Vincent van Gogh, L’Allee des Alyscamps
Vincent van Gogh’s vibrant L’Allee des Alyscamps made $66.3 million at Sotheby’s in New York last year. It was the top lot in an Impressionist and Modern evening art auction that brought in $368.3 million over a pre-sale high estimate of $351 million. Five bidders competed for the work, which had been estimated at in excess of $40 million. It was sold to an Asian private collector. Three of the top five lots of the night went to Asia.
Monet’s Nympheas (Water Lillies) from 1905 was the second highest lot of the evening. It was sold to an American private collector for $54 million. Five works by Monet totalled $115.4 million.
All eleven pieces from the estate of Chicago businessman and philanthropist Jerome H. Stone found buyers, amounting to a total of $57.8 million. Alberto Giacometti’s Femme de Venise VI – the tallest from his standing female nude series – was held in the Stone collection for more than 20 years and sold for $16.2 million.
Pablo Picasso’s Femme au chignon dans un fauteuil, which had remained in the Goldwyn Collection since 1956, made $29.9 million. It set a record for a portrait by Picasso of his lover Francoise Gilot. It was purchased by a major figure in the Chinese film industry: Wang Zhongjun, Chairman and co-founder of entertainment giant Huayi Brothers Media Group. Wang Zhongjun said: “I first fell in love with the painting and then I fell in love with its story. The Goldwyn family is legendary in our industry and in this one work, I can see not only Pablo Picasso’s genius, but also Samuel Goldwyn Sr.’s creative vision.”
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for March 19, April 13 and April 29, 2015).