Inspired by the possibilities of painting in nature, rather than in the studio, artists traveled to the rugged Forest of Fontainebleau near Paris from the early 1820s to the mid-1870s forging innovations in art that would resonate for generations to follow. There, among the rural villages and the vast and varied wilderness, they laid the [...]
Posted on June 25th, 2008 in auctions
Christie’s in London sold Claude Monet’s “‘Le bassin aux nympheas” for £40,921,250 / $80,451,178 / €51,683,539
Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale took place this evening (24 June 2008) and realised £144,440,500 / $283,970,023 / €182,428,352 - the highest ever total for an art auction held in Europe. The top lot of the auction was [...]
Posted on May 04th, 2008 in auctions
You can’t help but wonder just how many of the smartly dressed people sitting night after night at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips de Pury over the next two weeks will be serious bidders and how many will be voyeurs hoping to witness an implosion of the multibillion dollar art market.
For years collectors and the news [...]
Posted on February 11th, 2008 in art incident
Four paintings by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Degas and Monet worth an estimated SFR180m (£84m) have been stolen from a museum in Switzerland, police said today.
Zurich police said Cezanne’s Boy in the Red Waistcoat, Monet’s Poppy Field at Vetheuil, Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter, by Edgar Degas, and Vincent van Gogh’s Blooming Chestnut Branches were stolen. [...]