# Auguste Herbin artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/auguste-herbin/ Profile generated: 2026-05-02T19:09:21.118Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1882-04-29 - Death date: 1960-01-31 - Nationality: French - Movements: Cubism, Abstract art, Geometric abstraction - Common media: Oil painting, Gouache, Drawing, Sculpture, Fresco ## About Auguste Herbin Auguste Herbin (1882–1960) was a French painter and a pivotal figure in the development of geometric abstraction in twentieth-century European art. Born in Quiévy in northern France, he trained as a painter and draftsman before moving to Paris, where he absorbed the innovations of Cubism in the years before World War I. Herbin is best known for his vibrant, rigorously constructed compositions of interlocking geometric forms, which he pursued with increasing commitment from the late 1920s onward. He co-founded the influential group Abstraction-Création in 1931 and later helped establish the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, both dedicated to promoting non-figurative art. His work is held in major museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate in London. Collectors and scholars encounter Herbin's paintings, gouaches, and drawings at international auctions with regular frequency. ## Common works and media Herbin's most commonly encountered works at auction include oil on canvas paintings featuring bold, colorful geometric compositions, as well as gouaches and watercolors on paper. Drawings in pencil, ink, or charcoal — often studies for larger compositions — also appear regularly. Editioned prints and lithographs from the mid-twentieth century circulate in the print market. Subjects are predominantly non-representational, with interlocking triangles, circles, and rectangles in saturated color. Sculptural works and fresco designs are less common but documented in RKD records. ## Market and appraisal context Auguste Herbin has a well-established and active secondary market, with 683 recorded lots and 463 priced results spanning nearly three decades of auction activity (1997–2026). The price distribution is wide: the interquartile range runs from roughly €3,500 to €65,000, with a median near €20,000, while the top end reaches €725,000. This dispersion reflects the strong premium placed on large oil paintings from Herbin's mature geometric-abstraction phase (1930s–1960) and on early pre-Cubist and Cubist-period landscapes, which have recently commanded €50,000–€130,000 at houses like Christie's and Lempertz. Works on paper, gouaches, and editioned screen prints trade at more accessible levels, typically in the hundreds to low thousands of euros. The top-tier houses — Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Artcurial, Tajan, Lempertz, Hampel, and Dorotheum — all handle Herbin regularly, confirming sustained institutional demand. Liquidity is solid but has moderated: the trailing twelve months saw 28 lots versus 55 in the prior twelve months, which may reflect ordinary cyclical variation rather than structural softening. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Auguste Herbin has a well-established and active secondary market, with 683 recorded lots and 463 priced results spanning nearly three decades of auction activity (1997–2026). The price distribution is wide: the interquartile range runs from roughly €3,500 to €65,000, with a median near €20,000, while the top end reaches €725,000. This dispersion reflects the strong premium placed on large oil paintings from Herbin's mature geometric-abstraction phase (1930s–1960) and on early pre-Cubist and Cubist-period landscapes, which have recently commanded €50,000–€130,000 at houses like Christie's and Lempertz. Works on paper, gouaches, and editioned screen prints trade at more accessible levels, typically in the hundreds to low thousands of euros. The top-tier houses — Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Artcurial, Tajan, Lempertz, Hampel, and Dorotheum — all handle Herbin regularly, confirming sustained institutional demand. Liquidity is solid but has moderated: the trailing twelve months saw 28 lots versus 55 in the prior twelve months, which may reflect ordinary cyclical variation rather than structural softening. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use these auction records as a comparable-sales baseline, then layer in specifics from the work itself: photographs showing signature, medium, dimensions, condition (craquelure, inpainting, surface soiling, fading of gouache), and any gallery labels, exhibition stamps, or provenance documentation. For Herbin, period identification is critical — early landscapes (c. 1906–1915), Cubist compositions (c. 1909–1920s), and mature geometric-abstraction works (1930s–1960) occupy distinct price tiers. Medium matters substantially: oil on canvas results are typically five to ten times those of gouaches or drawings of comparable size and date. Edition details (for screen prints and lithographs) — edition size, printer, date of edition versus date of composition — affect value. Attribution should be cross-referenced against RKD records (artist ID 37715); no single