Review 2025

13 Fernando Botero. Monalisa, 1959. Mixed media on brown paper laid down on panel, 144 × 122 cm. Sold for CHF 570 000 to a collection in Monaco Barry Flanagan. News, 2006. Bronze, 1/8, 105.5 × 33 × 29 cm. © 2025, ProLitteris, Zurich Sold for CHF 220 000 to western Switzerland Mikuláš Medek. Sensitivní manifestace IV, 1963. Oil and enamel on canvas, 170.5 × 120 cm. Sold for CHF 400 000 to Prague Not Vital. Head No. 1, 2013. Stainless steel with PVD coating, 3/3, height 150 cm. Sold for CHF 112 000 in Switzerland An auction record was achieved by the Graubün- den-born artist Not Vital (b. 1948). His stainless-steel sculpture ‘Head No. 1’, created in 2013 and existing in only three examples, sold for CHF 112 000 – the high- est auction price ever achieved for the artist, whose works rarely appear at auction. With his large-scale drawing from 1959, Fernando Bo- tero offers a highly personal interpretation of Leonar- do’s ‘Mona Lisa’. He depicts the Gioconda as a child, with exaggerated proportions and an enigmatic smile. Even at this early stage, the characteristics that would later define Botero’s unmistakable style are clearly present: monumental volumes, precise composition and subtle colouring. This rare early work, which sold for CHF 570 000, marks a key phase on the artist’s path towards his mature visual language.