La leçon de Twist (The Twist Lesson) by Victor Brauner – estimate €120,000-160,000 at Dorotheum.
Since the early 1930s, when he left his home country, he was closely involved with the artistic scene in the French capital.
Brauner spent most of his life in France. At the beginning of the Second World War he was living in Marseille, but after the German invasion he found refuge in Switzerland.
In 1945, he returned to Paris, where he worked until his death in 1966.
Many of Brauner’s post-war paintings took their basic motifs from tarot cards. He was not averse, however, to incorporating elements of contemporary youth culture. In 1962, for example, he painted this 3ft 10in x 2ft 11in (1.16m x 89cm) canvas La leçon de Twist (The Twist Lesson), which is being sold by Dorotheum in Vienna on May 31.
Two years previously, the dance had been introduced to the wider US viewing public, when Chubby Checker first performed it on television. The craze soon conquered the world.
The Viennese sale will show if today’s dance fans are willing to pay a price estimated at €120,000-160,000.
