André Derain Value: Top Prices Paid at Auction

Achieving Derain's current auction record at Sotheby's London in June 2010, this vibrant landscape exemplifies the revolutionary Fauve aesthetic that Derain developed during his pivotal summer in Collioure with Henri Matisse in 1905. The painting doubled the previous record for the artist and established the highest price ever paid for any Fauve painting. The explosive use of pure, unmixed colour applied in mosaic-like patches represents a radical departure from traditional representation, capturing the Mediterranean landscape through emotional and atmospheric rather than visual truth. This masterpiece was part of the legendary Vollard Collection, locked away in a bank vault after the dealer died in a mysterious car accident in 1939, and only discovered four decades later in 1979. The extraordinary auction result reflects both the work's exceptional quality and its significance as a cornerstone in the development of modern art.

Selling at Sotheby's London in February 2018, this smaller format Collioure work captures fishing boats in the harbour of the Mediterranean village where Fauvism was born. The canvas showcases Derain's use of vibrant, non-naturalistic colour, with the water rendered in a patchwork of blues, yellows, and greens, while the boats and shore are depicted in terracotta oranges and reds. Created during the same transformative summer of 1905 as Arbres À Collioure (1905), this painting exemplifies the artistic freedom that Derain and Matisse discovered in the southern French fishing village. The work's significant appreciation in value - having previously sold at Christie's London in February 2011 for £5.2 million - demonstrates the intensifying collector demand for Derain's finest Fauve period works.

Holding the record for highest value sale outside Europe, Barques Au Port De Collioure (1905) sold at Sotheby's New York in November 2009. It is the third of three Collioure paintings at the top of this list, proving the enduring popularity of this historic series, created in just one summer, accompanied by Matisse. The painting depicts boats moored in the harbour of Collioure, rendered with the artist's characteristic Fauve palette of unmixed, saturated colours. The composition and style reveal the artist's development away from Pointillism toward a more distinct Fauvist approach, using broader patches of pure colour to construct the scene, with exposed canvas creating areas of bright reflection on the water’s surface.

This London scene was sold at Sotheby's London in June 2015, capturing Victoria Embankment with Derain's characteristically unexpected colour palette. After his revolutionary summer in Collioure with Matisse, dealer Ambroise Vollard sent Derain to London in 1906 to create a series of paintings of the city. These London views constitute Derain's second most valuable body of work at auction, after his Collioure scenes. Unlike Claude Monet's earlier atmospheric Thames series, Derain employed strident, non-naturalistic colours to depict London's urban landscape, creating what French painter Maurice Denis called "an explosion of colour as dazzling as the Pacific". This piece has a limited exhibition history, having been kept in private collections since its creation - however, it was displayed at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 1996.

Selling at Christie's London in June 1989, this early Collioure harbour scene is a slight variation on Bateaux À Collioure (1905), which features higher up this list. Similarly, it was created during the seminal summer of 1905, and depicts an alternate angle on the Collioure fishing port, using similar non-naturalistic colours. The inclusion of a figure in this piece, looking out over the water, adds to the contemplative nature of the work - it is a clear appreciation of the natural landscape. The canvas is larger than many of his Collioure works, at nearly 1 metre wide, providing an expansive composition that allows his radical use of colour to have maximum impact. This particular work is significant not only for its artistic importance but also as a historical auction benchmark - it was among the first Derain paintings to achieve a multi-million-pound result, forecasting the future strength of his market. It also held the record for Derain for over 20 years.

This early work, depicting the railway bridge in Derain's hometown of Chatou, sold at Loudmer, Paris, in March 1990, out of the controversial Collection of Madame Bourdon. The sale itself was dramatic - Guy Loudmer was entrusted by the Bourdons to sell their enormous collection of artworks, with a final sale value (£49 million) that has still yet to be exceeded in France. However, everything was not as it seemed, and Loudmer was later charged with embezzelling funds from the sale to maximise his profit. Le Pont De Chatou (1904-05) itself captures the industrial landscape along the Seine where Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck shared a studio in the early 1900s before Derain's summer in Collioure. The work demonstrates Derain's evolving style as he began to embrace a more vibrant colour palette under the influence of Van Gogh and the emerging Fauve aesthetic. The scene presents a Modernist vision of suburban Paris, with the industrial bridge structure contrasted against figures moving along the riverbank. It’s dark, industrial foreground contrasts with the brightness of the natural elements - the water and the sky above.

Achieving this top 10 result at Christie's New York in May 2019, this 1906 painting captures a dramatic red-sailed boat against a vibrant, atmospheric seascape. Its style combines the explosive approach to colour that Derain adopted in Collioure with the lessons learned from his time in London. The painting's auction history reveals the volatility that can affect even blue-chip artists - it had previously been offered at Sotheby's in May 2016 with a £15 million estimate but failed to sell. Its successful sale three years later for approximately £4.5 million demonstrates both the market's correction and renewed collector appetite for Derain’s works in recent years. The piece initially belonged to art dealer Ambroise Vollard, but passed through the collections of many prestigious collectors in Paris before later being added to collections in Ohio and Houston.

Sold at Christie's New York in November 2022, this is the most recent sale on this list. It depicts boats moored at l'Estaque, a fishing village near Marseille that had previously been painted by Cézanne, an artist whose mosaic style influenced Derain. However, while Cézanne built colour through repeated translucent layers, Derain’s style was more immediate, prioritising intuitive colour application over tonal variety. Derain passed through l’Estaque on his way home from Collioure. The composition focuses on boats in the harbour, with the water rendered as a patchwork of blues, greens, and yellows, while the land and boats are depicted in complementary oranges and reds. The perspective of the piece was unusual for the time - looking back towards the shore, rather than looking out over the water. The effect is characteristically immersive for Derain’s most experimental phase. The piece was notably exhibited at the Musée de l’Orangerie in 1987, but otherwise remained largely out of public view.

This vibrant landscape depicting the countryside around l'Estaque was sold at Sotheby's New York in May 2006, almost exactly 100 years after it was painted, offering an alternate view to Derain’s many seascapes. It was created in 1906, during the same trip as Barques Amarrées À L'Estaque (1906) and all Derain’s Collioure paintings. The work is one of 15 paintings created during the artist’s brief stay in the Mediterranean port, a stay that inspired Derain to write to Matisse that “the landscape is very pretty here and the light sharper than in Collioure… However, there are high chalk mountains covered in pine trees which are wild and superb in their luminosity.” It is these mountains that the viewer is looking down from, towards the coast, in Paysage À L'Estaque (1906). The painting’s provenance will have contributed to its result, exceeding its high estimate by over $1 million, having been in the collection of Danish painter Olaf Rude during the 1930s.

Completing our top 10 is this riverside landscape from around 1904-05, which sold at Christie's New York in November 2019. It was created shortly after Derain’s return from military service, and captures the Seine’s banks in a style that is suggestive of the emerging Fauvism. Derain painted the piece in Chatou while working alongside Maurice de Vlamick, channeling inspiration from Gaugin and Van Gogh. It was displayed at the Lefevre Gallery, London, before entering a private collection in 1972, where it was passed down through the family until its sale in 2019.