"Narrative Summit" Releases 2025 Recommendations to Cement Egypt's Position as a Global Tourism Destination    Egypt, S.Arabia step up trade ties through coordination council talks    Egypt reviews progress on $200m World Bank-funded waste management hub    Egypt urges Israel to accept Gaza deal amid intensifying fighting    Egypt, ADIB explore strategic partnership in digital healthcare, investment    SCZONE, Tokyo Metropolitan Government sign MoU on green hydrogen cooperation    Egypt welcomes international efforts for peace in Ukraine    Al-Sisi, Macron reaffirm strategic partnership, coordinate on Gaza crisis    Contact Reports Strong 1H-2025 on Financing, Insurance Gains    Egypt, India's BDR Group in talks to establish biologics, cancer drug facility    AUC graduates first cohort of film industry business certificate    Egyptian pound down vs. US dollar at Monday's close – CBE    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



YSL auction fetches record price for Matisse
Published in Daily News Egypt on 25 - 02 - 2009

A painting by Henri Matisse sold Monday for ?32.1 million ($41.1 million) - a record price for a work by the French artist at auction - at a sale of art from the estate of Yves Saint Laurent, auction house Christie s said.
The sale came at the start of a three-day Paris auction of art from the collection of the late French fashion designer that some are calling the sale of the century.
A Piet Mondrian painting that had inspired one of Saint Laurent s most memorable dresses sold for nearly ?20 million.
Sales reached ?206 million ($263.6 million) in the auction s first day - marked by six world record prices for works by individual artists at auction, Christie s said. Fierce bidding in the cavernous, glass-topped Grand Palais museum hall quieted concerns that the global financial crisis might damage the auction s prospects.
I never doubted the success of this sale, Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent s longtime partner, told reporters after the auction. When you have a collection of this importance, and of this demand, you stop being an amateur art lover - and you become more or less an expert.
Matisse s 1911 oil painting Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose, (The Cowslips, Blue and Rose Fabric) sold for a total of ?35.9 million, including the buyer s premium, Christie s said.
Mondrian s 1922 painting Composition in Blue, Red, Yellow and Black, with rectangles of saturated colors that had inspired Saint Laurent s 1965 shift dress, sold for ?19.2 million ($24.6 million) - or roughly twice the pre-auction estimate. A wood sculpture by Constantin Brancusi entitled Madame L.R. went for ?26 million ($33.3 million). Those prices exclude the buyer s premium.
Belgian painter James Ensor s 1892 painting The Despair of Pierrot sold for just under ?5 million, while cheeky French artist Marcel Duchamps work Beautiful Breath: Veil Water, resembling an ordinary perfume bottle, sold for more than ?8.9 million including the buyer s premium - or about five times the top pre-auction estimate.
Christie s officials said they were still working on confirming the identities of the buyers, who mostly came from North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The night s big surprise was that the lot that had been expected to fetch the highest price - a 1914-1915 Picasso Instruments de musique sur un gueridon, (Musical Instruments on a Table) - didn t even sell.
The painting of a guitar from the Spanish artist s cubist period had been estimated to sell for ?25 million to ?30 million, but the bidding never got past ?21 million. Berge said he and Saint Laurent bought the painting themselves from Picasso.
I don t understand why the Picasso didn t sell, Berge confessed, before adding: I hope that I m not going to surprise you because I am very happy that I can keep this painting.
The sale came as the auction sidestepped a legal controversy earlier Monday. A French judge refused to halt the sale of disputed Chinese bronze fountainheads due for sale later during the three-day auction.
The bronze heads - of a rabbit and a rat - disappeared from the summer Imperial Palace on the outskirts of Beijing when French and British forces sacked it at the close of the second Opium War in 1860.
The dispute had cast a shadow over the three-day auction at the opulent Grand Palais hall of 733 works collected over half a century by Saint Laurent and Berge. The Chinese artifacts are to be sold later, and news reports say they are expected to fetch up ?10 million ($13 million) each.
Lawyers for a China-linked association, known as APACE, sought to block the sale of the bronzes. The group acknowledged that Saint Laurent acquired the bronzes legally, but said they should be returned to China or at least displayed in a museum.
Berge displayed political defiance toward China.
I m absolutely ready to give myself to China, with my two heads of the sculpture, he said in English. The only thing I ask is, for the Chinese government to have human rights, to give liberty to the Tibet people and to welcome the Dalai Lama.
The fountainheads date to the early Qing Dynasty, established by invading Manchu tribesmen in 1644. The Christie s catalog says they were made for the Zodiac fountain of the summer Imperial Palace.
Other lots include sculptures from ancient Egypt and Rome, ivory crucifixes and silver German beer steins that once covered every available surface of Saint Laurent s homes. Also on sale is his Art Deco furniture and his bed.
The sale is expected to gross ?200 million-?300 million ($250 million-$380 million). A portion of the proceeds will go to support AIDS research.
Saint Laurent died in June at age 71 of brain cancer.
Associated Press Writer Julien Proult contributed to this report.


Clic here to read the story from its source.