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Gauguin painting breaks sale record at nearly $300m
Paul-Gauguin 2.jpg
BBC
February 7, 2015
Excerpt:
A painting of two Tahitian girls [1892] by the French artist Paul Gauguin has been sold for $300m (£197m), making it the most expensive work of art ever sold.
Nafea Faa Ipoipo, or When Will You Marry?, was painted in 1892 and had been owned by a Swiss collector.
Unconfirmed reports suggest it was sold to a museum in Qatar.
The small oil-rich state paid the previous highest price for a painting, a work by Paul Cezanne which sold for a reported £158m.
Before its sale, the Gauguin artwork had been owned by Rudolf Staechelin, a collector from Basel.
For decades it had been on loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel but Mr Staechelin decided to sell the painting after a disagreement with the museum, US media report.
Mr Staechelin told the New York Times he would not divulge the identity of the buyer.
It was not immediately clear where the sale had taken place.
However the paper, which first reported the sale, quoted sources saying the painting had been sold to Qatari buyers.
Officials in Qatar have not yet confirmed the purchase.
...
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31183733
Paul-Gauguin 2.jpg
BBC
February 7, 2015
Excerpt:
A painting of two Tahitian girls [1892] by the French artist Paul Gauguin has been sold for $300m (£197m), making it the most expensive work of art ever sold.
Nafea Faa Ipoipo, or When Will You Marry?, was painted in 1892 and had been owned by a Swiss collector.
Unconfirmed reports suggest it was sold to a museum in Qatar.
The small oil-rich state paid the previous highest price for a painting, a work by Paul Cezanne which sold for a reported £158m.
Before its sale, the Gauguin artwork had been owned by Rudolf Staechelin, a collector from Basel.
For decades it had been on loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel but Mr Staechelin decided to sell the painting after a disagreement with the museum, US media report.
Mr Staechelin told the New York Times he would not divulge the identity of the buyer.
It was not immediately clear where the sale had taken place.
However the paper, which first reported the sale, quoted sources saying the painting had been sold to Qatari buyers.
Officials in Qatar have not yet confirmed the purchase.
...
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31183733