César DOMELA

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Status, price and estimation of the artist César DOMELA

Price of a painting at auction: €1,000 – 800,000

Price of a drawing or watercolour in auction rooms: 800 – 5,000 €.

Average estimate for prints by the artist at auction: €50 – 800

Price of a sculpture: 2,000 – 20,000 €.

If you would like to have a Domela painting appraised, our painting experts are at your disposal for a free valuation.

A late artistic turn

César Domela was born in 1900 in Amsterdam. His father, Ferdinand Domela-Nieuwenhuis, a former Lutheran pastor, became an emblematic figure on the Dutch political scene. Inspired by his close ties to the anarchist and anti-militarist movements, he founded the anarchosocialist movement. Domela, unlike his father, was not keen on pursuing a political path, and in order to break with this expectation he moved to Switzerland after his father’s death in 1919.

His first artistic encounter was in 1914 when he visited the Henri Laurens’ studio in Paris.  Laurens was a painter, sculptor and draughtsman of the Cubist movement. Domela’s father accompanied him on this trip.

After having considered studying ethnology for a time, Domela fully embraced the arts in 1919. He began drawing four years later, and it was in 1920-22 that he produced his first paintings in a figurative register, showing an already strong stylistic affirmation and a tendency close to cubism.

A versatile artist

In parallel with his growing interest in geometry, he soon began to work with a combination of materials integrated into his painting.

Domela also participated in avant-garde magazines published by artists’ associations committed to the promotion of abstract art, notably Cercle et Carré in 1930, then Abstraction-Création.

His meeting with Piet Mondrian and Theo van Dœsburg had a significant influence on his art. He joined the De Stijl group, where Mondrian’s neo-plastic ideas were disseminated. Despite his involvement, Domela intended to integrate certain formal oppositions to his companions into his creations.

After fleeing the Netherlands in 1933 due to the rise of Nazism, Domela settled in Paris.

In 1937 he founded the magazine Plastique in collaboration with two emblematic figures close to the Dada and Surrealist art movements, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and her husband Jan Arp.

International visibility and artistic scope

Domela participated in the Berlin November Group exhibition, where he presented abstract works from 1923 onwards.

Numerous solo exhibitions followed from 1934 onwards, notably in art galleries in Paris and New York. In this vein, he travelled extensively to international art events, such as his visit to the Guggenheim Foundation. He was also welcomed at the Abstrakte Kunst event at the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1938.

The retrospectives devoted to him took place early in his career, starting in 1954. The retrospectives at the Museums of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo inaugurated this rich career path that same year.

Recognising César Domela’s signature

Like many artists, César Domela did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraise and sell a painting by César Domela

If you own a César Domela painting or any other sculpture, ask for a free estimate via our online form.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your painting. In the event of a sale, our specialists will also advise you on the various options available to sell your work at the best price.