FROM Rembrandt to Richter Sotheby’s announced the second headline work of its major cross-category summer evening auction in London on 28 July. Gerhard Richter’s Wolken (fenster) (Clouds (window)) is an immersive skyscape with an estimate of £9-12 million. Richter’s skyscape reinvents the sublime landscapes of predecessors like Constable, Turner and Caspar David Friedrich, channelling their works into a new contemporary vision, in an effort establish a legitimate place for painting in the post-photo age. The resulting abstract, almost minimalist work, is painted not from life but from a photograph.
From Rembrandt, ‘the first modern painter’, to Richter, who has earned his position as one of today’s great contemporary artists by drawing upon the inheritance of the past, this auction will span over 500 years of art history, drawing the Old Masters together with 19th century, Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary artists.
Oil on canvas, in four parts (£9,000,000-12,000,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE £10,449,000 MILLION
