Previously unseen Renoir painting of his son sells for over $2 million at auction

A previously unknown work by French impressionist painter Auguste Renoir of his toddler son Jean sold for $2.08 million (1.8 million euros) at a Paris auction on Tuesday, the Drouot auction house told AFP.

The oil painting — “L’enfant et ses jouets – Gabrielle et le fils de l’artiste, Jean” (“The Child and His Toys – Gabrielle and the artist’s son, Jean”) — had never been exhibited or sold before, though versions have been displayed in museums in Washington, D.C., and Paris, according to PBS.

It belonged to Jean’s godmother, Jeanne Baudot, a friend and student of Renoir’s, who passed the painting on to her heirs.

Believed to have been painted between 1890 and 1895, it features the artist’s second son, who went on to become an Oscar-winning filmmaker, shown sitting with his nanny.  

Pascal Perrin, an art historian and Renoir expert, lauded the “exceptional condition of the work, which has undergone no restoration,” while presenting the canvas.

“We were particularly surprised by how fresh the painting was,” Perrin told PBS earlier this month. “In other words, it is a painting that has retained all of its colors perfectly, which has not been recanvassed, retouched or revarnished.” 

Jean Renoir, born in 1894, went on to receive a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1975, several years before he died at the age of 84. His works include the 1930s classic “La Grande Illusion,” which follows two French prisoners of war trying to escape German captivity during World War I.

The painting of him as a child had been valued at 1-1.5 million euros and was acquired by an “international buyer,” Drouot said on Tuesday.

“It is exceptional because, first of all, it is a masterclass of intimacy,” auctioneer Christophe Joron-Derem told PBS. “We see this very tender relationship between Jean and Gabrielle, who knows how to control the child so that Renoir can paint him.”

The high-end art market has dipped in recent years, but lately, record-breaking sales have indicated a revival in demand.

A self-portrait by celebrated Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold for $54.66 million in New York last week, a record for a painting by a woman, two nights after a Gustav Klimt canvas fetched $236.4 million — a record for a modern art piece.