Kandinsky Once Sold for $62K Could Fetch $80M
Newser • • entertainment
Key Points:
- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation sold about 50 Wassily Kandinsky paintings in 1964, including Betonte Ecken, originally for around $62,000, to free up museum space.
- Betonte Ecken, painted in 1922–23 after Kandinsky joined Germany's Bauhaus school, is scheduled for auction at Christie's New York on November 17 with an estimated price of $60 million to $80 million.
- Christie's Global President Alex Rotter describes the painting as a "quintessential" example of Kandinsky's geometric abstraction, highlighting its vibrant fusion of color, line, and form.
- A guarantor has already pledged an amount exceeding the current Kandinsky auction record of $44.8 million set in 2023, virtually ensuring a new record sale for the artist.
- The expected top-end price nearly matches the Guggenheim Foundation's annual revenue, underscoring the dramatic appreciation in value of Kandinsky's works since the 1964 sale.
