Christie's $75 Million Essl Collection Sale Kicks Off Frieze Week
- October 13, 2014 21:49
London's Frieze week began with 44 works from the Essl collection of contemporary art selling for $75 million at Christie's on Monday.
The sale fell within pre-sale estimates, with one lot withdrawn and three being passed. Proceeds will shore up finances for the museum founded by Austrian collector Karlheinz Essl whose BauMax AG hardware store chain fell on hard times during the recession.
Top lot distinction went to Gerhard Richter's four-panel panorama “Wolken (Fenster)” which fetched 6.2 million pounds. Another Richter, a top-billed abstract titled "Netz," estimated to bring as much as 10 million pounds, was passed, and sold after the sale for 5.5 pounds, said Christie's.
Postwar and contemporary auctions continue through the week to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair on view at Regent's Park.
![Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.](/images/c/e2/2e/Jan20_Rape_of_Europa100x100_c.jpg "Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.")
