LONDON.- At the turn of the century, Paul Cézanne’s revolutionary works began the process of the fragmentation of reality in art that opened the door to modernism. Returning to a subject that had captivated him since the 1860s, the artist used the classical subject of bathers from the grand French tradition as a compositional tool for a completely new and free aesthetic. The masterful use of translucent patches of watercolour renders the human figures almost weightless – the nudes are fully embraced by nature. Adding to the rarity of the richly-composed and vibrant artwork, the triangular composition reveals a view of Montagne Sainte-Victoire. Thus, in such a small scale, Cézanne is able to perfectly capture the most important subjects and ideas that formed his artistic legacy. A generation of artists saw a new world of possibility in his innovative use of space and light and, in just a few square inches, the very DNA of Picasso’s inspiration for Cubism and his iconic Les Demoiselles d'Avignon can be found. Dating from the last period of his life, and appearing at auction for the first time in almost three decades, Baigneuses, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire au fond is estimated to bring £4 – 6 million as the cover-lot of Sotheby’s inaugural Actual Size sale on 21 June.

The illustrious provenance of this work further underpins its quality and desirability, having been included in two of the greatest single owner sales in Sotheby’s 273-year history. Its story began in the collection of Cézanne’s son, also named Paul, and found its way into the legendary collection of German industrialist Robert von Hirsch – who had assembled one of the world’s most significant collections encompassing Impressionist and Modern paintings, alongside Old Master and Medieval works of art. In June 1978, a series of seven sales of von Hirsch’s collection at Sotheby’s made history – with the extraordinary total making front-page news on most English newspapers – to this day it is considered to be one of the most successful auctions ever. It was in this sale that the work was bought by the British Rail Pension Fund for £140,000 ($259,000). In the mid-1970s, the British Rail Pension Fund made the bold decision to invest in art – perplexing their pensioners and stunning fund managers. The Impressionist collection formed 10% of the total amount and proved the strategy successful in April 1989 when twenty-five works acquired for £3.4 million sold at Sotheby’s for a combined total of £35.2 million.

A masterpiece in its own right, this work also relates closely to one of the three late Grandes baigneuses that Cézanne was working on at the time of his death, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Cézanne’s watercolours and drawings will be the subject of an extensive exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Basel from June until September 2017.

In June this year, to coincide with its flagship sales in London, Sotheby’s will stage a deceptively ‘small’ sale. Bringing together a range of works from across the 20th and 21st centuries, with occasional surprises from earlier moments, this first-of-its-kind sale will include a broad mix of exceptional paintings, sculptures and works on paper which share one common characteristic – each one will be no bigger than the size of the catalogue page on which it is illustrated, in ‘Actual Size’.

Thomas Bompard, Head of Sotheby’s London Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sales and Curator of Actual Size, said: “At just five by eight inches, this show-stopping watercolour has all the power and grandeur of a great Renaissance fresco. All of Cézanne's genius is right here: like a magician, he conjures form from nothing more than light and colour; and in this rare moment he brings together the two subjects he held dearest. It's a major tour de force on a miniature scale. It's the father of modernism at his best. And for many reasons, the perfect cover lot for Actual Size”.