form a fluffy, cloudlike vision that capture their vibrance and freshness.
Over the course of his career, Renoir painted around 600 still lifes, the depictions of flowers preferred subject within the genre. At the time he was working, the genre of still life was rapidly growing in popularity amongst collectors but one of the main reasons Renoir continued to paint flowers, according to the catalogue essay by Sotheby’s, was the technical and artistic freedom that the painting of flowers afforded him.
“Painting flowers is a form of mental relaxation,” he once said. “I do not need the concentration that I need when I am faced with a model. When I am painting flowers, I can experiment boldly with tones and values without worrying about destroying the whole painting. I would not dare to do that with a figure because I would be afraid of spoiling everything. The experience l gain from these experiments can then be applied to my paintings.”
Other examples at auction include his Fleurs dans un vase, circa 1878, which sold at Sotheby’s in March 2024 for $2.5 million and Roses dans un vase de crystal, circa 1879, which sold at Sotheby’s New York in May 2024 for $3.2 million.
Cover: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bouquet de lilas.
Photo: Courtesy of Sothebys
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