New York auction houses are offering a variety of valuable and rare pieces in their spring sales, including a Henri Rousseau that has been in private hands for 70 years, as well as works by Picasso, Klimt, Basquiat, Bourgeois, and more. Rousseau’s painting, titled “The Flamingos,” is a naive art scene that shows a palm tree forest, a river, two people with spears on a sand tongue, huge flowers, and four flamingos in the foreground.
With an estimated price of $20-30 million, it is considered one of the two or three rarest paintings that Christie’s has ever seen, and there are no recent references in the market for the French painter’s works. Sotheby’s is auctioning a Gustav Klimt painting, “An Island in the Attersee,” with an estimated price of $45 million, as well as a Hebrew bible that is over a thousand years old, the oldest and most complete of its kind that is preserved, with an estimated price of $50 million.
In addition to the works of the aforementioned artists, other notable pieces include Louise Bourgeois’ “Spider” (1996), and a work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, “Now’s the Time,” with an estimated price of $30 million. Specialists from both auction houses are optimistic about the sale, given that many of the works come from private collections and are being sold for the first time on the market. Contemporary art has proven to be a safe and constantly appreciating investment, especially in top-tier works, so art presents itself as a viable investment alternative for many clients and collectors in times of uncertainty.
Saturday, September 7, 2024