Pablo Picasso’s Mousquetaire et nu assis (1967) sold at Christie’s in London for £13.7 million ($15.5 million). The painting was estimated at £12 million. Degas’s Dans les coulisses sold for £8.9 million, and Picasso’s Figure (1930) sold for £8.3 million. Monet’s Prairie à Giverny (1885) fetched £7.5 million. Christie’s total auction turnover that sale day was £149.5 million with 78% of lots sold. Sotheby’s would present Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) on Feb 28 with an estimated $50 million.
Pablo Picasso's 1937 painting Femme au Béret et à la Robe Quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) sold for £49.8 million with fees, about $69.4 million, at Sotheby’s in London. The sale was part of an 47-lot evening auction of Impressionist, modern and Surrealist art and was bought by a telephone bidder.
Pablo Picasso's portrait of his muse Marie-Therese Walter with Dora Maar emerging from the shadows sold at Sotheby's in London for £50 million (€57 million, $69 million), a European auction record for a painting. The piece, dated 1937, is titled Femme au beret et a la robe quadrillee (Marie-Therese Walter).
The 1967 Picasso painting Mousquetaire et Nu Assis sold for 13.73 million pounds (about $19 million) at Christie's in London. The work was part of a double evening session of auctions alongside pieces by Monet and Degas.
Discovery: a Russian avant-garde detective story discusses how the painting Still Life with Teapot and Oranges, long believed to be by Mikhail Larionov, was reattributed to Natalia Goncharova after scholarship revealed the true authorship; the work was sold at Christie’s in November 2017 for £2.4 million.
Artprice's 2017 Global Art Market Annual Report highlights the Top-500 artists by annual auction turnover, the Top 100 auction results, and the Artprice100 index, with China noted as the top marketplace at $5.1 billion and a global turnover increase of 20% in 2017. The report also mentions 502,900 artworks publicly sold in 2017 and an unsold rate of 34%. The full report is downloadable for free from Artprice.com.
Pablo Picasso, Mousquetaire et nu assis (1967) is highlighted as the top lot in Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern sale, selling for £13.7 million (low £12 million estimate). Edgar Degas, In the Wings (1882-85) is noted as the second top lot, previously bought in Paris in 1997 for £2.5 million and now guaranteed with an £8 million low estimate. The sale total reached £149.6 million, with 22% of lots unsold, and the event was part of a larger London auction fortnight expected to reach £782 million.
Pablo Picasso’s 1967 work Mousquetaire et nu assis is highlighted as a late-career transformation where he depicts himself as a musketeer; the piece is offered in Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on 27 February 2018 with an estimated £12,000,000–£18,000,000. The article also mentions Jacqueline, Picasso’s muse and wife, who accompanies the musketeer figure.
Pablo Picasso painting Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) is reported to have an estimated value in the region of £35 million (€39.5 million) in Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale, according to The Irish Times. The article appears in Fine Art & Antiques and discusses auction previews and estimates.
Morgan Goff, a violist from London, filed a formal complaint to DAA alleging a Dublin Airport security agent damaged his 300-year-old viola estimated at €282,000 during a manual security check on 10 February.
George Condo’s Rainy Day Butler (2012) is highlighted by Sotheby’s as a defining work in the Contemporary Curated sale in New York on March 2. The piece follows the auction of Condo’s Compression IV in November 2017 and is part of a suite including Rescue Scene (1998) and Group of Women. The description emphasizes a fusion of drawing and painting, cubist strategies, and psychological intensity.
This Work Will Put Mark Bradford among the Most Expensive Living Artists by Nate Freeman discusses Mark Bradford and notes a Hauser & Wirth sale of Bradford work for $5 million, highlighting Bradford as one of the most expensive living artists.
The violoncello dating to 1737, made by Francesco Goffriller in Udine and valued at 1.3 million euros, was retrieved after a social media appeal by Ophélie Gaillard. The instrument, once stolen in Paris, was recovered abandoned in a car following an anonymous post on Facebook; Gaillard had been performing as a soloist in the 2003 Victoires de la Musique and the cello was donated by Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC).
Ophélie Gaillard, musicista francese di 43 anni, vede restituire il suo violoncello costruito nel 1737 da Francesco Goffriller, strumento valutato a 1,3 milioni di euro. L’azione di rapina è avvenuta a Parigi e il violoncello, con custodia, è stato ritrovato abbandonato in un’auto dopo un annuncio su Facebook.
France 24 reports that a rare 18th century cello, stolen at knifepoint from Ophelie Gaillard in Paris, was returned after her Facebook appeal went viral. The instrument, valued at nearly €1.3 million and on loan from CIC bank, was made in 1737 by luthier Francesco Goffriller in Udine, Italy. Gaillard described the relief and described the theft as violent.
