If you’re looking to auction a work by Max Beckmann, Grisebach is undoubtedly the place to go. The Berlin auction house set a German auction record in 2018 with the enigmatic painting Female Head in Blue and Grey (The Egyptian), which sold for €5,530,000 (including premium). This triumph was surpassed in December 2022 when Beckmann's Self-Portrait Yellow-Pink achieved an extraordinary €23,225,000 (including premium).
At Grisebach’s winter auctions this year, the “Selected Works” segment once again featured exceptional pieces by Max Beckmann, including Quappi with Green Parasol from 1938. This portrait of his beloved wife Mathilde, known as Quappi, is considered one of the finest in the series. Estimated at €4–6 million, the painting drew global interest, eventually selling to a private collector from Lower Saxony bidding online. The final price of €5,398,000 (including premium) not only set a new record for a Quappi portrait but also became the highest amount ever bid online in a German auction.
See also: Max Beckmann’s Iconic Portrait of Quappi Heads to Auction
Another work Beckmann, Still Life with Orchids and Pears, also internationally contested, went to a Berlin private collection. The 1946 painting, owned by Quappi Beckmann until her death in 1986, achieved €1,758,000 (including premium).
See also: Dogs in Art: 10 Portraits Through the Ages
German collectors dominated the auction’s highlights, including Georg Baselitz’s large-scale oil painting Nice Yellow from 2009. Exceeding its estimate of €450,000–650,000, it achieved €889,000 (including premium). Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s Bust of the Kneeling Woman (Inclined Woman’s Head), after spirited bidding, went to a buyer in southern Germany for €457,200 (including premium). Another German private collector successfully bid by phone to acquire Günther Uecker’s nail painting SPIRAL for €400,050 (including premium).
Henri Manguin’s Jeanne near the Dovecote of the City of Demière in Saint-Tropez from 1905 was hotly contested internationally and sold to a Swiss dealer for €419,100 (including premium), setting a new German auction record for the French Fauvist painter.
See also: Kees van Dongen: The Fauvist Portraitist
The auction also featured a world record after a fierce bidding war. Mill Valley of Amalfi, recently restituted to the heirs of its creator, landscape painter Carl Blechen, far exceeded its estimate of €100,000–150,000, selling for €431,800 (including premium). The painting will now join a private collection in Hesse.
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Daniel von Schacky, Grisebach’s management spokesperson and partner, expressed his satisfaction: “Grisebach’s global network and excellent reputation have delivered outstanding results for our consignors across contemporary art and classical modernism, even in challenging times. I foresee even greater demand for masterpieces in the 2025 art market.”
Grisebach closes 2024 with total auction sales exceeding €40 million.
