Laurens Legiers - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | Phillips
  • "The world is blue at its edges and in its depths... the blue at the horizon, the blue of land that seems to be dissolving into the sky, is a deeper, dreamier, melancholy blue, the blue at the farthest reaches of the places where you see for miles, the blue of distance."
    —Rebecca Solnit

    Under the blue-tinged veil of night, two vessels submerge in Laurens Legier’s surreal maritime scene, sinking ship, 2020. The askew ships are in near mirror symmetry, set against a vast blue sea in the dreamy shadow of distant, atmospherically hued mountains. Illuminated by the eerie glow of a crescent moon, the scene insinuates a moment of metamorphosis, as if the vessels are plunging into depths unknown. Windless sails undulate with exaggerated creases while ripples strike the glassy surface of the water. The present work exemplifies the Belgian artist’s use of nautical motifs and repeated forms in works created from memory rather than observation. The voluminous subjects recall the rounded shapes and gradients of digital renderings while referencing Belgian and Flemish painters of the 18th and 19th centuries. Influenced by Romantic period seascapes, sinking ship balances the serene and the ominous in a mysterious shipwreck scene.

    • Provenance

      PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      Antwerp, PLUS-ONE Gallery, L’Heure Bleue (Part I), June 9–August 23, 2020

399

sinking ship

signed, titled and dated "SINKING SHIP LEGIERS 2020" on the reverse
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 37 1/4 in. (120 x 94.6 cm)
Painted in 2020.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$15,000 - 20,000 

Sold for $15,240

Contact Specialist

Patrizia Koenig
Specialist, Head of Sale, Afternoon Session
+1 212 940 1279
pkoenig@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session

New York Auction 16 May 2023