public catalogue raisonné was identified in the source pack, so expert opinion or committee verification may be required for unsigned or atypical works. Condition reports are essential, particularly for works on paper and gouaches, which are vulnerable to light damage and foxing. ### Valuation factors - Medium: oil paintings command the strongest results; gouaches and watercolors are mid-tier; prints and screen prints are entry-level - Period and style: mature geometric-abstraction works (1930s–1960) and early Cubist/pre-Cubist landscapes (c. 1906–1915) both carry premiums; transitional works from the 1920s vary - Size: larger canvases (over 100 cm on the longest side) tend to outperform, as seen in the €406,400 Christie's result for Vue d'un port Corse II - Provenance: documented exhibition history, gallery labels (e.g., Galerie Denise René), and inclusion in named collections add measurable value - Condition: undamaged oil surfaces with stable paint film are expected at higher price points; condition issues disproportionately affect works on paper - Authenticity documentation: RKD records, catalogue raisonné references, or expert committee certificates support stronger valuations - Auction-house tier: results at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams tend to set the upper comparable range; regional houses like Tajan, Hampel, and Lempertz provide mid-market benchmarks - Market timing and volume: the decline from 55 to 28 lots over the past two annual periods may affect near-term comparables selection ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - No single public catalogue raisonné was identified in the source pack; attribution for unsigned or atypical works should be verified through RKD records or expert opinion. - Price distribution is wide (€80 to €725,000); median and quartile figures should not be applied to individual works without accounting for medium, period, size, and condition. - Three recent lots in the source pack (Artcurial December 2025, Osenat December 2025, Hampel September 2025) show null price-realised values, indicating either buy-ins or data lag; these lots are excluded from price statistics but suggest that not all consigned works find buyers. - Lot volumes have decreased from 55 in the prior twelve-month period to 28 in the most recent twelve months; a single year of data is insufficient to determine whether this reflects a market shift or normal auction-cycle variation. - Prices in the source pack are denominated in EUR, GBP, USD, and CHF; cross-currency comparisons should account for exchange rates at the time of sale. - Appraisily auction signals are derived from public auction feeds and may not capture every private sale or art-fair transaction. ### Market evidence sources - Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/auguste-herbin/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - Invaluable / Christie's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-1960-vue-d-un-port-corse-ii-345-c-5cc6f924b7 - Invaluable / Christie's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-1960-joie-ii-oil-on-canvas51-1-8-x-38-1-4-in-130-x-202-c-b30d883df0 - Invaluable / Lempertz: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-les-coteaux-a-haute-isle-1906-28-c-7e431c23c4 - Invaluable / Lempertz: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-viaduc-de-saint-benin-1909-9-c-51792c0117 - Invaluable / Hampel Fine Art Auctions: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-quievy-1960-paris-439-c-e368a733bf - Invaluable / Christie's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-1960-village-pres-du-cateau-139-c-3bd8f50f1f - Invaluable / Christie's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-1960-perron-entoure-d-arbres-144-c-3bd955215a - Invaluable / Christie's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-1960-accent-no-2-5-c-f514eb58f3 - Invaluable / Dorotheum: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-51-c-a86cc0490c - Invaluable / Bernaerts Auctioneers: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-1960-27-c-f26909e6fb - Invaluable / Tajan: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-1960-39-c-d99f1cac1b - Invaluable / Maison Jules Veilinghuis: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-auguste-herbin-1882-1960-composition-sur-le-mot-vie-ii-1950-screen-print-edition-emilio-modric-ancona-italy-1991-1208-c-436ac00cea ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine independent artist identity research from museum, library authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Auguste Herbin, identity data draws on Wikidata, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute, the Museum of Modern Art, and Tate. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q706359 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Herbin - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/27149540/ - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/2602 - Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/auguste-herbin-1275 - RKD Netherlands Institute: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/37715 - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82116430