MILAN.- Christie's presents Il Senso del Colore – Works from the Alessandro Grassi Collection to be sold this autumn at Christie's London, Paris and New York. The collection for sale consists of 10 works, which were last seen publicly in 2018 when exhibited at the Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato, with most works coming to auction for the first time as Alessandro Grassi bought mainly via Italian galleries and art dealers.

Alessandro Grassi (1942-2009) was born into a world of colour. His chemist father was a founder of Colorama, a key producer of printing inks, and he would follow into this field, becoming a prominent industrialist in Milan. He began collecting in 1979 by acquiring works from the Transavanguardia movement: a group of Italian artists who embraced vivid colour, form and symbolism in reaction to the Conceptual and Minimal tendencies of the previous decade. 'I'm anti-minimalist', Grassi said. 'Everything I bought was because it provoked a strong emotion in me at the time.'

Later Alessandro Grassi expanded into genres including Pop Art, Spatialism and Arte Povera. He lived amongst his collection in Milan as documented in the 1993 book Collezione private and he lent generously to museum exhibitions, as well as leaving a significant bequest to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART). In 2018 the collection was celebrated in an exhibition entitled Codice colore at the Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato, the city of Grassi's birth.

LONDON – FRIEZE WEEK MARQUEE SALE SEASON - 15 and 16 October 2025

Grassi did not limit himself to any one medium or category, and developed an international outlook over the years. He was drawn to the bold visual language of Alex Katz, whose Kim II (1989 – estimate: £550,000-800,000), Study for Chance (2000 – estimate: £150,000-200,000 / illustrated right) and Sissel (2000 – estimate: £400,000-600,000 / illustrated left) are among the standout works here. All completely fresh to market, these works will be offered across the 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale and the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale, on 15 and 16 October 2025 respectively. They relate to both American Pop and to the Neo-Expressionist tendency that paralleled Italy's Transavanguardia. The London offering is completed by Salvo's Paesaggio (1984 – estimate: £50,000-70,000), also presented at auction for the first time.

PARIS – AVANT-GARDE(S) INCLUDING THINKING ITALIAN – 23 and 24 October 2025

Italian art formed the core of the Grassi collection. Amongst the five works offered in Paris is Mario Schifano's magnificent Grande Quadro Equestre Italiano (1978 / illustrated left) estimated at €150,000-200,000. Widely reproduced - appearing on the cover of Flash Art in 1981-82, and in Schifano's major retrospective of 2002 - it is an exemplary work by the maverick postmodern painter, who drew upon urban experience and deconstructed art-historical tradition. Gino de Dominicis's Senza Titolo (1997-1998), with its red figure set amid a gleaming ground of silver, is a typically enigmatic vision from one of post-war Italy's most mysterious artists (estimate: €80,000-120,000).

Senza titolo (Il mondo è un insieme di particolari…) (1989-1991), is a rare collaborative tapestry between Mimmo Paladino and Alighiero Boetti (illustrated right). It offers a meditation on the infinite, with intertwined complexities of existence (estimate: €150,000-200,000).

On 24 October in the Art Contemporain day sale auction Valley Curtain (Project for Colorado) (1972) a drawing by Christo & Jeanne-Claude for their bright orange fabric installation over a Colorado highway, spanning almost four hundred meters (estimate: €40,000-60,000) will be offered alongside one painting by Salvo, who plays with genre, colour and fame in his 31 Siciliani (1976 / estimate: €50,000-70,000).

NEW YORK – POST WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART - 1 November 2025

Christie's will be offering an unmistakable Jackie (1964) by Andy Warhol—one of the artist's most iconic images - in our upcoming New York Post War and Contemporary Art Day Sale (estimate: US$650,000-850,000).