{"id":49062,"date":"2015-05-12T17:54:21","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T09:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=49062"},"modified":"2015-09-20T14:30:06","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T06:30:06","slug":"picasso-painting-sets-record-for-art-at-auction-179-4m-giacometti-sculpture-sells-for-141m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/05\/12\/picasso-painting-sets-record-for-art-at-auction-179-4m-giacometti-sculpture-sells-for-141m\/","title":{"rendered":"Picasso painting sets record for art at auction: $179.4M; Giacometti sculpture sells for $141M"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Women<\/a>
“Women of Algiers” by Pablo Picasso<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK — A vibrant, multi-hued painting from Pablo Picasso set a world record for artwork at auction, selling for $179.4 million on Monday, and a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti set a record for most expensive sculpture, at $141.3 million.<\/p>\n

Picasso’s “Women of Algiers (Version O)” and Giacometti’s life-size “Pointing Man” were among dozens of masterpieces from the 20th century Christie’s offered in a curated sale titled “Looking Forward to the Past.”<\/p>\n

Christie’s global president, Jussi Pylkkanen, who was the auctioneer, said the two pieces are outstanding works of art.<\/p>\n

“I’ve never worked with two such beautiful objects,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Picasso price, $179,365,000, and the Giacometti price, $141,285,000, included the auction house’s premium. The buyers elected to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

Overall, 34 of 35 lots sold for an auction total of $706 million.<\/p>\n

Experts say the high sale prices were driven by artworks’ investment value and by wealthy collectors seeking out the very best works.<\/p>\n

“I don’t really see an end to it, unless interest rates drop sharply, which I don’t see happening in the near future,” dealer Richard Feigen said.<\/p>\n

Impressionist and modern artworks continue to corner the market because “they are beautiful, accessible and a proven value,” added Sarah Lichtman, a professor of design history and curatorial studies at The New School.<\/p>\n

“I think we will continue to see the financiers seeking these works out as they would a blue chip company that pays reliable dividends for years to come,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Women of Algiers,” once owned by American collectors Victor and Sally Ganz, was inspired by Picasso’s fascination with 19th-century French artist Eugene Delacroix. It’s part of a 15-work series Picasso created in 1954-55 designated with the letters A through O. It has appeared in several major museum retrospectives of the Spanish artist.<\/p>\n

The most expensive artwork sold at auction had been Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” which Christie’s sold for $142.4 million in 2013.<\/p>\n

“Pointing Man,” depicting a skinny 5-foot-high bronze figure with extended arms, had been in the same private collection for 45 years. Giacometti made six casts of the work; four are in museums, and the others are in private hands and a foundation collection.<\/p>\n

His “Walking Man I” had held the auction record for a sculpture: $104.3 million in 2010.<\/p>\n

Other highlights at Christie’s included Peter Doig’s “Swamped,” a 1990 painting of a canoe in a moonlit lagoon, which sold for almost $26 million, a record for the British artist. Claude Monet’s “The Houses of Parliament, At Sunset,” a lush painting of rich blues and magenta created in 1900-01, sold for $40.5 million.<\/p>\n

Christie’s also had a Mark Rothko for sale. “No. 36 (Black Stripe),” which had never appeared at auction, also sold for $40.5 million. The 1958 work was sold by German collector Frieder Burda, who exhibited it in his museum in Baden-Baden for several years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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