Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the grey tonalities are slightly lighter in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is very light and soft undulation to the paper. Close inspection reveals a 5cm thin, light horizontal crease to the centre of the right edge and three further horizontal thin and very light creases of approximately 10cm, towards the centre of the composition and one measuring approximately 5cm to the centre of the bottom left quadrant.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Sigmar Polke's Untitled from 2004 is a stunning deconstruction of the figurative into the abstract, while lyrical forms still evoke the epic historical genre of landscape painting. In a tremendous coalescence of mark-making, diaphanous use of colour and delicate mastery of materials, the present work alchemically forges a sense of serene chaos. Grounded in a compositionally sophisticated and complex layering of ethereal blues, whites and greys, the impressive and monumental size of the paper sheet bestows a powerful presence to equal Polke's most successful paintings. Sean Rainbird deftly explains, Polke "plays with the concepts of inspiration and originality. Within this cult of creativity, he is an elfin presence, a shrouded mystic, a magician projecting illusions" (Exhibition Catalogue, Liverpool, Tate Gallery, Sigmar Polke: Join the Dots, 1995, p. 9).

Polke's work consistently exemplifies a vigorous and exuberant sense of investigation. Evident in the masterpieces executed throughout the decades of the artist's remarkable career, Polke scrutinises the subject of idealized beauty through tackling our cognitive sense of visual perception. As John Caldwell has noted, "What Polke has done is to produce paintings that seem to look back at us by changing as we look at them, and thus allow them to have the very aura of a work of art that [Walter] Benjamin saw as inevitably vanishing in the modern world" (Exhibition Catalogue, San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, Sigmar Polke, 1990, p. 13). Replete with otherworldly splendour, as commandingly exhibited in Untitled, Polke's graphic w😼orks powerfully distill💯 and reconstruct a means to profoundly communicate with masterful and exquisite pictorial ingenuity.