The auction of the collection has ended Peggy and David Rockefeller with an unprecedented collection record, but $828,043,219 equals €694,692,179 the proceeds of which, by the will of David Rockefeller himself, will go to philanthropy, towards causes in favor of culture, education, but also medical and environmental that have long been supported by the couple.
Intense days, for collectors eager to own one or more works owned by Rockefeller, a truly unprecedented upward auction. The highest price of the sale was achieved with Fillette à la corbeille fleurie di Picasso of 1905, which realized $115.000.000 (including buyer's commission), second highest by the artist at auction.
But that's not enough, the 44 "star" works by Delacroix, Monet, Gauguin, Matisse, Gris, Picasso, Miró and other 646,133,594th- and XNUMXth-century greats made $XNUMX with each lot sold.
They were registered from 34 countries on five continents, and interest was immediately clear as the prime time opening, Apple by Pablo Picasso, which realized $3.972.500 after a competition between nine bidders. This 1914 work on paper was a Christmas gift from the artist to Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and was one of a group of pictures from their pioneering collection acquired by Peggy and David Rockefeller in 1968. It was followed by La table de musicien by Juan Gris, which fetched an impressive $31,812,500.
The first world auction record for an artist came when Tiger jouant with a tortue (1862) by Eugène Delacroix surpassed the previous mark of $7.762.290 (set in 1998) for $9,875,000. This was immediately followed by further recordings for Corot's Venise, vue du Quai des Esclavons, which made $9,009,844, comfortably eclipsing the artist's previous record, and for Les delices de la vie di Armand Seguin, a four-panel screen painted circa 1892-93, which fetched $7.737.500 – more than 20 times its 2007 price – after a sustained run of bids.
The atmosphere became warm when La Vague di Gauguin, a work described as “one of the most original seascapes in Western art”, was offered to a room full of buyers. The 1888 painting, done on Le Pouldu beach in Brittany, thus realized $35,187,500.
Three of the most anticipated lots of the auction – Odalisque couchée aux magnolias di Henri Matisse (1923), Monet's Nymphéas en fleur and Picasso's Fillette à la corbeille fleurie from 1905 – came later.
The Matisse fetched $80.750.000, a new world auction record for the French master; bidders competed for nearly 14 minutes before the stunning Monet, which hung in the stairwell of one of the Rockefellers' homes, sold for $84.687.500 – also a new world auction record for the artist; and the Picasso – one of the artist's early paintings acquired by Leo and Gertrude Stein – became the most expensive Rose Period work at auction when it was purchased for $115.000.000.
The depth of the offerings in the room and on the phones was evidence of the Rockefeller family's taste, knowledge and reputation. The Rade de Grandcamp di Georges Seurat (Le port de Grandcamp), a founding work of the Neo-Impressionist movement purchased by Peggy and David in 1955, realized $34.062.500. A few minutes after, Paul Signac from 1888 oil on canvas Portrieux. La Comtesse (Opus No. 191) came close to the previous record, set at Christie's in 2007, before reaching $13,812,500.
Now we have to ask ourselves how much and if this event will affect the art market. Probably the fame of the family has led many international "Scrooge McDuck" to want to own more than the work, the story that accompanies it, its provenance and more than ever in this case, fame.
Surely these pictorial works by great masters represent a record but they will not be able to give the subsequent works put up for auction the same value parameter. Without taking away the beauty of the awarded works, it is not possible to imagine that in the future there could be such a significant increase on the market, on the individual artists awarded during this event.
Image: Georges Seurat's La rade de Grandcamp (Le port de Grandcamp).
