Christie’s 11/2/2019

Not just a pretty face: why this watch is primed to take its place among the all-time top 10



Living next door to de Kooning: the documentary, the friendship, the early drawings



Kim Whan-Ki: the pioneer of Korean abstract painting whose art proved to be his downfall



Sanyu’s Five Nudes: a ‘true peak’ in the career of the artist they called ‘the Chinese Matisse’



The Wyeth dynasty: three generations of artists who set the standard for American realism



‘He looked, listened, and did the opposite of what he’d learnt’: Picasso and his printmakers


Also on Christies.com



‘If you really want the piece, don’t set a limit in stone’: gallerist David Gill on Cindy Sherman and the print that ‘spoke to him’



From the visits to our clients to setting up the perfect lighting — insights into the staging of an Asian art auction



More stories

Editor’s picks





This rare and complete egg was laid by an elephant bird — the largest bird to ever walk the Earth, which became extinct about 400 years ago. Its biggest eggs would have weighed around 10kg, with a volume 160 times larger than a chicken egg

Estimate: £30,000-50,000
31 October-7 November, online






Although Matisse’s cut-outs are associated with the last years of his career, he first experimented with the medium in 1919. Losange dates from 1946-47, five years after an operation for abdominal cancer that left him struggling with the physical demands of painting

Estimate: $500,000-800,000
12 November, New York






This late-18th-century German cherrywood cabinet — which until recently was believed to have been destroyed during the Second World War — opens to reveal 48 wax ‘genre’ figures, including ‘the compassionate mother’ and ‘the frugal peasant’

Estimate: £40,000-60,000
13 November, London






Six years ago Christie’s sold a 2013 portrait of Leonardo DiCaprio by Elizabeth Peyton (b. 1965) for more than $1 million, with the proceeds benefiting his wildlife charity. This Leonardo, also by Peyton, was painted in 1998, a year after DiCaprio starred in Titanic

Estimate: $350,000-550,000
14 November, New York