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For Immediate Release15 April 2011

Contact: Erin McAndrew Tel. 212.636.2680 [email protected]

THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST AT CHRISTIE'S THIS SPRING

IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART EVENING SALE INNEW YORK EXPECTED TO EXCEED $160 MILLION

MASTER WORKS BY MONET, MATISSE, BONNARD, PICASSO, AND VLAMINCK AMONG LEADING HIGHLIGHTS

MAURICE DE VLAMINCK (1876-1958)Paysage de banlieue

Oil on canvas, painted in 1905Estimate: US$18,000,000 25,000,000

Public Exhibition: April 29 to May 4, 2011 Auction: May 4, 2011 at 7pm

New York Christies is pleased to announce complete details of its upcoming Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on 4 May 2011. Fifty-seven exceptional works representing the best andbrightest in this collecting category comprise the sale, including paintings and sculpture by the greatmasters Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, Pablo Picasso, and Giorgiode Chirico, among others. The sale is expected to achieve in excess of US$ 160 million.

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Conor Jordan, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christies New York, noted: Color is the driving theme among our most-anticipated offerings this season from the fiery oranges and reds of Vlamincks glorious landscape, tothe cool blues and greens of Monets view of poplar trees curving along the river. Our recent London sales of Impressi

Modern Art in February demonstrated that collector demand for top-quality works offered fresh to the marketreach new heights. We are pleased to present this exceptional line-up of important Impressionist and Modern aincluding a number of significant works that are being released from private collections for the first time in gene.

Among the most visually-arresting paintings in the sale is Paysage de banlieue (pictured page one), a truefauvist masterpiece by the celebrated French landscape painter Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958).

Admired as the wildest of the Fauves (or wild beasts as they were dubbed by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles), Vlaminck was among the leaders of the movement dedicated to revolutionizing 20th century art through the use of pure, unmodulated color and expressive brushwork. Paysage de banlieue , painted in1905, shows Vlaminck working at the height of his creative powers, with his classical training in form andcomposition melding seamlessly with his innovative approach to color and paint handling.

Last exhibited publicly in 1996 as part of a museum exhibition devoted to the Fauve movement, Paysage de banlieue was the top-selling work at Christie's New York Evening Sale in May 1994. Estimated at US$ 18-25

million, this remarkable view of Vlamincks small Parisian suburb of Chatou is returning to the marketafter nearly 20 years in prominent private collections and is poised to become one of the top-selling paintings at auction this season.

Picassos Homage to Delacroix Les femmes dAlger, version L

Among the top lots of the sale is Pablo Picassos Les femmes dAlger , version L (estimate: US$ 20-30 million), one of the largest

works within the artists groundbreaking series of 15 paintings createdin 1955 in homage to the masterpiece of the same name by the 19 th century master Eugne Delacroix (1798-1863). Picassos fascination

with Delacroix was long-standing; he was haunted by the orientalistpainters portrayal of three women set against the backdrop of an

Algerian harem. When asked what he felt about Delacroix, Picassoslover Franoise Gilot recalled that Picassos eyes narrowed and hesaid, That bastard. Hes really good.

For Version L, Picasso zeroed in on the hookah-smoking woman atthe far rig ht in Delacroixs original scene and recasts her in cubiststyle, with an economy of line and a near monochromatic colorpalette. Seated face-front and square to the viewer, her monumental,idol-like presence nearly fills the canvas from edge to edge.

Version L, along with the rest of the series, was originally owned by the legendary American collectors Victor and Sally Ganz. The couple purchased the entire group of 15 paintings in 1956 for $212,500 astaggering sum that reportedly shocked even Picasso at the time. To offset the cost, the Ganzes promptly sold 10 of the paintings on to Picassos New York dealers Paul Rosenberg and Eleanore and DanielSaidenberg. Les f emmes dAlger, Version L was purchased from Rosenberg in 1959 by a distinguished

American collector, and has remained in the family s collection since. The upcoming sale marks the firstpublic exhibition of this exceptional work in more than 50 years.

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Additional highlights of sale include:

IMPRESSIONIST HIGHLIGHTS

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)Les peupliers,oil on canvas, painted in 1891 Estimate: $20,000,000-30,000,000

Monets Les Peupliers is one of the most celebrated of the pioneering artists great series of works from his years in Giverny. Painted en plein air during the summer of 1891, the work is the largest of the artists paintingsdevoted to a picturesque arrangement o f poplar trees, known as the treeof liberty in his native France. The painting is offered from animportant private collection and remains in pristine condition, in itsoriginal unvarnished and unlined state.

