September 07, 2005
Kandinsky
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) says the gallery was offered the expressionist painting below for a $35 million, but that it would not be buying it as the price tag was too high.
Kandinsky's Sketch for Deluge II is from the Hester Diamond Collection, which was acquired by Sotheby's, who were unable to sell it at auction last year. Bidding for the Kandinsky started at $15 million, ending at $17.5 million, with Sotheby's assigning a low estimate of $20 million.
Wassily Kandinsky, Sketch for Deluge II, 1912
The National Gallery would sure love to own the Kandinsky. There are no major works by Kandinsky in Australia and the National Gallery has only a small international collection. The Kandinsky is about color and form though this painting is on the cusp of leaving the the representational image and going completely abstract.
That is a big concern for art history--hence the NGA's interest. Still, $A35 million is rather steep when it was passed in at $US 17.5 million less than a year ago.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at September 7, 2005 05:42 PM | TrackBack