# Francis Picabia artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/francis-picabia/ Profile generated: 2026-04-30T14:12:27.052Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1879-01-22 - Death date: 1953-11-30 - Nationality: French - Movements: Dada, Impressionism, Abstract art, Surrealism, Art Informel ## About Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (1879–1953) was a French painter, graphic artist, writer, and filmmaker whose career defied stylistic categorization. Born in Paris to a French mother and a Spanish father, he first gained recognition as an Impressionist painter around 1905 before turning to radical abstraction in 1912 with large-scale non-objective canvases that marked the arrival of abstract painting in Paris. During World War I he became a central figure of the Dada movement, publishing provocative journals in New York, Barcelona, and Zurich. Over five decades his output traversed mechanomorphic imagery, Surrealist-influenced figurative painting, photo-based works, and late-career Art Informel abstractions. Major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, Tate, and Centre Pompidou hold significant collections of his work. The Comité Picabia, founded in 1990, oversees his archives and is preparing a multi-volume catalogue raisonné covering all mediums from 1898 to 1953. ## Common works and media Picabia worked across virtually all two-dimensional media. Common work types encountered in appraisal and auction contexts include oil paintings on canvas—from Impressionist landscapes to abstract compositions, mechanomorphic works, figurative nudes, and late abstractions—alongside works on paper such as watercolors, gouaches, and ink drawings. He also produced collages incorporating found materials, graphic prints and posters, photographs used as source material for photo-based paintings, and artist books with poetry. Edition prints and reproductions of his well-known Dada imagery circulate widely in the secondary market. The breadth of his output, from salon-scale oils to intimate drawings, means collectors may encounter Picabia works across a broad price spectrum. ## Market and appraisal context Francis Picabia's secondary-market footprint is deep and geographically broad, with 1,079 auction lots recorded from May 1993 through April 2026 and 730 of those carrying a realized price. The price distribution is wide and right-skewed: the minimum recorded price is $30 (edition prints and book lots) while the maximum reaches $3,780,000, with a median of $43,250 and an interquartile range of $10,000–$133,250. This dispersion reflects the full span of Picabia's oeuvre—from intimate works on paper and reproductive serigraphs trading in the hundreds to museum-quality oils from his Dada and abstract periods commanding seven figures. Liquidity remains strong: 49 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 64 in the prior 12-month period, indicating a sustained though slightly cooled cadence likely tied to macro auction-calendar shifts. The top houses handling his material are Christie's, Sotheby's, Artcurial, Bonhams, Tajan, Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Osenat, Ader, Piasa, and Art Atelier, confirming that Picabia lots circulate through both the international blue-chip evening-sale circuit and the mid-tier European auction market. Recent comparable lots include a Dorotheum painting at €150,000, an Artcurial painting at €270,000, a Christie's Impressionist landscape (Moret, effet de soleil) at €292,100, and lower-tier serigraphs and drawings between $700 and $15,000. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Francis Picabia's secondary-market footprint is deep and geographically broad, with 1,079 auction lots recorded from May 1993 through April 2026 and 730 of those carrying a realized price. The price distribution is wide and right-skewed: the minimum recorded price is $30 (edition prints and book lots) while the maximum reaches $3,780,000, with a median of $43,250 and an interquartile range of $10,000–$133,250. This dispersion reflects the full span of Picabia's oeuvre—from intimate works on paper and reproductive serigraphs trading in the hundreds to museum-quality oils from his Dada and abstract periods commanding seven figures. Liquidity remains strong: 49 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 64 in the prior 12-month period, indicating a sustained though slightly cooled cadence likely tied to macro auction-calendar shifts. The top houses handling his material are Christie's, Sotheby's, Artcurial, Bonhams, Tajan, Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Osenat, Ader, Piasa, and Art Atelier, confirming that Picabia lots circulate through both the international blue-chip evening-sale circuit and the mid-tier European auction market. Recent comparable lots include a Dorotheum painting at €150,000, an Artcurial painting at €270,000, a Christie's Impressionist landscape (Moret, effet de soleil) at €292,100, and lower-tier serigraphs and drawings between $700 and $15,000. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use the 1,079-lot auction record as a comparable-sales foundation, filtering by medium, period, dimensions, and sale date to find the closest matches to a submitted work. Because Picabia's output spans Impressionist landscapes, mechanomorphic abstractions, Surrealist figurative paintings, photo-based works, and late Art Informel canvases, period identification is the single most important step. For oil paintings, comparable lots at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Artcurial provide the strongest pricing anchors; for works on paper and prints, results from Koller, Hampel, and Freeman's | Hindman bracket the accessible tier. Every appraisal should note whether the work has been submitted to or accepted by the Comité Picabia, as authentication status materially affects value. Photographs, dimensions, medium confirmation, signature location, condition report, and documented provenance are essential inputs that Appraisily pairs with the auction record to produce a grounded estimate. Edition prints and serigraphs should be compared against the Prints & Multiples segment rather than unique paintings. ### Valuation factors - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - The catalogue raisonné is still in progress; some works have not yet been reviewed by the Comité Picabia, and attribution for certain pieces remains unresolved. Attribution uncertainty can materially affect value. - Picabia's stylistic versatility makes connoisseurship especially challenging—his oeuvre includes works that closely resemble those of contemporaries in Impressionism, Dada, Surrealism, and Art Informel. Authentication by the Comité Picabia is strongly recommended before any significant transaction. - Some works have been lost, destroyed, or reworked by the artist and may never appear in the published catalogue. - Auction-record prices span $30 to $3,780,000 across 730 priced lots. This extreme range means individual lot results are not representative of the market for any given work; proper appraisal requires filtering comparables by period, medium, dimensions, and condition. - The recent 12-month lot count (49) is below the prior 12-month count (64). While this may reflect normal auction-calendar variation rather than demand softening, sellers should monitor upcoming sale results for trend confirmation. - Price data includes lots denominated in USD, EUR, GBP, and CHF. Currency conversion timing affects realized-price comparisons across houses and jurisdictions. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/francis-picabia/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francis-picabia-25-c-45a7803e56 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francis-picabia-13-c-edf74161ce - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francis-picabia-1879-1953-vue-de-saint-paul-de-vence-86-c-f1146b3bf6 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-francis-picabia-parade-amoureuse-serigraph-169-c-03783ba887 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine published artist identity research from museum, library authority, and estate sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Francis Picabia, identity data draws on the Library of Congress, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, the Museum of Modern Art, Tate, and the Comité Picabia. Market observations reference public auction records and should not be treated as formal appraisals. ## Sources - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50019704 - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4607 - RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/63256 - Comité Picabia: https://www.picabia.com/ - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q157321 - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/36923084/ - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Picabia - Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francis-picabia-1766