On November 13, Christie’s will offer David Hockney’s Sur la Terrasse, 1971, as a central highlight of its ‘Evening Sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art’. The work is estimated to achieve between $25 – $45 million.
Sur la Terrasse has occupied a single private collection for nearly half a century and has never appeared at auction before. Begun in March 1971 and completed that summer, it was painted during the decline of his relationship with Peter Schlesinger: his first love and greatest muse. This turn of events became a milestone in the artist’s personal life, precipitating an intense period that resulted in heart-wrenching expression in his paintings.
Ana Maria Celis, head of Evening Sale, Post-War and Contemporary Art, remarked: “ We are very pleased to be bringing Sur la Terrasse to market and into the public eye after residing within a private collection for nearly 40 years, where it went unseen by the public for almost as long.”
