Little gems for $50,000 and under

Salvador Dalí redefined painting in the early 20th century. His dream-like paintings are what many think of when they hear the word ‘surreal’. As an expert in the visual aesthetic of how to portray dreams, he was contacted by filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock to assist in his movie Spellbound. Dessin pour Spellbound is a drawing from this collaboration from 1945, where Dalí was tasked with designing the dream sequence for the film. This was of course not Dalí’s first foray into film — notably, he worked with Luis Buñuel on Un Chien Andalou in 1929, and L’Age d’Or in 1930.

One of the most important artists of the 20th century, Max Ernst was an integral member of Dada and Surrealism and helped shape modern art. With no formal training in art, he worked across collage, sculpture and painting, drawing new boundaries for each in the process. He developed the techniques of frottage and grattage — methods of adding texture to a canvas — which were integral to Surrealism’s image-making practices. Another of his techniques, decalcomania, is central to this work, as the entire bottom half of the work is the result of a piece of material being placed and removed from the still-wet canvas, creating a random yet intricate pattern resembling a forest. Paysage, from 1952, was made while he was living in America, and is a rare opportunity for a new collector to acquire a work that so clearly demonstrates the techniques that brought Ernst his experimental reputation.

The French Symbolist Odilon Redon is often thought of as a precursor to surrealism. His dream-like images, imbued with deep colouration, often stem from classical imagery such as mythology and religion. The present Buste d’enfant presents a richly worked sheet, with rich blues and oranges, depicting a sculptural figurative bust. The child’s gaze, off in the distance, adds an air of otherworldliness.

The Barcelona-born Julio González was a sculptor and painter, and a close friend of Pablo Picasso. In his early life, he was surrounded by art and the materials which he would later go on to work with: his mother came from a long line of artists, while his father as well as his grandfather were metalworkers. His metal sculptures are noted for their expressive use of traditionally hard materials, such as iron. The present Maternité belongs to his oeuvre of paintings, many of which are housed in prestigious institutions such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Many artists in the early 20th century took up residence in the Montmartre area of Paris, but Maurice Utrillo is one of the few who was born there. His visions of the neighbourhood make up one of the most important bodies of Post-Impressionist work, highlighting the melancholic existence of 20th century Paris.

Maison natale de Jeanne d'Arc et l'église de Domrémy, however, depicts Joan of Arc’s birthplace and the adjacent cathedral in Domrémy-la-Pucelle. The characteristic Post-Impressionist work was painted in 1933. By this time, he had achieved immense success as an artist, including receiving the Légion d’Honneur five years prior.

Kees van Dongen was a leading figure of Fauvist painting in the early part of the 20th century. Characterised by large, thick brushstrokes, his work brings his subjects — like the tree in this image — into the foreground where they live on the surface of the canvas. Though he’s known for his bohemian aesthetic and subject matter, here we see his characteristic Fauvist technique applied to rendering a landscape. This style is something he would explore throughout the 20th century, even as he pivoted to more commercial art later in his career. This work was acquired from the artist by the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune the year it was drawn, and exhibited as early as 1908.

The Neo-Impressionist Maximilien Luce is best known for his series of paintings of Notre-Dame Cathedral from 1890-1904. The series demonstrates his mastery of Divisionism, a technique of Neo-Impressionist painting that used distinct daubs of colour to compose a cohesive image.

His Paysage à Saint-Tropez, made two years after he began his explorations of Notre-Dame, encapsulates that same technique. From the daubs of paint which comprise the image to the delicate manner in which light travels, the work offers an entry point into his painterly world.

Born in the French town of Angoulême, Georges Valmier was a pioneer of Cubism. He began his first experiments in the mode as early as 1909, particularly drawn to the interaction of colour and form. From the beginning, his work was unique in that he utilised vibrant colours in his work, as opposed to the juxtaposition of more neutral hues by other artists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. His Jeune fille assise from 1924 exemplifies the early explorations of colour and form that would lay the framework for his later pursuits.

By the early 1930s, his circle included Jean Arp and František Kupka, and alongside them he would become an early member of Abstraction-Création, a movement founded in 1931 to oppose the idea of André Breton and Surrealism. As part of this movement as well as after, he would continue to investigate abstraction and geometric composition throughout his life.

The Cubist Henri Laurens was a stonemason before he began his art career. He worked in a variety of media — from painting to printmaking and collage — but he is most widely recognised as a sculptor. Initially, his style was greatly influenced by Auguste Rodin, who, in the early 20th century when Laurens was in school at the École d'Art Industriel, was becoming quite popular. By the 1910s, however, he had befriended the Montparnasse circle of Cubists, which included Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Fernand Léger. From there his style began to align with their movement. His 1926 Nu, rendered in gouache, employs a strong, sculptural composition, with its formal linework reminiscent of a carved object.

Like several of the artists on this list, Albert Gleizes was a prominent Cubist in the early 20th century. In addition to his art, he is known for his theoretical writings. He was particularly interested in Cubism’s effect on viewers’ perceptions, a topic he elucidated in his book Painting and its Laws in 1924.

Composition cubiste ou Portrait du Commandant Lambert was composed while Geizes was serving in the military during World War I. His commander (referenced in the work’s title) was a great admirer of his work and made special arrangements for Gleizes to be able to continue painting during his service. This work was made while they were in the northeastern French town of Toul.

Related artists: Salvador Dalí