Josef Šíma’s painting Earth was auctioned this Sunday at Prague’s Žofín for 60.48 million crowns, including mark-up. It is a world auction record for this author, said Markéta Horešovská from teh Kodl Gallery. The monumental work from 1960 was among the ten most expensive paintings sold at local auctions.
Oil of the Earth is the largest painting ever painted by Josef Šíma. It went to the auction with a starting price of ten million crowns. The canvas represents the peak of the artist’s second creative stage, which he began in the 1950s after a hiatus of several years. The painting has characteristic features of his post-war style, soft color, abstracted form and a deep metaphysical dimension.
Overview of the ten most expensive paintings sold at auctions in the Czech Republic
| Order | Author | Name | Price (in millions of CZK) | A year |
| 1. | Francis Kupka | Conception/Danae | 126,5 | 2024 |
| 2. | Bohumil Kubišta | Old Prague motif | 123,6 | 2022 |
| 3. | Francis Kupka | Entertainment II | 90,24 | 2020 |
| 4. | Toyen | Circus | 79,56 | 2021 |
| 5. | Toyen | Queen of spades | 78,65 | 2020 |
| 6. | Oskar Kokoschka | Prague – view from the Cross Monastery | 78,5 | 2019 |
| 7. | Francis Kupka | Transverse surfaces II | 78 | 2019 |
| 8. | Toyen | Monte Carlo | 64,8 | 2023 |
| 9. | Francis Kupka | Series C I. (Considerations) | 62 | 2016 |
| 10. | Josef Šima | Country | 60,48 | 2024 |
Source: ČTK
the work with light and color reflects Ším’s lifelong interest in the phenomenon of light as the basic building block of painting and everything. “The abstract concept of the landscape in this work follows on from Ším’s pre-war work, especially his collaboration with the surrealist group Le Grand Jeu in Paris. But at the same time, it reflects the author’s shift towards a more lyrical and contemplative form of abstraction. It can therefore be perceived as Ším’s personal meditation on the essence of matter and space, as a visual poem about the relationship between earth and sky, matter and spirit,” describes Markéta Horešovská from Galerie Kodl.
The work was originally owned by Parisian art collector and gallerist Paul Facchetti. The national and world record of josef Šíma was held until now by a painting called egg (Rovnováha, MZ or ML). In 2018, it was sold at an auction in Prague for approximately 36 million crowns.