Nicolas de Staël
1914-1955 · French · School of Paris, Lyrical Abstraction
Auction record: $22M
Parc des Princes (Les grands footballeurs), 1952 · Christie's, Paris · Oct 17, 2019
Source: masterworks.com
Biography
Nicolas de Staël, born in Saint Petersburg in 1914, fled Russia as a child and became a French citizen in 1948. In Paris after the war he built thick slabs of colour with palette knife and spatula, then in 1952 returned to the motif after watching a night football match at the Parc des Princes. His late landscapes, still lifes and Mediterranean views balance abstraction and figuration and helped define the School of Paris. He died in Antibes in 1955, aged 41, so his output is limited and major paintings appear rarely. That scarcity supports prices: in October 2019 Parc des Princes (Les grands footballeurs) sold at Christie's Paris for 20 million euros, his auction record.
Market
- Liquidity: Medium
Museums
- Centre Pompidou, Paris
- Musée Picasso, Antibes
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Tate, London
- The Phillips Collection, Washington
Sources
- Tendance Ouest, record pour Nicolas de Staël avec Parc des Princes
- Masterworks, Nicolas de Staël
- Gazette Drouot, a record on paper for Nicolas de Staël
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