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an image of a painting of a group of people on a walla wooden bench with a painting on the wall behind it
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Estimate €35,000 - €50,000
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Description
Augustin LESAGE Untitled – 1943 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right 92.5 × 127.5 cm Oil on canvas; signed and dated lower right 36.22 × 50.19 in. In 1943, Augustin Lesage was 67 years old and painting in the midst of the Occupation. A former miner from Pas-de-Calais who became a painter after hearing, in the mine galleries, a voice telling him that he would one day be an artist, he had been producing paintings since the early 1910s, guided, in his view, by spirits, notably that of his late sister. A veritable pictorial temple, this 1943 oil on canvas by Augustin Lesage unfolds one of the artist’s most fascinating worlds. Across the entire surface, the artist constructs an imaginary architecture of extraordinary precision, organised along an axis of symmetry around which figures, animals, medallions and ornamental motifs are arranged. With no preparatory sketches or overall plan, Lesage begins at the top of the canvas and gradually ‘works his way down’, painting in small strokes and horizontal layers, applying each colour in a single continuous stroke across the entire width before moving on to the next. The result is a dense, symmetrical composition in which references to ancient Egypt are omnipresent: royal profiles, hieratic figures, guardian lions, and characters and attributes inspired by pharaonic iconography intermingle with a multitude of geometric and floral motifs. Somewhere between an ancient temple, an imaginary palace and a cosmic vision, Lesage presents here a timeless painting, a rich, hypnotic and instantly recognisable work in which the obsessive precision of detail becomes the language of a spiritual world. In 1943, Augustin Lesage was 67 years old and painting in the midst of the German Occupation. A former miner from the Pas-de-Calais region who turned to painting after hearing a voice in the mine galleries telling him that he would one day become an artist, he had, since the early 1910s, pursued a pictorial practice guided, as he believed, by spirits, most notably that of his deceased sister. A veritable pictorial temple, this 1943 oil on canvas by Augustin Lesage reveals one of the artist’s most fascinating visions. Across the entire surface, the artist constructs an imaginary architecture of extraordinary precision, organised along an axis of symmetry around which figures, animals, medallions and ornamental motifs are arranged. Working without preparatory sketches or an overall plan, Lesage begins at the top of the canvas and gradually ‘descends’, painting in small strokes and horizontal layers, applying each colour continuously across the full width before moving on to the next. The result is a dense and symmetrical composition in which references to Ancient Egypt are omnipresent: royal profiles, hieratic figures, guardian lions, characters and attributes inspired by Pharaonic iconography intermingle with a multitude of geometric and floral motifs. Somewhere between an ancient temple, an imaginary palace and a cosmic vision, Lesage presents here a timeless painting, a lush, hypnotic and instantly recognisable work in which the obsessive precision of detail becomes the language of a spiritual world. Augustin LESAGE
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About the sale Interior Motives: Artcurial x Reflections
Auction location
Auction time 09/30/2026 at 5:00 PM
Lot description modified on 09/21/2026 at 4:14 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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