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Sun over the Sea by Vilhelm Hammershøi.

One of the only known marine paintings by Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi comes up at Sotheby’s sale of 19th Century European Paintings in London on May 22.  Sun Over the Sea is estiamted at £100,000-150,000. The auction will feature a second painting by Hammershøi with a maritime subject the Old Warehouse in Christianshavn (£80,000-100,000).  Both pictures are from Danish private collections and come to market for the first time.

Claude Piening of Sotheby’s said: “Hammershøi’s timeless and quietly understated images continue to cast their spell on today’s collectors. For our upcoming sale in May, we are fortunate to be offering two exterior views painted in Copenhagen. Sun over the Sea is an especially exciting rediscovery, arguably the only painting by Hammershøi to depict not only the open ocean, but the glowing orb of the sun, the source of light in so many of his more familiar interior scenes.”

ack Butler Yeats’ Island Men Returning.  UPDATE: THIS MADE £69,700

Boats at Sea by Paul Henry.

New to market paintings by Jack Butler Yeats and Paul Henry will be offered by Bonhams in London on May 28.  Consigned from private collections in the UK and Canada each work is estimated at £60,000-80,000. Island Men Returning by Yeats dates from 1919 and depicts currachs pulling back into harbour.   Boats at Sea by Henry was finished in 1936.

Penny Day, Bonhams Head of Irish Art says “We are thrilled to be offering these two exceptional works by such stellar Irish names. Both featuring boats at sea and never before offered at auction, they present a golden opportunity to acquire a fresh and rare marine painting by two of Ireland’s most famous artists”.

Both works will be on public view at Bonhams Dublin Gallery on Molesworth Street from May 11-14.

Andy Warhol Six Self Portaits, 1986 ($25-35 million). Copyright in this image is vested in Sotheby’s.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $30,125,000

A group of six self-portraits by Andy Warhol will come up at Sotheby’s sale of contemporary art in New York on May 14.  Executed in 1986 – 20 years after the artists last series of self-portraits and just months before his unexpected death – the group represents the definitive self image of Warhol and his brand. They are among the last and greatest works of his career.

The group was acquired by the present owners in July 1986 from the London gallery of legendary dealer Anthony d’Offay.  They bought it soft $57,500.  Now to be offered as one lot it is estimated at $25-35 million. Warhol had laid out strict instructions as to the height at which they should be hung (so as to correspond exactly with his own head height) and to the sequencing (blue, green, orange, lilac, pale blue, pink).  They have hung in that manner for the last 28 years.

Jeff Koons
Popeye
signed, dated 2009-2011 and numbered 3/3.  UPDATE: IT MADE $28,165,000

AN immaculate, gleaming, seven-foot tall statue of Popeye by Jeff Koons comes up at Sotheby’s New York evening auction of contemporary art on May 14.  The cartoon character and American pop culture icon is Koons’ most accomplished and major work of recent years. It is from an edition of three and no example has appeared at auction until now. The present Popeye has never been exhibited publicly, and will make its debut in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries on May 2.  The estimate is in the region of $25 million.

Flawlessly finished in kaleidoscope glazes Popeye stands at the culmination of a long line of sculptures in which Koons has sought to re-frame the terms of high art for the masses. Originally conceived in 1929 as part of a newspaper comic strip Popeye became a cultural phenomenon during the Great Depression. Ordinary, tough, resilient, confident and super strong Popeye personified the American dream. Koons began referencing Popeye in 2000 but it was not until 2009 that he reappropriated this American champion in heroic sculptural over life size form as an icon for a new millennium.

Alex Rotter, Co-Head of Sotheby’s Worldwide Contemporary Art Department, commented: “The history of Pop Art begins and ends with Popeye. From his first representations by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol in the 1960s, to the present three-dimensional crescendo by Jeff Koons a half century later, this ultimate American hero and self-made man has remained a true icon of both art history and popular culture.”

Here is a video about the the work:

Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: IT MADE $80,805,000

Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards will highlight Christie’s sale in New York on May 13.  It is one of the most important triptychs from the 1980’s still in private hands. Celebrating one of the most significant relationships in Francis Bacon’s life the painting represents John Edwards, a bar manager from the East End of London, who Bacon had met a decade earlier and who went onto to become one of the artist’s inseparable companions, his most trusted confidents,  and the rare witness to the artist at work. Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards, embodies the sense of calm and confidence that came over Bacon’s work in the last decade of his life. It is estimated at around $80 million.  Last year Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud  sold for a world record of $142,405,000.

“We are honored to announce one of the greatest paintings from Francis Bacon’s acclaimed Late Period. Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards, executed in 1984 was the centerpiece of the artist’s retrospective at the London Tate Gallery in 1985-86, and a work that the artist himself ranked amongst his best works. It shows an incredible tenderness and harmony that was prompted by Bacon’s paternal relationship with the sitter, and this period of contentment elicited a confidence of style that has been compared to late Matisse”, said Brett Gorvy, Chairman and International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art.