Frantisek Kupka, (1871-1957), Series C I. (Plans Miniscules), Oil, 1935 For this item the buyer's premium is already factored into the starting price. Therefore the premium will not be added to the hammer price and charged to the buyer. Description of the lot Oil on panel Dimensions: 55 x 60 cm Signed Lower right “Kupka” Framed in Kupka´s designed and painted original frame. The painting is offered in an auction for the first time. Several times publicated and exhibited. Provenance: - in 1951 a well-known Parisian gallerist Louis Carré bought the painting directly from František Kupka. In the same year Kupka, who was eighty years old, appointed the gallerist his first official representative. Kupka was introduced to Carré by painter Jacques Villon, a neighbour of his from Puteaux. At that time, Louis Carré represented internationally known artists, e.g. Pablo Picasso, Jacques Villon, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, André Lanskoy, etc. According to Carré’s grandson, his grandfather bought at that time more than 50 paintings from Kupka , which he later sold to internationally prominent galleries and museums, e.g. Museum of Modern Art in New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in Tokyo, The Rothschild collection in New York, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza Madrid, etc. Louis Carré also sold paintings to Jan and Meda Mládek ( in 1975 they bought the crucial Kupka’s paintings Cathedral and The Fair). - collection of Louis Carré and his family - foreign private collection ( the painting is offered in an auction for the first time). Kupka’s oil painting ‘‘Series C I’’ is among the world´s most important abstract paintings and is the first from the twelve iconic oil paintings Kupka’s Series C. Other paintings of this series can be found in The National Gallery, Prague (Series C IV), in the collection of Museum Ludwig, Koln (Series C VII), in the collection of Museo Thyssen Bornemisza Madrid (Series C VIII), and in The Museé National d’Art Moderne in the Centre Pompidou Paris (Series C XI and Series C XII). A confirmation of the authenticity by Vladimir Lekes, the author of Kupka’s Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings attached. (published with cooperation of Adolf Loos Apartment and Gallery, National Gallery Prague and Belvedere Vienna). The painting is listed in Kupka’s Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings, no. 329 Confirmation of the authenticity by Professor Tomas Vlcek attached. Consulted with Professor Jaromír Zemina. An X-ray image made by conservator-restorer specialist Tomas Berger attached. The restoration expertise by Vera Cedlova is also attached. Due to the foreign owner of the painting, it is not subject of the jurisdiction of the Czech Republic and its law n. 20/1987 and is therefore export free. 2 222 220 EUR (VAT and Droite d Suite included)