Maurice Denis Auction Prices and Value Guide

Maurice Denis auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 836 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Maurice Denis auction prices: quick answer

Maurice Denis auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Maurice Denis
Source records
836
Market update
2026-02-06

Artist context

About Maurice Denis

Maurice Denis (1870–1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, writer, and theorist whose ideas shaped the course of modern art. Born in Granville, Normandy, Denis emerged as a leading voice of Les Nabis, the avant-garde group active in late-nineteenth-century Paris that drew on Symbolist philosophy and flat, expressive color. His famous dictum that a painting is fundamentally a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order anticipated the formal concerns of Cubism, Fauvism, and abstraction. Beyond painting, Denis was a prolific muralist, lithographer, illustrator, and designer of stained glass and tapestries. After World War I he co-founded the Ateliers d'Art Sacré, devoting much of his later career to the revival of Christian sacred art through church decoration. His theoretical writings, especially his collected essays "Théories" (1913), remained influential throughout the twentieth century. With 836 lots recorded at auction, Denis is a well-represented figure in the international art market.

Les NabisSymbolismNeo-classicism

Common works and media

Denis worked across a broad range of media. Oil paintings on canvas include allegorical scenes, female figures, landscapes, and religious subjects. He produced large-scale decorative murals and fresco cycles for private interiors and churches. Print collectors encounter his lithographs, often issued as book illustrations or portfolio plates, as well as pastels, watercolors, and drawings. Later in his career he designed stained-glass windows and tapestry cartoons for ecclesiastical commissions. Common subjects include mythological narratives, Madonna-and-child compositions, domestic interiors, and stylized pastoral scenes.

Market and appraisal context

Maurice Denis maintains an active and well-documented auction market spanning nearly three decades (1998–2026), with 596 total lots recorded and 368 carrying realized prices. The price distribution is wide: from €10 for reproductive lithographs to €2,629,000 for top-tier Nabis-period oil paintings, reflecting the breadth of media Denis worked in. The median stands at €10,000, with the interquartile range between €1,300 and €28,000. Year-over-year volume is stable (47 lots in the trailing 12 months vs. 46 in the prior period), indicating consistent collector demand and healthy liquidity. Denis is represented at the highest echelon of the auction market—Christie's and Sotheby's appear frequently among his top houses—alongside strong European specialist firms including Artcurial, Bonhams, Tajan, Koller Auctions, Millon & Associés, Ader, and Piasa. Recent 2026 results at Christie's range from €7,620 for a work on paper (Femme en blanc sur le chemin jaune) to €152,400 for the oil Portrait de Marthe et Maurice, while a pastel Portrait de Marthe lisant realized £33,020 at Christie's London. OXIO sold a Denis oil for €35,000 in March 2026, and Koller Auctions achieved CHF 28,000 in November 2025. At the lower end, lithographs and studies routinely trade between €10 and €200, confirming a steep value gradient between unique works and editioned prints.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • Impressionist and Modern Art
  • 19th Century European Art
  • Prints and Multiples
  • Works on Paper
  • Old Master and 19th Century Drawings

Value drivers

  1. [object Object]

Appraisal caveats

  • Denis produced a large volume of decorative commissions, prints, and illustrations; not all carry the same market weight as his Nabis-period easel paintings
  • Print editions and reproductive lithographs may circulate widely and should be distinguished from unique works
  • Later religious and decorative commissions can be less commercially desirable than his early Symbolist work
  • Denis produced a large volume of decorative commissions, prints, and illustrations; not all carry the same market weight as his Nabis-period easel paintings.

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Maurice Denis

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Maurice Denis worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Maurice Denis artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.