# Ludwig Meidner artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/ludwig-meidner/
Profile generated: 2026-05-06T22:21:46.089Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1884-04-18
- Death date: 1966-05-14
- Nationality: German
- Movements: German Expressionism
- Common media: oil painting, printmaking, lithography, etching, drawing

## About Ludwig Meidner

Ludwig Meidner (1884–1966) was a German Expressionist painter and printmaker renowned for his intense, visionary depictions of urban catastrophe and psychological portraiture. Born in Bernstadt, Silesia, Meidner studied in Breslau and Paris before settling in Berlin, where he became a distinctive voice within German Expressionism. His celebrated Apocalyptic Landscape series, created in the years leading up to World War I, rendered cityscapes torn apart by comet strikes, floods, and convulsive energy, establishing him as one of the most imaginative painters of impending crisis in early twentieth-century European art. Beyond these dramatic compositions, Meidner produced penetrating portraits of cultural figures, self-portraits, and later turned toward religious and biblical subjects. His work is held in major museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Meidner spent his later years in Darmstadt, where he died in 1966.

## Common works and media

Collectors may encounter Meidner's work across several media: oil paintings of apocalyptic cityscapes and portraits, charcoal and ink drawings, and editioned prints including lithographs and etchings. Portrait heads and self-portraits are recurring subjects throughout his career. Illustration plates from periodicals such as Das Kunstblatt also appear in print collections. Later works include biblical scenes and landscape drawings in a more subdued figurative style.

## Market and appraisal context

Ludwig Meidner has an established and active secondary market spanning over two decades, with 287 auction lots recorded since 2001 and 127 carrying realized prices. Activity remains consistent, with 16 lots in the most recent 12-month window and 19 in the prior period. Price dispersion is wide: the recorded range runs from €40 to €398,500, with a median of €480 and a 75th percentile of €2,000, reflecting that prints and works on paper dominate turnover while important Expressionist-period works command six-figure sums. The top-priced recent lot is Christie's October 2025 sale of "Apokalyptische Vision" (reed pen and pen and ink drawing) at £57,150, confirming strong demand for pre-WWI apocalyptic subject matter. Major houses handling Meidner include Christie's, Grisebach, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Galerie Kornfeld, and Vendu Rotterdam, alongside German regional specialists such as Auktionshaus Arnold, Schmidt Kunstauktionen Dresden, and Kunstauktionshaus Schloss Ahlden. The breadth of houses signals healthy distribution across European and international venues rather than concentration in a single channel.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Ludwig Meidner has an established and active secondary market spanning over two decades, with 287 auction lots recorded since 2001 and 127 carrying realized prices. Activity remains consistent, with 16 lots in the most recent 12-month window and 19 in the prior period. Price dispersion is wide: the recorded range runs from €40 to €398,500, with a median of €480 and a 75th percentile of €2,000, reflecting that prints and works on paper dominate turnover while important Expressionist-period works command six-figure sums. The top-priced recent lot is Christie's October 2025 sale of "Apokalyptische Vision" (reed pen and pen and ink drawing) at £57,150, confirming strong demand for pre-WWI apocalyptic subject matter. Major houses handling Meidner include Christie's, Grisebach, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Galerie Kornfeld, and Vendu Rotterdam, alongside German regional specialists such as Auktionshaus Arnold, Schmidt Kunstauktionen Dresden, and Kunstauktionshaus Schloss Ahlden. The breadth of houses signals healthy distribution across European and international venues rather than concentration in a single channel.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would use the 287-lot auction record as a comparable-sales foundation, filtering by medium, date of execution, subject matter, dimensions, and condition to narrow to relevant comps. Key steps in an appraisal would include: (1) confirming the work's medium and date against Meidner's known periods—pre-WWI Expressionist works (c. 1912–1916) trade at a significant premium to later figurative and religious subjects; (2) verifying signature, edition details (for prints), and provenance documentation; (3) assessing condition, noting that works on paper from this era are vulnerable to foxing, light damage, and acid migration; (4) benchmarking against the priced lot distribution—works below the €480 median are typically small prints or late drawings, while paintings and important Expressionist-period works on paper fall in the €2,000–€398,500 range; and (5) cross-referencing against recent results at comparable houses (e.g., Christie's, Grisebach, Lempertz, Kornfeld) to anchor a fair-market-value estimate.

