Chaïm Soutine at Christie’s, February 2006

A work by Lithuanian painter Chaïn Soutine (1894-1943) entitled “Le boeuf écorché” has turned into the star of the impressionist & modern Art at Christie’s London, where it was sold for £7.84 million. The painting, the only one of the six versions Soutine made of this subject that remains in private hands, measures 129.8 x 75 cm . and carried an estimate of £4.2 – 4.8 million.

Chaïm Soutine is a strange case in the modern Art world. An autodidact painter, he formed his indescribable style by the direct observation of works by old master such as Rembrandt or Carracci, who also represented the same subject of the painting sold at Christie’s. A close friend of Amedeo Modigliani, his work is beginning to be highly appreciated by the Art market.

At the same auction, a nice pastel by Pablo Picasso entitled “Bouffon et jeune acrobate” , dated 1905 -in the beginning of the very appreciated “rose period”- failed to sell, which is really surprising, given the astronomical prices fetched by the works from Picasso’s blue and rose period.