Georges Mathieu Value: Top Prices Paid at Auction

This large oil painting, measuring 2.5 x 6 metres, represents Mathieu at his most ambitious scale. Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in October 2021, it holds the record for Mathieu’s original works at auction. The title references Lake Tuz, a large saline lake in central Turkey, though its popularity in Hong Kong is reflective of Mathieu's continued engagement with Eastern calligraphic traditions long after his famous Japan trip in 1957. As he often created such large canvases before audiences, sometimes in theatrical settings, using a technique he called "Tubism" - squeezing paint directly from tubes onto canvas. This technique, combined with all of Mathieu’s speed and spontaneity, is clear in this work. Despite a rich exhibition history, including the Petit Écurie du Chateau de Versailles in 2006, its sale in 2021 was the first time the work had publicly appeared for sale, having originally been acquired directly from Mathieu’s estate by a private collector.

Another enormous 6 metre canvas sold at Christie's Hong Kong in December 2020. The title translates to "Memory of the House of Austria," in keeping with Mathieu's career-long fascination with European royal dynasties and historical themes. Like Tuz Gölü (1978), the piece has appeared on display in many prestigious locations, including the Paris Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in 1978 and Nahmad Contemporary in New York in 2019, but has only appeared publicly for sale once. Like many of his works, it connects to his philosophical foundations of Lyrical Abstraction, emphasising the primacy of speed in execution, the absence of preexisting forms, and the achievement of an ecstatic state during the creative process.

This significant 1957 work, measuring 4 metres wide, achieved this result at Piasa, Brussels, in November 2023, making it the most recent auction sale on this list. The title translates to "The Battle of the Golden Spurs," referencing a 1302 battle in which Flemish infantrymen defeated French cavalry - a pivotal moment in medieval European history. Through colour, spontaneous gesture, and a keen understanding of negative space, Mathieu translates the narrative of the battle itself into an emotive abstract shape. The piece was originally displayed at the Galerie Hélios Art in Brussels in 1957, later appearing at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1963; it remained, true to its subject matter, in the collections of private Brussels collectors until its 2023 sale.

This early oil painting - named after Rome’s greatest rival, until its destruction, the North African Phoenician trading empire, Carthage - sold at Sotheby's New York in November 2022 for nearly double its high estimate. It had belonged to the David M. Solinger Collection, after being acquired from Kootz Gallery in 1954. Since then, it has not appeared at auction or exhibition, increasing its appeal for collectors. Created during Mathieu's formative period in 1951, this painting emerged just after his first solo exhibition at Galerie René Drouin in 1950, where André Malraux first described him as a "western calligrapher." The work's exceptional auction performance reflects interest in this early experimental phase, as well as growing collector recognition of Mathieu's pioneering role in developing Lyrical Abstraction as Europe's distinctive response to American Abstract Expressionism.

This piece achieved a record price for Mathieu in France when it sold at Bonhams Paris in June 2022. The painting was created during Mathieu's transformative trip to Japan in September 1957 - specifically, in Tokyo in the classroom of Sōfū Teshigahara, founder of the Sogetsu-Ryu School of Ikebana. The painting’s title refers to Emperor Go Daïgo, a 14th-century Japanese ruler who twice attempted to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and was eventually exiled to the Oki province. The piece was immediately exhibited in the Shirakiya Department Store by the Gutai Art Association in Tokyo and Osaka, and entered the collection of Jirō Yoshihara, the founder of the Gutai movement. As noted by Édouard Lombard, Director of the Georges Mathieu Committee: "It bears witness to the famous trip of Mathieu to Japan in 1957, as well as to the abstract calligraphy developed by the Master in the 1950s. It also represents a landmark of the historic influence that Mathieu had on the Gutai movement." The auction in 2022 itself was remarkable, with noted applause in the saleroom when the work sold.

This large oil painting sold at Sotheby's Paris in May 2008 for exactly its high estimate, making it the earliest sale on this list. The painting is known to have been in the collection of Jean Claude Gandur, a major collector who received the Legion of Honour in 2017 and assembled one of the world's most important collections of Lyrical Abstraction. Gandur has described Mathieu as "one of the fathers of abstraction" who "opened [his] mind to contemporary painting" through their "artistic and philosophical exchanges." Created in Düsseldorf in 1958, the work's title references the abduction of King Henri IV (later the Holy Roman Emperor) by Archbishop Anno II of Cologne in 1062, continuing Mathieu's pattern of drawing inspiration from European history. This sale represented an early recognition of Mathieu's market value before the significant acceleration in prices seen in the past five years, and maintained the auction record for Mathieu works until the 2020 sale of Souvenir De La Maison D'Autriche (1978).

Created during Mathieu's Cosmic Shift period (1980s-2012), this oil painting references a pivotal year in French history when Joan of Arc led the French to victory at the Siege of Orléans. It sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April 2022 for 150% of its high estimate. This painting connects to another work from the same year, La Libération D'Orléans Par Jeanne D'Arc (1982), which Mathieu gifted to renowned historian Régine Pernoud. Both works demonstrate Mathieu's continuing engagement with French historical themes during his later career when his work became both more explosive and more colourful - in this piece, for example, Mathieu uses much greater variations of colour, compared to in earlier works.

This alkyd work, created c.1987, takes its title from a poem by Charles d'Orléans, demonstrating Mathieu's literary interests alongside his historical preoccupations. It sold at Dorotheum, Vienna, in June 2021, for more than twice its high estimate of €300,000. The use of alkyd rather than oil reflects Mathieu's technical evolution in his later period, while the literary reference highlights his intellectual engagement beyond purely historical themes. The poem's title, which translates to "Time has left its mantle," comes from a famous 15th-century work celebrating the arrival of spring - perhaps symbolically connecting to Mathieu's own artistic renewal in his later career.

This oil painting, the title of which translates to “Cruel Hopes,” sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April 2021, for three times its high estimate. Notably, at its sale in Hong Kong, the work’s title was translated to the much more positive "Dawn in Adversity" in Chinese - a subtle change in meaning that seems to enhance the rich influence of Eastern culture and calligraphy on Mathieu’s work. However, as with Le Temps A Laissé Son Manteau (1987), this work has a much more philosophical title and theme compared to his historically inspired pieces. It coincided with significant political and personal events for Mathieu, including being photographed by Manuel Litran for Paris Match and the re-election of left-wing President, François Mitterrand.

The final result on this list is the December 2019 sale of Hugues De Payens Fonde l'Ordre Du Temple (1958) at Christie’s Paris. The title references Hugues de Payens, the founder of the Knights Templar in 1119 and a key figure in the Crusades - the creation of the work marked the 840th anniversary. Mathieu’s interest in French Medieval history and the Crusades specifically can be partly attributed to his belief that his mother was descended from Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade in 1099. He also believed that figures like "Hugues Capet incarnated one of the most beautiful myths of our History, along with Charlemagne and the Crusades," bringing together the artist’s love of philosophical reading and important history. The work was created in collaboration with Maurice d’Arquian of the Galerie Internationale d’Art Contemporain in Paris, who helped him gain international recognition.