World record for Vallotton: the «Intimités» portfolio fetches CHF 320,000

When the hammer fell on 30 May 2026, it was official: the complete woodcut portfolio «Intimités» by Félix Vallotton changed hands at our Spring Auction for CHF 320,000 — against an estimate of CHF 50,000. It is the highest price ever paid at auction for prints by Vallotton.

The work

The «Intimités» rank among the most influential prints of European modernism. Vallotton created the ten woodcuts in Paris in 1897/98, introducing the bourgeois Parisian interior into contemporary printmaking: couples on rumpled beds, women receiving money, men who say nothing — hinted at, never spelled out.

The portfolio was published in 1898 in an edition of thirty; five copies were printed on Japon teinté and signed by the artist. The copy auctioned in Zofingen is one of those five — accompanied by the «épreuve justificative de la destruction des bois», which documents the destruction of all ten woodblocks. Complete portfolios of this quality are practically unobtainable on the auction market.

The record

The previous auction record for Vallotton’s prints dated from 2018, when the likewise complete portfolio «Les Petites Baigneuses» was knocked down in Zurich for CHF 140,000. Zofingen has more than doubled that mark.

«Here, a masterpiece like the ‹Intimités› is not lost in a catalogue full of million-franc lots; it receives the undivided attention it deserves. That is precisely why we achieve top prices for such lots. Trust and a global network are the decisive factors for success — regardless of whether the saleroom is in Paris, London or Zofingen», says co-owner Sander Jongbloed.