SAINT-TROPEZ
BY SIGNAC:
A DAZZLING
SHOWSTOPPER

REVIEW OF THE JUNE 2025 AUCTIONS IN ZURICH

At our June sales dedicated to Modern, Contemporary and Swiss Art, spirited bidding battles led to results far exceeding estimates. Works by Paul Signac, Fernando Botero, Ferdinand Hodler and Domenico Gnoli achieved seven-figure records. With these sales, the Swiss auction house has taken the lead in the current German-speaking art market: the three highest results in the categories Impressionism, Modern Art and Contemporary Art in the first half of 2025 were all achieved at Koller.

‘Saint-Tropez, port en fête’ (1895), a major work by Paul Signac, was rediscovered in a German private collection. This large-format canvas had not appeared at auction since 1903. The painter executed it shortly after arriving in Saint-Tropez. Signac’s luminous palette and distinctive pointillist style make this painting a pivotal and emblematic work within his oeuvre. Previously known only from a sketch, it became the focus of an intense bidding war, ultimately realising CHF 6.18 million—more than triple the estimate.

A private collector acquired ‘Zipper no 2’ (1968), the monumental work by Domenico Gnoli, for CHF 3 million. Ferdinand Hodler’s ‘Le Salève en automne’ sold for CHF 3 million. Joining these million-franc results was ‘Fiammetta II,’ a radiant portrait by Giovanni Giacometti, which achieved CHF 1 million.

FERDINAND HODLER

DOMENICO GNOLI

GIOVANNI GIACOMETTI

Other works also achieved strong results: Gustave Loiseau’s ‘Les peupliers au bord de la rivière’ reached CHF 400 000, while Fernando Botero’s imposing ‘Monalisa’ (1959) sold for CHF 570 000; two large-format paintings by the Czechoslovak artist Mikuláš Medek found buyers at CHF 400 000 and CHF 360 000, and a vividly coloured still life by Louis Valtat quadrupled its low estimate to sell for CHF 318 000.

MIKULÁŠ MEDEK

GUSTAVE LOISEAU

FERNANDO BOTERO

Our jewellery sale confirmed the strong current demand for gemstones and high jewellery. A Boucheron ring set with a Colombian emerald and diamonds ignited the phone bidding—while drawing keen interest in the room and online—before selling for CHF 85 000. A sapphire and diamond brooch dating to around 1910 reached CHF 300 000, and a pear-shaped diamond ring sold for CHF 318 000.

Our watches sale was likewise a great success: 69 of 71 lots found buyers, generating a total almost twice the pre-sale estimate. Leading the way were a rare, unworn Patek Philippe perpetual-calendar chronograph at CHF 218 000 and a Rolex Daytona ‘Paul Newman’ which achieved CHF 193 000.

CEYLON SAPPHIRE
AND DIAMOND BROOCH, c. 1910

PATEK
PHILIPPE

DIAMOND
RING

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