Pablo Picasso
La Gommeuse, 1901
Sold for $67,450,000 (£43,841,404)
Vincent van Gogh: Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé
1889
Sold for $54,010,000 (£35,105,622)
Picasso and Van Gogh lead Sotheby’s auctions On November 4 and 5, 2015, Sotheby’s sold Impressionist and Modern Art for a total of $575.8 million. Picasso’s ‘La Gommeuse’ (1901) sold for $67.5 million and Van Gogh’s ‘Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé’ (1889) fetched $54 million.]]>
November 6, 2015, source: Sotheby’s
Simon Shaw, Co-Head of Sotheby’s Worldwide Impressionist & Modern Art Department, commented: “ Tonight’s sale spoke to the desires of the market today – our top lots alone tell the story of how diverse that market is, with strong results spanning classic Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Suprematism and Expressionism. Each season Picasso has the remarkable ability to surprise, and tonight was no exception, with the unusual appearance of two Blue Period works, which set new benchmarks – both in oil and on paper. It’s been an extraordinary week in this field at Sotheby’s, with $575.8m sold in just 24 hours, and our Day Sale still to come.”
The top lot was Picasso’s “La Gommeuse” from 1901, which sold for $67.5 million – a new auction record for a Blue Period Picasso. Picasso painted the stunning “La Gommeuse” in 1901, emboldened by the success of his first exhibition in Paris but reeling from his friend Carlos Casagemas’s suicide. The work exemplifies the poignancy, introspection and sexual charge of this seminal moment in the history of Modernism.
Van Gogh’s Arles-period landscape “Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé” sold for $54 million, leading the Collection of Louis and Evelyn Franck.
The Collection of A. Alfred Taubman brought a total of $377 million / £244.4 2 million / HK$2.94 billion, passing its low estimate of $374.8 million with a strong 89.6% of lots finding buyers. The Masterworks sale was led by “Paulette Jourdain”, one of the finest and final portraits ever painted by Amedeo Modigliani, which sold for $42.8 million
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Picasso leads Sotheby’s London auction, February 2013
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