Klimt’s artistic and historical importance as a leader of the Vienna Secession movement at the turn of the century, and the decorative luxury of his paintings, have always made him a highly valued artist. But those values skyrocketed to a different dimension in 2006 when New York cosmetics mogul Ronald S.
The price, negotiated in a private sale, was, at the time, the highest price ever given for any work of art. this wonderful work, From Klimt’s so-called golden phase, He was the subject of a drawn-out compensation lawsuit depicted in the 2015 movie starring Helen Mirren. “Woman in Gold” is now the main exhibit at Lauder’s New Gallery Museum in New York.
More recently, in 2017, in another private transaction, Oprah Winfrey sold Klimt’s 1912 “Adele Bloch-Bauer II” to a Chinese collector for $150 million, According to Bloomberg. That slightly late portrait of the attractive Bloch-Bauer featured a loosely colored background of whimsical tapestries similar to “Lady with a Fan”. Scholars associate this ornamentation with the “Japonisme” vogue that influenced European artists of the time.
Tuesday’s record price, higher than any work done last month at a slender New York auction chain, runs counter to recent market trends. Since Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, major auction houses Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips have struggled to attract quality works for their sales in the British capital.
Bolstered by Klimt’s presence – and by Lucian Freud “Night Interior” from 1968-1969, which sold for $12.2 million – Sotheby’s sale of two, 73 pieces of modern and contemporary art raised $252.9 million. Sotheby’s parabolic evening sale in the summer of 2015, a year before the Brexit vote, brought in about $486 million at the time.
On Wednesday evening, Christie’s will display 67 collections of 20th and 21st century art that are estimated to raise at least $72 million, themed to Paul Signac’s 1896 scene,”Calanque des Canoubiers (Pointe de Bamer), Saint-Tropez“worth $ 7 million. Christie’s sales in London in 2015 were about $ 263 million.
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