New Record at Auction
309 Words
NEW RECORD AT AUCTION
BY FELICIA ALVDAL AND FRANK HANSEN
The paintings, Several Circles and Autumn in Bavaria, by the Russian artist Vasily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944) were sold this weekend for respectively 15 and 18.9 million pounds at the auction house Sotheby's in London.
“Kandinsky was a very popular artist, and I expected that these would be sold for a lot. We are still overwhelmed by the result,” auctioneer David Bennett said to NTB this weekend.
RecordSeveral Circles beat the record of a painting selling for eleven million pounds. This record was then beaten again by the sale of Autumn in Bavaria. A bidding war ensued between an unknown Russian buyer and the controversial Norwegian billionaire John Fredly.
Fredly's press secretary, Hans Eriksen, stated to NTB, “John Fredly has been interested in art for his entire life, and Kandinsky is his favorite artist. The fact that the price he paid for these works was a record high is just a footnote in the big scheme of things.”
UncertainQuestioned about whether or not Fredly could imagine lending the paintings to a museum to share the works with a larger audience, he answered, “This is something he's not yet considered. It isn't impossible that it will happen in the future, but then it'll most likely be in a Peruvian museum in Lima, where he lives.”
The Russian buyer wouldn't be identified but said via his press secretary, “We are very disappointed by the result. Kandinsky is a part of Russian national history and doesn't belong in South America. We are willing to pay Fredly twice what he paid over ten years if he agrees to sell, and we've informed him of this.”
Not going to happenFor Fredly, however, this is unacceptable.
“Fredly will be keeping the paintings in his home in Lima, Peru, for the foreseeable future, where he will be enjoying them together with family and guests,” Eriksen concluded.
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