The 18th-century cello, valued at nearly €1.3 million, was returned to French soloist Ophélie Gaillard after being stolen in Pantin, Paris. The instrument was made in 1737 by luthier Francesco Goffriller and was accompanied by a bow said to be by Jean Pierre Marie Persoit.
La soliste Ophélie Gaillard avait fait voler son violoncelle, estimé à plus d’un million d’euros, à Pantin. L’instrument fabriqué en 1737 à Udine par le luthier Francesco Goffriller a été retrouvé devant chez elle après un appel anonyme. L’étui contenait aussi l’archet personnel signé par Jean-Marie Persoit.
The article reports that French soloist Ophelie Gaillard’s cello, on loan from CIC bank, was stolen and later recovered. The instrument, made by Francesco Goffriller in 1737, is valued at about €1.3 million (roughly $1.6 million).
French cellist Ophélie Gaïar reported to police that an assailant threatened with a knife and stole her 18th-century cello near Paris; the instrument, crafted by Francesco Goffrile, is valued at 1.3 million euros. Gaïar also said her mobile phone was taken.
The 18th-century cello valued at 1.3 million euros was stolen from French cellist Ofelia Gayar in Pantin, near Paris. Police believe it may have been a targeted theft; the instrument, made in 1737 in Udine by luthier Francesco Goffriller, is considered unique and difficult to sell through ordinary channels.
The 18th-century cello, valued at nearly 1.3 million euros and made by Francesco Goffriller, was returned to French soloist Ophélie Gaillard after being stolen in Pantin. The instrument’s bow was by Jean Pierre Marie Persoit.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra announced that ACO Chairman Guido Belgiorno-Nettis AM and Michelle Belgiorno-Nettis purchased the 1726 Stradivarius violin for long-term loan to the orchestra. The instrument will be named the 1726 Belgiorno Stradivarius and will be played by ACO Principal Violin Satu Vänskä; it joins Australia’s other known Stradivarius, the 1728/29 violin acquired in 2011 and played by Glenn Christensen.
Joan Miró, Femme entendant de la musique, 1945. Estimate: $10,000,000–15,000,000 is highlighted among the works in Christie's planned sale of The Collection of Joan and Preston Robert Tisch, which includes over 40 objects and is expected to realize in excess of $80 million. Willem de Kooning, Untitled XVIII, 1976, is also featured with an estimate of $8,000,000 – 12,000,000.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra has purchased a 1726 Stradivarius violin, to be named the 1726 Belgiorno Stradivarius, and loaned long-term to the ensemble. It will be played by ACO Principal Violin Satu Vänskä. The instrument joins Australia’s other Stradivarius, a 1728/29 violin acquired by the Instrument Fund in 2011 and played by Glenn Christensen.
Fiona Carruthers reports that the Australia Chamber Orchestra has purchased a 1726 Stradivarius violin. The article discusses Stradivari and the enduring value of such instruments, noting prices in the US dollar range of roughly 1.5 to 15 million.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra acquires a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin, one of only 650 made by Antonio Stradivari that still exist, and lends it to the orchestra on a long-term loan. Finnish violinist Satu Vänskä is preparing the instrument for its Australian debut performance in April, with Beethoven's Romance for Violin chosen for the debut.
The article reports that a federal judge ruled the Met cannot be compelled to return Pablo Picasso’s The Actor (1904–05) to the Leffmann family. The Leffmanns had claimed they were forced to sell the painting in 1938 to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. The painting remained at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after the decision.
Pablo Picasso’s The Actor, 1904–05, will remain at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after a New York court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Laurel Zuckerman, the heir of a Jewish collector who sold the painting in 1938 while fleeing Nazi persecution; The work is from Picasso’s Rose Period and its value could surpass Picasso’s auction record of $180 million.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art retains ownership of Pablo Picasso’s The Actor (1904-05). Judge Loretta Preska dismissed a claim by Laurel Zuckerman, heir of former owner Paul Freidmann Leffmann, who argued the painting was sold under duress to escape Nazi persecution.
Picasso's painting The Artist, once lent to the Met and later donated by Thelma Chrysler Foy, is at issue in a suit by Laurel Zuckerman representing the estate of Alice Leffmann and her husband Paul. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska dismissed the amended complaint seeking replevin and damages of $100 million.
Equinox Gallery of Vancouver sues New York dealer Fred Dorfman over stolen Jasper Johns works; court allows racketeering claim under RICO. The case involves about 37 unfinished or discarded Johns works allegedly stolen by James Meyer and sold by Dorfman+ gallery in Chelsea, with Meyer pled guilty in 2015 and Dorfman facing allegations of mail fraud, wire fraud, and interstate transport of stolen goods.