### Valuation factors

- Period: pre-WWI Expressionist works (c. 1912–1916), especially apocalyptic landscapes and visionary subjects, command the highest prices; later figurative and religious works trade at lower levels
- Medium: oil paintings are the scarcest and most valuable; major works on paper (e.g., pen-and-ink apocalyptic drawings) can reach five-figure sums at international houses; editioned prints and small drawings cluster around or below the €480 median
- Subject matter: apocalyptic and visionary compositions carry a significant premium over portraits, landscapes, and biblical scenes
- Condition: works on paper from the early 20th century require careful condition assessment—foxing, creasing, light fading, and mounting damage materially affect value
- Provenance: documented exhibition history, inclusion in Meidner catalogues raisonnés, and chain of ownership through recognized dealers or estates strengthen value
- Authenticity confirmation: Meidner's signature style evolved significantly; early works benefit from expert authentication, and unsigned or ambiguously attributed pieces trade at a discount
- Edition details for prints: edition size, plate state, and whether the impression is a lifetime versus posthumous printing affect value
- House and venue: results at Christie's, Grisebach, and Lempertz set the upper benchmarks; regional German auction results provide the mid-market baseline

### Collector notes

- Liquidity is moderate and steady: 16–19 lots per year across European venues means collectors can expect reasonable but not rapid turnover if selling
- The €480 median masks a bimodal market—most transactions involve prints and minor drawings below €1,000, while important Expressionist-period works are rare and priced accordingly
- The Christie's £57,150 result for "Apokalyptische Vision" (Oct 2025) shows that even works on paper from the apocalyptic series can reach strong prices at international houses
- German regional houses (Arnold, Schmidt Dresden, Schloss Ahlden, Winterberg-Kunst) offer entry points for collectors seeking Meidner prints and drawings below €1,000
- Self-portraits are a recurring subject at auction and appear at houses including Kornfeld, Christie's, and Schuler—these form a recognizable collecting category
- Currency mix (EUR, CHF, GBP) reflects the artist's market being anchored in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK; currency conversion should be factored when comparing across venues
- Works dated 1902 (early career, pre-Expressionist) have appeared at Auktionshaus Arnold in the €200–€1,000 range—these are accessible but represent a different artistic phase than the sought-after 1912–1916 period

### Market caveats

- Of 287 recorded lots, only 127 carry realized prices (44%); unsold or price-withheld lots may skew the apparent median upward or downward
- The €398,500 maximum represents the top of the observed range and is not representative of typical market levels—most lots fall well below the €2,000 75th percentile
- Price data mixes currencies (EUR, CHF, GBP) and has not been normalized to a single currency; comparisons should account for exchange rates at time of sale
- Recent lot titles often lack medium, dimensions, and detailed descriptions, limiting precise comparability without further research
- The source pack does not include private sale data, dealer asking prices, or gallery retail prices, which may differ from auction results
- Attribution risk: some lots with minimal cataloguing (e.g., lots titled only "Ludwig Meidner" without medium or date) may carry higher attribution uncertainty
- Market activity for Meidner is concentrated in German-speaking countries and the UK; results from other regions are limited and may not reflect local market conditions

### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/ludwig-meidner/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ludwig-meidner-ohne-titel-1916-174-c-4f8455da52

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research grounded in museum records, library authority files, and scholarly sources with available auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots. For Ludwig Meidner, this page draws on holdings data from the Museum of Modern Art, the RKD Netherlands Institute, the Library of Congress authority file, Getty ULAN, and VIAF, supplemented by biographical context.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80144545
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/54890
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/3909
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q213727
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500016886
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/7603180/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Meidner