Grisebach is presenting masterpieces and extraordinary discoveries spanning three centuries of art history in its Winter Auctions 2025. Modernist icons, pivotal contemporary works and significant rediscoveries engage in a vibrant dialogue across eras. The auctions vividly showcase the range and quality of Grisebach.
A key work by Günther Uecker
Grisebach is delighted to present “Weißer Wind” (1986), a quintessential work by Günther Uecker that masterfully unites material, light and movement into a striking composition. The large-format, relief-like field of nails (150 × 150 × 18 cm) radiates a rhythmic energy, balancing solidity and lightness, dynamism and contemplative calm. The surface is continually transformed by shifting light, embodying the interplay between the physical, the spatial and the spiritual that defines Uecker’s work. Market-fresh, having been held in a distinguished private collection in Berlin since the early 1990s, Weißer Wind exemplifies the spiritual and physical dimensions of Uecker’s oeuvre (EUR 800,000–1,200,000).
Icons of modernism – from Liebermann to Nay
Rendered in luminous yellow, red and orange tones, Emil Nolde’s “Zinnien und Sonnenblumen” is an expressive floral composition of extraordinary brilliance. Executed in Seebüll in 1940, the vivid painting depicts sunflowers and zinnias set against a deep blue background, exemplifying Nolde’s masterful fusion of nature and colour. The motif originates from his own garden, which was not only a decades-long source of inspiration for him, but also became a defining place in his artistic journey, providing energy and expressive potential for the vibrant colourwork in his paintings (EUR 700,000–1,000,000).
The 1908 painting “Am Strand von Noordwijk” is one of Max Liebermann’s most significant beach scenes and an example of the works he produced at the height of his artistic powers. Rendered in shimmering light and fluid brushstrokes, he captures the summery atmosphere of the Dutch coast in this excellent example of his Impressionist plein-air painting, recently rediscovered after decades in a private collection in northern Germany (EUR 400,000–600,000)
Included in the major Feininger exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1944, Lyonel Feininger’s “Düne im Lichtstrahl I” (Dune in a Ray of Light I, 1933) marked the beginning of his international breakthrough in the United States. The landscape, painted in Deep on the Baltic coast, originated in a pivotal period of the artist’s personal and artistic transformation (EUR 350,000–450,000).
Rudolf Schlichter’s much-exhibited “Hausvogteiplatz” (1926) is one of the most striking urban scenes of the German “New Objectivity” modern realist movement. His view of Berlin in the 1920s captures a city caught between dazzling splendour, restlessness and impending decay (EUR 200,000–300,000). The watercolour, which has featured in numerous publications on New Objectivity art, will be honoured with a special publication in the Winter Auctions, flanked by further works from a private Schlichter collection.
Ernst Wilhelm Nay’s “In gelber Begleitung” (1955) is a remarkable example of the complex, mature colour and formal composition of his disc paintings, and it is one of the most significant works from this decisive creative phase (EUR 250,000–350,000).
The Walter Bauer Collection is bringing an extraordinary chapter of German art history back into the public eye for the first time in decades. A separate catalogue is dedicated to around 120 works, from Caspar David Friedrich to Ernst Wilhelm Nay. They reflect Bauer’s passionate commitment to modernism and to the artists who were ostracised during the Nazi era. A rare and expressive self-portrait by Paula Modersohn-Becker represents one of the many highlights of this distinguished collection. As highlighted in the 15 September press release, the rediscovery of the Bauer Collection is a compelling testament to the close link between passionate private collecting and cultural-historical responsibility.
Pioneering positions in contemporary art
The 1967 painting “Ein Werktätiger” is one of Georg Baselitz’s central “fracture” works, in which the artist channels his exploration of post-war German identity into torn and fragmented forms. From the aftermath of destruction emerges a new-found artistic freedom – an early, seminal work on the artist’s journey toward his radical visual language (EUR 350,000–450,000).
Gerhard Richter’s “Fuji” (1996) is a masterfully executed abstract painting, exemplifying the captivating balance between arbitrariness and control that defines his art (EUR 350,000–450,000). The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris is dedicating a major retrospective to the most influential German artist of our time between 17 October 2025 and 2 March 2026.
“Marie-Chantal Miller” by Andy Warhol, portraying the future Crown Princess of Greece in bold colours as a modern 1980s icon, comes to the auction market for the very first time. This 1985 portrait of his former intern is one of Warhol’s impressive late works in which he transforms beauty and social glamour into timeless pop art (EUR 250,000–350,000).
Per Kirkeby’s “Første Sommer” (1987), created on the Danish island of Læsø, distils the artist’s experience of nature into a luminous composition balancing abstraction and landscape art. The monumental painting is an impressive example of his poetic perception of nature (EUR 200,000–300,000).
Sensational rediscovery of a masterpiece thought to be lost
Finally, joining the extraordinary works that Grisebach has had the honour to facilitate the sale of – from Caspar David Friedrich’s Karlsruher Skizzenbuch (Karlsruhe Sketch Book, 1804) to Carl Blechen’s masterpiece Mühlental von Amalfi (The Valley of the Mills near Amalfi) – is a 19th-century museum masterpiece that has been entrusted to us. This auction series is further distinguished by a significant rediscovered painting by the Berlin architectural painter Eduard Gaertner: “Die Lange-Brücke von den Mühlen aus gesehen (ca. 1856) was considered lost for almost 170 years. Grisebach is excited to be publicly showcasing this masterpiece once again as a lot in its Winter Auction in Berlin on 27 November (EUR 200,000–300,000).
A total of 453 artworks with a lower estimate of almost EUR 15.5 million will be sold at the four Winter Auctions on 27 and 28 November.
All works in the Berlin auctions can be previewed at two locations in Fasanenstraße (25 and 27) between 20 and 26 November.