This blue plate by Paul Cezanne made $6,709,500 at Sotheby’s Modern evening auction in New York this week. The artist was a hugely influential figure revered by other artists. This was painted in 1879-80 and was described by Sotheby’s as a potent example of the still lifes with which Cezanne reached the pinnacle of his genius. The artist and critic Roger Fry said: . “Cézanne is distinguished among artists of the highest rank by the fact…that he achieved in still life the expression of the most exalted feelings and the deepest intuitions of his nature… it is hard to exaggerate their importance in the expression of Cézanne’s genius or the necessity of studying them for its comprehension, because it is in them that he appears to have established his principles of design and theories of form”.
Peupliers au bord de l”Epte by Monet made $30.7 million, Le moulin de Limetze by Monet made $25.6 million, Untitled by Mark Rothko made $23.8 million, Compotier et Guitare by Picasso made $23.4 million, Au dessus de la ville by Marc Chagall made $15.6 million and La Patience by Balthus made $14.6 million.