HONG KONG.- Prior to the forthcoming Impressionist & Modern Art, Surrealist Art and Contemporary Art Evening Sales to be held in London on 1 and 8 March, Sotheby’s presents an exhibition of highlights in Hong Kong from 14 to 17 January – including exquisite paintings by some of the most sought-after artists from Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse to Gerhard Richter and Yves Klein.

Property from a Private French Collection
René Magritte Le Repas de noces 1940 Gouache on paper, 31 x 41.5cm Est: £900,000 – 1,200,000 / HKD 8,600,000 – 11,500,000
The finest gouache by Magritte to appear on the market in recent history, Le Repas de noces has remained in the same private collection for almost 50 years. This work originates from a turbulent period of Magritte’s life, as he fled Brussels for France fearing political persecution following the German invasion. The artist only remained in the hilltop medieval town of Carcassonne for a few months but the upheaval inevitably had an effect on his art - as he produced very little work and what he created shook off the hold of reality in favour of his inner world. Le Repas de noces combines two images that Magritte explored around this time: a reclining lion, the trademark of a Brussels food retailer that was an ubiquitous part of everyday life, and an egg on a table top.

Property from the Collection of Rose Adler
Francis Picabia Ino 1929-30 watercolour and pencil on paper, in a wood and coloured mirror frame by Rose Adler Est: £500,000 – 700,000 / HKD 4,800,000 – 6,700,000
Ino belongs to Picabia’s elegant Transparences series, which derives its name from multiple layers of overlapping imagery. In this work, two faces of undeterminable gender and foliage are combined to create an image of timeless and contemplative beauty. The deliberately obscure quality renders it a seemingly impenetrable allegory with characteristics of a dream or mystic vision. The mysterious work is named after the Theban queen Ino, an example of Picabia’s tendency to choose titles based on Biblical characters and Greco-Roman mythology. The Transparences also drew their inspiration from Romanesque Frescos, Renaissance painting and Catalan art – rich in a combination of cultural references that together become compositions of great beauty and harmony. The bold frame for Ino was designed by French fashion, furniture and jewellery designer Rose Adler, who received the work directly from the artist – bringing together Surrealism and Art Deco.

The Collection of Lord and Lady Attenborough
Auguste Rodin Penseur, petit modèle Reduced size conceived in 1902; the present example was cast between 1920 and 1930 Bronze Est: £800,000 – 1,000,000 / HKD 7,700,000 – 9,600,000
Following last year’s white glove sales of Picasso ceramics and Modern British Art from the renowned collection of Lord and Lady Attenborough, our March sale will present an outstanding sculpture from the same collection. Recognised as one of the most famous images in the history of Western art, Rodin’s Penseur was first conceived as the central figure of Dante in his monumental Gates of Hell. Transcending this narrative, Penseur took on an independent life to become a universal symbol of creative genius and the personification of the act of thinking and reflection.

Property from an Important Private European Collection
Henri Matisse Jacquy 1947 Brush and ink on paper, 49 x 37.2cm Est: £350,000 – 450,000 / HKD 3,300,000 – 4,300,000
In the 1940s Matisse turned to brush and ink to create a series of dazzling drawings that are of equal impact as the richly shaded charcoal drawings of the same period – possessing a classical discipline, reminiscent of the ancient art of calligraphy, and a refined sense of design. The entire sheet is filled in grand, gestural strokes with a sureness of line creating a stunning image of Jacquy.

Property from a Private European Collection
Wassily Kandinsky Deutliche Verbindung (Clear Connection) 1925 Watercolour and Indian ink on paper, 48.2 x 31.8 cm Est: £800,000 – 1,200,000 / HKD 7,700,000 – 11,500,000
In 1922 Kandinsky joined the teaching staff at the Bauhaus, the radically progressive establishment, where he would remain for over a decade. The Bauhaus was dedicated to the pursuit of aesthetic theory and, as a gathering place for many of the key figures of Modern art and design in Germany, it provided the perfect backdrop to Kandinsky’s own theoretical and artistic experimentation. Adopting increasingly pure geometric abstraction, partly influenced by the time he spent in Russia, Kandinsky continued his investigations into the interrelationship of colour and form. A delicate and deliberate orchestration of lines, shapes and dots, Deutliche Verbindung exemplifies the dynamic outcome of this experimentation. His exquisite use of watercolour and ink in this work reflects both the influence of fellow Bauhaus teacher Paul Klee and an increasing interest in a medium that would come to define much of his artistic output over the remainder of his career.

Marc Chagall Grand coq blanc 1979 – 80 Oil and tempera on canvas, 91.9 x 65.3 cm Est: £1,000,000 – 1,500,000 / HKD 9,600,000 – 14,400,000
Grand coq blanc is populated with many of Chagall’s iconic motifs – featuring a large cockerel, bouquet of flowers, melancholic lovers and the rooftops of his provincial birthplace of Vitebsk. The theme of the artist in the studio was a subject that the artist returned to particularly in his later years, as he took stock of his achievements following the opening of the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall and the presentation of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. The work is suffused with a rich and colourful palette, which reflects Chagall’s engagement with colour and light in the stained glass windows he was working on at the same time.

Pablo Picasso Nature morte au tableau 1906 Oil on canvas, 81.5 x 100.5 cm Est: £600,000 – 800,000 / HKD 5,700,000 – 7,700,000
Nature morte au tableau was executed during Picasso’s stay at the Catalonian mountain village of Gósol, where he spent the summer of 1906 with his lover and muse Fernande Olivier. The work is the largest and most complex example of the several watercolour and oil still-lives executed by Picasso during that period, one of which is now at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. With their earthy palette and assemblage of everyday objects – including the characteristic Catalan porrón jug – these works are rooted in the tradition of Spanish still-life painting. It has been suggested that the composition depicts Picasso’s studio at Gósol, as the drawing visible on the wall to the right can be linked to a study for the famous Les deux frères.

Fernard Léger L’Etoile blanche 1946 Oil on canvas, 73 x 92 cm Est: £1,000,000 – 1,500,000 / HKD 9,600,000 – 14,400,000
L’Etoile blanche exemplifies Léger’s commitment to a populist aesthetic and his fascination with the expressive potential of colour – the two defining stylistic factors during the last decade of his life. This work is a complex arrangement of stylised and geometric forms executed in fully saturated colours, creating a work of remarkable visual presence. In contrast to the rarefied and elitist aesthetic of post-war abstraction, these vibrant, elegant paintings were intended to appeal to the public with a more comprehensible, figurative style and subject matter.

• Jean Dubuffet L'Homme au Papillon 1954 Oil on canvas, 129.5 x 97 cm Est: £3,000,000 – 5,000,000 / HKD 28,500,000 – 47,600,000

• Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild (654-4) 1988 Oil on Canvas, 92 x 67cm Est: £1,500,000 – 2,000,000/ HKD 14,285,300 – 19,047,100

• Yves Klein Untitled Monogold (MG 47) Circa 1961 Gold leaf on wood panel, 21.5 x 17.5 cm Est: £700,000 – 900,000 / HKD 6,700,000 – 8,600,000