Van Gogh’s record-breaking watercolor is close to $ 36 million

The watercolor “Meules de blé” by Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), confiscated by the Nazi regime during the German occupation in France, set a new world record for a work on paper by the Dutch artist: at auction at Christie’s in New York, the colorful drawing depicting sheaves of wheat, made in 1888 in Arles, in Provence, was sold last night for 35,855,000 dollars (31,340,000 euros) to a buyer in the Rockefeller Center hall , who requested to remain anonymous. The watercolor, which was offered with a starting estimate of $ 20 million, was one of the top lots in “The Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism” catalog, which brought one of America’s largest art collections to market. impressionist and post-impressionist. “Meules de blé” was in the private collection of American businessman, collector and philanthropist Edwin L. Cox since 1979, who passed away a year ago on the eve of his 100th birthday. The Cox collection sold by the heirs totaled $ 332,031,500 (approximately € 290,000,000). A portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit educational purposes. In the Cox collection were two other works by Vincent Van Gogh. The sale was led by the 1889 masterpiece “Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers”, which, after a five-minute battle between eleven bidders, sold for 71,350. 000 dollars (62,360,000 euros) – the fourth highest price for the Dutch artist at auction – to an anonymous client present in the room. Van Gogh’s 1890 oil painting “Jeune homme au bleuet” sold for $ 46,732,500 (€ 40,840,000) after nine and a half minutes of fierce bids against a base estimate of $ 5,000,000. Another exceptional price was achieved by Paul Cézanne’s “L’Estaque aux toits rouges”, which sold for 55,310,000 dollars (48,530,000 euros) against an estimate of 35,000,000 dollars. Gustave Caillebotte’s “Jeune homme à sa fenêtre” painting, one of the painter’s most iconic works, raised $ 53,030,000 (€ 46,350,000), setting a new record for the French artist. All the spotlights of the evening auction in New York were focused on the watercolor “Meules de blé”, which returned to public after 116 years: the last time it was shown in the historic 1905 Van Gogh retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum Christie’s has reconstructed the history of this work and at the same time facilitated a settlement agreement between the heirs of Cox and the heir of Max Meirowsky, as well as the heirs of Alexandrine de Rothschild, who were the first owners, illustrating the complexity of the restitution cases and the losses due to the Nazi persecution. Executed in the first weeks of June 1888, Vincent van Gogh’s “Meules de blé” is one of the very first in his reference series depicting the wheat harvest. With the image of three stacks of wheat towering over the nearby women, this exquisite work depicts Arles in the middle of the harvest, with a myriad of lines and hatches, strokes and pools of color that convey the atmosphere of that midsummer day drawing had long been a central component of the Dutch painter’s oeuvre, but it was in Arles that his mastery of watercolor took off, creating a surprising succession of masterpieces on paper. The watercolor shows van Gogh’s exacting pen work throughout the sheet, superimposed in dazzling color. After being owned by Theo and Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, as well as the painter and illustrious collector Gustave Fayet, “Meules de blé” was bought by Max Meirowsky (1866-1949), an industrialist who produced insulators for the growing railway industries. , automotive and electronics, who lived first in Cologne and then in Berlin. By 1910 Meirowsky amassed a remarkable art collection that included French, German and Swiss Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. In 1913 Meirowsky bought “Meules de blé” at the Galerie Druet in Paris and it became one of the crown jewels of his collection. During the Nazi regime in Germany Meirowsky faced anti-Jewish persecution, which led to the sale of works of art from his collection. At the end of 1938 Meirowsky fled from Germany to Amsterdam and then to Geneva. It was during this trip that Meirowsky entrusted “Meules de blé” to the Paul Graupe Cie gallery in Paris. “Meules de blé” later entered the Parisian collection of Miriam Caroline Alexandrine de Rothschild (1884-1965). Alexandrine, a medical student, had inherited a portion of her art collection from her father Edmond James de Rothschild (1845-1934) and was a respected collector, particularly of literary and musical manuscripts and early editions, as well as 18th century art century. Beginning in the mid-1930s, Alexandrine de Rothschild purchased several paintings and works on paper by post-impressionist artists, including important works by van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Paul Gauguin. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Alexandrine took refuge in Switzerland. His art collection in Paris, including van Gogh’s “Meules de blé”, was confiscated by the Nazi regime during the occupation. In the postwar years, Alexandrine tried to track down and recover her looted art collection and library, but while she managed to recover some works, many others remained missing, including “Meules de blé”. Which later passed from hand to hand to the collector Cox who turned out to be unaware of the Nazi theft. (By Paolo Martini)