# François Arnal artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/francois-arnal/
Profile generated: 2026-05-11T19:16:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1924-10-02
- Death date: 2012-10-28
- Nationality: French
- Common media: painting, sculpture

## About François Arnal

François Arnal (1924–2012) was a French painter and sculptor whose career extended across more than six decades of postwar and contemporary European art. Born on October 2, 1924, and active from at least the late 1940s, Arnal developed a practice that encompassed both painting and sculpture. His work is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, reflecting international recognition beyond the French gallery circuit. Arnal's paintings and sculptures have circulated through exhibitions and public auction, including sales at Hôtel Drouot in Paris. He is recorded in major international authority files — the Getty Union List of Artist Names, the Virtual International Authority File, the Library of Congress Name Authority File, and the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie — confirming his established presence in art-historical documentation. He died on October 28, 2012.

## Common works and media

Arnal is known primarily as a painter and sculptor. His painted works range across abstract and figurative compositions, commonly executed in oil on canvas. His sculptural output includes three-dimensional works in various materials. Collectors may also encounter drawings, prints, or editions associated with his practice. Given a career spanning from the late 1940s through the 2000s, the medium, scale, and date of individual works can vary significantly, and identification should account for period and style.

## Market and appraisal context

François Arnal's works appear regularly at public auction, with over four hundred lots documented in sale databases. His output spans paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, and collectors most frequently encounter his material through French and international auction houses. Key valuation factors include medium, dimensions, date of execution, provenance, and condition. Works with documented exhibition history or gallery provenance may carry stronger market interest. As with many twentieth-century European artists whose careers bridged several decades, realized prices vary considerably by period and quality, and appraisal should draw on comparable auction results and the specific attributes of the individual work.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum records, international library authority files, and auction-house data. For François Arnal, this page draws on records from the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, and Wikidata, alongside public auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available.

## Sources

- Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/2492
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/227
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/95857420/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3083838
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500028453
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82250357
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Arnal