Gauguin’s masterpiece reportedly sold for $300 million

Paul Gauguin
Nafea faa ipoipo? (When will you marry?)
1892

Gauguin’s masterpiece reportedly sold for $300 million Paul Gauguin’s ‘Nafea faa ipoipo? (When will you marry?)’ has been sold by the Rudolf Staechelin Family Trust to an unknown buyer (said to be the Qatar Museums) for a reported $300 million, which would be the highest price ever paid for a work of art.]]>

February 6, 2015

The painting -one of Gauguin’s most famous and reproduced images- belonged to the Rudolf Staechelin Family Trust, and had been on loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel for decades. “Nafea faa ipoipo?” depicts a couple of Tahitian native women, one of them dressed in a traditional Tahitian dress, while the other one, showing a serious expression on her face, is wearing a mission dress.

If the reported price is correct, the Gauguin is now the most expensive painting ever sold, beating the $250 million paid for Paul Cézanne’s “The Card Players” (1892/93 ), which was purchased in 2011 by the Royal Family of Qatar from the heirs of George Embiricos.

Top 5 most expensive paintings ever sold

1. Paul Gauguin: “Nafea faa ipoipo?” – $300 million
2. Paul Cézanne: “The Card Players” – $250 million
3. Pablo Picasso: “La Rêve (The Dream)” – $155 million
4. Francis Bacon: “3 Studies of Lucian Freud” $142.4 million
5. Jackson Pollock: “Number 5, 1948” – $140 million

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