Winter Bird
1945
A mysterious and dreamlike bird emerges from a stark winter landscape in Leon Kelly's haunting surrealist composition. Kelly's meticulous brushwork in oil renders the creature with a quiet, otherworldly presence, blending naturalistic detail with an enigmatic, symbolic quality. The muted, cold tones of the palette evoke the stillness and isolation of the winter season.
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Sotheby's, New York, NY
- Spotted At
- Auction House · Sotheby'sView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
The Sleep of Reason | A Private Collection of Surrealist Art Online
May 3, 2019
Estimate: $5,000 to $7,000
Lot 8
More by Léon Kelly
Artists in conversation
Andrew Wyeth
American · b. 1917
Wyeth's tempera and watercolor works share Kelly's meticulous naturalistic detail combined with a haunting, melancholic mood, particularly in winter landscapes rendered with cold muted tones that evoke isolation and quiet mystery.
Kay Sage
American · b. 1898
Sage was an American surrealist who crafted dreamlike compositions with stark, cold palettes and an eerie stillness, closely mirroring Kelly's otherworldly symbolic imagery and the quiet enigmatic presence found in Winter Bird.
Morris Graves
American · b. 1910
Graves repeatedly painted solitary birds rendered with spiritual and symbolic resonance in a dreamlike, mid century American style, making his work a near direct parallel to Kelly's mysterious bird emerging from a stark and isolated winter setting.
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