# Roger de la Fresnaye artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/roger-de-la-fresnaye/
Profile generated: 2026-05-27T21:27:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1885-07-11
- Death date: 1925-11-27
- Nationality: French
- Movements: Cubism
- Common media: oil painting, sculpture, watercolor, gouache, drawing, illustration

## About Roger de la Fresnaye

Roger de la Fresnaye (1885–1925) was a French painter, sculptor, and illustrator associated with the Cubist movement. Born Roger Noël François de La Fresnaye on July 11, 1885, he produced a significant body of work across oil painting, watercolor, gouache, drawing, and sculpture during a career cut short by his death at age forty in 1925. His pre-World War I canvases, which blended geometric structure with vivid color and figurative subject matter, brought a distinctive lyricism to French Cubism that set his work apart from the more austere analytical approaches of his contemporaries. Major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art hold examples of his work in their collections. Collectors today encounter his paintings, works on paper, and sculptural pieces at auction, where his relatively small oeuvre and historical importance within early twentieth-century modernism sustain continued interest.

## Common works and media

Collectors are most likely to encounter oil paintings on canvas depicting figurative and allegorical subjects, often rendered in a Cubist vocabulary with bold color. Watercolors, gouaches, and pen-and-ink drawings—including illustrative and military-themed works—also circulate in the secondary market. Sculptural works by the artist are less common but do appear. Attribution should be confirmed by signature (the artist used 'R de la Fresnaye') and, where possible, by reference to the RKD or other catalogue records.

## Market and appraisal context

Roger de la Fresnaye's auction market centers on Impressionist and Modern Art sales at major houses. His limited output—constrained by a career of roughly two decades—means that signed oil paintings from his pre-1914 Cubist period are comparatively rare and tend to attract the strongest bidder interest. Works on paper, including watercolors, gouaches, and drawings, appear more regularly at auction and offer collectors an accessible entry point. Provenance, condition, and clear attribution (the artist signed 'R de la Fresnaye') are important factors in any appraisal. Because museum and auction-house detail pages were not fully accessible for this research, collectors should verify current estimates and comparables through live auction databases before making valuation decisions.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum records, library authority files, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Roger de la Fresnaye, this page draws on the RKD, Getty ULAN, VIAF, and Wikidata authority files. Live auction data was not available in this source pass and should be consulted separately for price guidance.

## Sources

- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/29410
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q718882
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/39427207/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500013022
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_de_La_Fresnaye
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85817282
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/3325