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If you win at €200 you will pay ≈ €250 incl. 25% buyer's premium.
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Minimum 200 €. Bids step by 25 €.
Withdraw your maximum bid of €0 on Lot 26? This cannot be undone.
Signed and dated ‘P. Ernest Kohl 25.’ (lower left).
Sizes:
Frame: 32 × 35 cm | 12.6 × 13.8 in
Artwork: 17 × 20 cm | 6.7 × 7.9 in
A seated model seen from behind, her weight on one arm, one knee drawn up, the body drawn in a few sweeping charcoal lines and washed with warm sepia and a touch of yellow and blue. It is a study made quickly from life, and it has the freedom of the Paris academies of the 1920s.
Pierre Ernest Kohl (1897–1985), born in Monaco, refused the family business for the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and lived in Paris from 1920 to 1938, a friend of Max Jacob and Léon-Paul Fargue, exhibiting alongside Braque, Chagall, Picasso and Modigliani; at Picasso’s suggestion he spent eight years making pottery before returning to painting, drawing and watercolour. He went back to Monaco in 1940 and worked there until his death.
Signed and dated ‘P. Ernest Kohl 25.’ at the lower left. Framed under glass.
Very good condition: the sheet evenly toned, with a light scatter of small foxing spots in the bare paper away from the figure and a single dark speck on the wash at lower right; the media stable, with no tears, losses or retouching; not examined out of the frame. Please contact us to request a detailed Condition Report.
Packed as size S (up to 60 × 50 cm) · 35 × 32 cm framed
Insurance is optional. It follows the final hammer price, so with insurance the total moves with the bidding. The work is glazed, which the final quote may price differently. Indicative rates of our shipping partner MBE for packing and door-to-door transport; the final quote is confirmed after the sale. Import duties and taxes outside the EU are paid by the buyer.
We coordinate packing and shipping on your behalf, with insurance available if you’d like it — or you’re welcome to arrange your own. Please see our Shipping Information page for full details before completing your purchase.
This lot is catalogued under the artist’s name without qualification and is covered by our Five-Year Authenticity Guarantee under Section 4 of the Conditions of Sale. The guarantee concerns authorship; it does not extend to provenance, dating, condition or value, which are described to the best of our knowledge.
Buyers should review the catalogue carefully and raise any questions before bidding; additional information is not ordinarily provided after the auction.
Five years on authorship for works catalogued under the artist’s name without qualification (Section 4 of our Conditions of Sale); headings such as “Attributed to” or “Circle of” are sold as described.
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Bidding on this site, the buyer’s premium is 25%, Spanish IVA included. There is no VAT on the hammer price and no card fee.
| Starting price | Low estimate | High estimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hammer price | €200 | €300 | €400 |
| Buyer’s premium 25% (IVA included) | €50 | €75 | €100 |
| Total on auroraathena.com | €250 | €375 | €500 |
| Total through a bidding platform (30%) | €260 | €390 | €520 |
Through LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, Drouot or Bidspirit the premium is 30%: the same hammer of €400 costs €520 there against €500 here. Shipping and insurance are quoted separately; the estimator below gives the figure for your country. Buyers outside the EU pay no Spanish tax on the lot; the destination’s import rules apply (United States: original paintings and drawings enter duty-free; United Kingdom: 5% import VAT on art). Card payments are accepted up to €10,000; larger amounts by bank transfer.
The estimate of €300–€400 is our opinion of the range this work should reach; the starting price of €200 is the lowest bid we accept. We have not published comparable results for this lot; ask us before the sale and we will send the results we based the estimate on.
Bidding on this site, the buyer’s premium is 25%, Spanish IVA included, and there is no VAT on the hammer price and no card fee: at the starting price of €200 the total is €250; at the low estimate of €300 the total is €375; at the high estimate of €400 the total is €500.
Through LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, Drouot or Bidspirit the premium is 30%, so the same hammer of €400 costs €520 there. Shipping and insurance are quoted separately; the estimator on this page gives the figure for your country. Buyers outside the EU pay no Spanish tax on the lot; the destination’s import rules apply (United States: original paintings and drawings enter duty-free; United Kingdom: 5% import VAT on art). Card payments are accepted up to €10,000; larger amounts by bank transfer.
Yes. This lot is catalogued under the artist’s name without qualification, so it carries our Five-Year Authenticity Guarantee under Section 4 of the Conditions of Sale: if the authorship proves materially incorrect, you may return the work within five years for a refund of the purchase price. The guarantee concerns authorship; provenance, dating, condition and value are described to the best of our knowledge and are not guaranteed.
A condition report with ultraviolet photographs is prepared on request, normally within two working days; the condition summary on this page is examined in-house and is not a conservator’s report. Further photographs of any detail, the reverse or the frame are sent on request. The work can be examined in our Barcelona showroom by appointment before the sale, and you are welcome to send your own conservator or specialist.
You can leave a maximum bid before the sale (the sale is on Saturday, October 17th, 2026 (Auction ended)) or bid live in our online room. A maximum bid is executed by the auctioneer only as much as is needed to stay ahead of other bidders, in the sale’s increments, never above your maximum.
Where a reserve exists it never exceeds the low estimate; a lot without a reserve sells to the highest bid at or above the starting price of €200.
Pierre Ernest Kohl was born in Monaco on 3 February 1897, the son of a prosperous entrepreneur who expected him to take over the family business. He chose painting instead and entered the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, where he lived from 1920 to 1938 among the writers and painters of Montparnasse — a friend of Max Jacob and Léon-Paul Fargue, exhibiting alongside Braque, Chagall, Picasso and Modigliani.
At Picasso’s suggestion he spent eight years making pottery before giving it up to devote himself entirely to painting, drawing and watercolour.
Kohl’s art favours imagination and the dreamlike: figures, nudes, landscapes and fantastical compositions in a free, lyrical hand, often in watercolour and charcoal. His early Paris studies from the model belong to the academies of the 1920s; the later work grows more oneiric.
He returned to Monaco in 1940 and worked there for the rest of his life, dying in Neuchâtel on 6 June 1985. The Centre Pompidou holds work by him, and his paintings and watercolours pass regularly through the sale rooms of Monaco and Switzerland.
Pierre Ernest Kohl (1897–1985), the Monaco-born painter who refused the family business for the Grande Chaumière and the Montparnasse of Max Jacob and Modigliani; a 1925 watercolour nude is at auction with Aurora & Athena.
Highlights of the Aurora & Athena autumn sale on 17 October 2026: Bridget Tichenor, Nicholas Roerich, Konstantin Korovin, Gerard Sekoto, Jan Zrzavý, Pan Yuliang, a Miró lithograph and the painters of the École de Paris.
“The description and photos of the artwork were accurate, and I felt confident in my purchase from the beginning. The team was quick to answer my questions and kept me well informed throughout the process.”
“I had a really good experience after the sale — it was smooth, asked a question and got an answer right away. Their customer service is excellent and very fast. Definitely recommend them.”
