ANTIBES.- On Sunday 19 April 2026, auction house Metayer-Mermoz dispersed in Antibes, as part of its « Twentieth-Century Art » sale comprising over 380 lots, the three previously unknown works by Joan Miró discovered in the Nice studio of Edmond Vernassa (1926-2010), a plasticien of the École de Nice and founder of the Plexi-Azur workshop. Together, the three works achieved €2,113,825, within a sale totalling €2,845,247. The most spectacular result came from the two panoramic drawings offered in the sale, which sparked a spirited bidding battle between several American and French collectors in the room and bidders on the phone and online.
“This result confirms the calling of our house and our vocation as auctioneers: to bring to light, as close as possible to the places where we operate, major works whose very existence could have remained long unsuspected. And then to carry them to the standing and attention they deserve.” — Maître Guillaume Mermoz, auctioneer
A Nice discovery, a Maeght commission
The three works had remained in Edmond Vernassa’s studio on the port of Nice since the early 1970s. A plasticien of the École de Nice and head of the Plexi-Azur workshop specialised in the fabrication of Plexiglas, Vernassa moved in a circle that included Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder, and above all Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, dealers, publishers and central figures of the post-war French art market — founders of the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, sometimes described as « Miró’s home » in France.
The two monumental panoramic drawings of 1971 (86 × 411 cm and 86 × 447 cm), which formed the heart of the sale, had been commissioned by the Maeghts to adorn the balustrade of the interior balcony of their Paris apartment on avenue Élisée Reclus in the 7th arrondissement. Miró had entrusted their execution in Plexiglas to Vernassa, at whose studio the original drawings remained — preserved exactly as they were, with the pin-holes still visible along their edges attesting to their original role as studio templates.
The third work, Le Soleil, Mallorca, had been commissioned in 1972 by the Fomento de Turismo Español to promote the island of Majorca. Reproduced on 100,000 posters, then declined in sculpture and medal form (a metal example is held in the Es Baluard Museu d’Art Contemporani de Palma), the original composition was subsequently reworked by Miró — cut to an oval shape, simplified with white gouache — and given to Vernassa, who produced several Plexiglas colour trials, one of which was also still in the studio.
