A still life by Chardin breaks records in Paris
Jean-Siméon Chardin's "The Basket of Wild Strawberries" (1761) has been sold for €24.4 million by Artcurial Paris, a record for the artist.
Jean-Simeon Chardin - The Basket of Wild Strawberries - 1761
Image: Jean-Siméon Chardin, "The Basket of Wild Strawberries" (1761). Oil on canvas, 38 x 46 cm
Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) was one of the greatest still-life painters of all time, praised by Diderot (who called him "the great magician") and by later artists such as Henri Matisse. "The Basket of Wild Strawberries" is a unique work in Chardin's career, being his only painting in which strawberries are the protagonists of the composition.
According to Artcurial, the painting "is directly comparable to the ‘Basket of plums’ (Paris, the Louvre) and the ‘Glass of Water and Coffeepot’ (Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute of Art), dating from the same period and both considered to be absolute masterpieces. The modernity of Chardin’s still lives found an important echo at the time of Impressionism, notably with Fantin-Latour, Monet, Renoir... And the rigour of his geometric compositions was seen again in the 20th Century in the work of Cézanne, Morandi, right through to Wayne Thiebault.”
The 24.4 million euros is a new record price for the artist at auction, far surpassing the 6 million euros paid in December last year for "La Fontaine". Some sources have announced that it is also a new record for an early French painting, although the £17.1 million paid in 2013 for the portrait of Francois-Henri d'Harcourt painted by Jean-Honoré Fragonard is –taking inflation into account- a similar price (not to mention, of course, the $26 million paid by the Getty Museum in 1997 for a landscape by Nicolas Poussin). Needless to say, the price is still a far cry from those paid for several still lifes by post-impressionist and modern painters, such as the $60.5 million paid in 1999 for "Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier" by another French painter, Paul Cézanne.

Read the full article