Dutch art fair reports record' prices for Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso works

Dutch art fair reports record' prices for Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso worksEurope's largest art fair closed its doors on Friday with organisers saying that sales fetched record prices .

by AFP

15-03-2024 16:39

in Art and Artists

Sales at Europe's largest art fair fetched record prices . Image: AFP

Europe's largest art fair closed its doors on Friday with organisers saying that sales, including a rare Vincent van Gogh and works by Pablo Picasso and Kees van Dongen, fetched record prices .

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Although a total figure of sale for some of the world's most sought-after artworks could not be given, organisers of The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) said that sales ran up to tens-of-millions of euros .

It's impossible to tally the total sales as many are not made public, TEFAF organiser Noepy Testa said.

But we have had record sales, running into tens-of-millions of euros, she told AFP.

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Top ticket items for sale this year included a rare early Van Gogh, painted when the artist was living in southern Netherlands around 1884, and a multi-million-euro work by abstract art pioneer Wassily Kandinsky.

The US-based gallery selling the Vincent van Gogh, titled Tete de paysanne a la coiffe blanche confirmed a buyer, with Dutch media saying the asking price of $4.9 million was reached.

Kandinsky's 1910 Murnau mit Kirche II was put up for sale by art dealer Robert Landau, who bought the work last year for $45 million at auction at Sotheby's.

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It was not known whether a new buyer had been found, but Landau at the fair told AFP that the painting was recently valued at 100 million .

Close to 50 000 visitors flocked to the Dutch art fair Other big ticket names also fetched top prices.

A work on paper by Pablo Picasso called Femme au tablier sold for almost 2 million, while a painting by Dutch-French artist Kees van Dongen titled Femme au Chapeau sold for a seven-figure sum to a private European collector .

But it was not just paintings fetching top prices.

A 17th-century Safavid mirror was sold to the Aga Khan Foundation in Toronto for around 200 000, organisers said.

A Delftware porcelain work previously owned by British fashion photographer Cecil Beaton fetched around 300 000.

Over the eight-day fair, close to 50 000 visitors flocked to view artwork presented by 270 exhibitors from 22 countries, the organisers said.

By Garrin Lambley Agence France-Presse

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