See dedicated press release

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)Iris mauves,oil on canvas, painted in 1914-1917 Estimate: $15,000,000-20,000,000

At six and a half feet tall, Monet's Iris mauves is among the largest andmost ambitious works the artist ever created. It was painted between1914 and 1917 in preparation for his Grandes dcorations series, an ensembleof 22 mural-sized canvases totaling more than 90 meters in length thatMonet completed just months before his death in 1926. Rendered in richindigos and greens, Monet's irises appear to vibrate with energy as they reach toward a cloud-flecked spring sky. This superb work is offeredfrom a private Swiss collection and was previously owned by theprominent New York art collectors John and Frances Loeb.

MODERN PAINTING HIGHLIGHTS

HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954)La fentre ouverte,oil over pencil on canvas, painted in Collioure, 1911 Estimate: $8,000,000-12,000,000

This glorious portrayal of Matisses room in Collioure and the view beyond belongs to a landmark series of interiors painted in 1911. Matisseand his early Modernist peers had just begun to explore a new way of painting in w hich color itself becomes form. The open window was a

preferred motif for Matisse as it gave him both a framing device and asource of light for his interiors. Here, the window stands open to allow the dazzling light of a new day to set the room ablaze with jewel tones of rose, lavender and green. The work so inspired the colorist painter PierreBonnard that he acquired it shortly after its execution and kept it in hispersonal collection for the rest of his life.

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HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954) Nu couch III,bronze with dark brown patinaConceived in Nice, 1929 and cast in 1930 Estimate: $3,000,000-4,000,000

From the same distinguished American collection that includes Picasso'sLes femmes D'Alger, Version L , Christie's is pleased to offer Henri Matisse's

Nu couch III , an important bronze from the artist's series of recumbentodalisques. Modeled in 1929 and cast the following year, Nu couch III isthe artist's third and final expression of a theme that occupied him forover two decades. As with his monumental series Nu de dos (Backs), Matisse's reclining nude moves gradually from the roughly modeled figureof Nu couch I to the more abstracted, flowing form of Nu couch III (seenat left). For Matisse, this ongoing dialogue between the sculpture andpainting energized his works and allowed him to continually evolve as anartist.

SURREALIST HIGHLIGHTS

GIORGIO DE CHIRICO (1888-1978)Ettore e Andromaca,tempera on canvasPainted in 1923 Estimate: $5,000,000-7,000,000

Since its first dedicated auction of Surrealist art in 2001, Christies hasseen growing demand for works in this genre, and recently realized arecord total of $37 million for the category at its London auction inFebruary. This May, Christies Evening Sale will present de Chiricos Ettore e Andromaca , the most important 1920s-era painting by the artist to haveappeared at auction in recent memory. It was originally owned by the artcritic Giorgio Castelfranco, an avid collector and supporter of deChiricos work, and has been maintained in a private family collection forover four decades.

JEAN (HANS) ARP (1886-1966)Homme-moustaches Oil on cut-out board, executed in 1925; uniqueEstimate: $400,000-600,000

The upcoming sale features two masterpiece works by Arp that brilliantly convey his unique brand of anthropomorphic Surrealism. His 1925painted work Homme-moustaches belongs to the remarkable series of painted reliefs that introduced a simplified iconography of figures, facesand simple objects. These humorous, thoroughly modern images oftenfocus obsessively on one body part in this case, the large looming arches of mans moustache . Earlier in the sale, Christies will present

Arps Torse , a magnificent white marble sculpture of a female torso(estimate: $400,000-600,000). Setting aside caricature for sensuousbeauty, Arp created this unique abstraction of the female form as one of his first works in three dimensions.

The complete e-catalogue for the Evening Sale is now available online at http://www.christies.com/eCatalogues/index.aspx?id=0EC45C6DC9EC471E852577E5005B2787

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Auction: Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 7pm Viewings: Christies Rockefeller Center Galleries April 29 May 4, 2011

About ChristiesChristies, the world's leading art business had global auction and private sales in 2010 that totaled 3.3 billion/$5.0billion. Christies is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well asinternational glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th,19th and 20th centuries, and today remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christies offersover 450 sales annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs,collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christies has 53 offices in 32 countriesand 10 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai andHong Kong. Mo re recently, Christies has led the market with expanded initiatives in emerging and new marketssuch as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbaiand Dubai.*Estimates do not include buyer's premium

High-res images available upon request.

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