Wednesday 17th February 2016

 

The Debate Continues……

 

Contrary to the myth that troubled artists produced their best work when miserable, a recent study of almost 13,000 sales of paintings by French and American artists, including Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Van Gough, Paul Gauguin and Mark Rothko, found that work fetched less at auction and was less likely to enter a prestigious museum if it was created immediately after a bereavement.

According to Professor Kathryn Graddy, “Many art historians believe that the suicide of Picasso’s close friend Carlos Casagemas in 1901, launched the artist into his blue period of painting, in which Picasso painted sombre monochromatic works”.  Carlos Casagemas, a Catalan artist, was a constant companion of Picasso during his formative years in bohemian and “modernista” Barcelona and accompanied Picasso on his seminal first trip to Paris at the turn of the century. Casagemas’ suicide was the result of a failed romance in Paris in 1901.

 

 

However, the most expensive Picassos come from long before this period.  In May of this year, ‘Les femmes d’Algers’ broke the world record price at auction selling for £115 million, the painting was created in 1944-45.

 

Sometimes there are other factors at play….

 

MAN BUYS A PICASSO FOR $3MN AND SELLS IT FOR $67MN

 

 

When ‘La Gommeuse’, a painting by Picasso of a carbaret dancer, came up for auction at Sotheby’s Evening Sale in New York on Thursday 5^th November 2015, it was found to be carrying a second painting on the reverse and sold for $67.45 million, a windfall for American billionaire Bill Koch. It was the top lot of the season so far, proving a savvy investment for the Republican party donor who paid just $3 million for the canvas in 1984 and later discovered he got two for the price of one.

 

 

Caricature of Pere Mañach – found on the back of Picasso’s ‘La Gommeuse’

 

“La Gommeuse”, painted in Paris in 1901 when the artist was just 19 years old and grieving the suicide of his close friend Carlos Casagemas was valued by Sotheby’s at $60 million

In 2000, during restoration work, Koch discovered that there was another painting on the reverse — a mocking depiction of Picasso’s art dealer — that had been hidden under the lining for a century.

 

Be it ‘the Art of surprise’ or simply ‘clever marketing’, the art world continues to fascinate and beguile.

 

We look forward to seeing you in the Gallery.

 

Claire Moore BA(Hons)

GALLERY MANAGER

 

WELCOME TO THE FLETCHER GATE FINE ART GALLERY