Sotheby’s Presents at Auction a Remarkable Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art

NEW YORK, NY.- This February, Sotheby’s presents at auction a remarkable collection of Modern and Contemporary European Art. Incorporating masterful works by Dalí, Modigliani, Chagall, Klee, Giacometti, Calder, Bacon, Freud and Chillida, sixty paintings and sculptures recount a grand narrative of artistic innovation during the Twentieth Century. Carefully selected over a period of 30 years of tireless dedication, the individual pieces embody their collectors’ singular passion and curatorial intelligence unified by outstanding quality, together they are a monument to impeccable connoisseurship.

The star lot of the sale is a triptych portrait of artist Lucian Freud by at Sotheby’s’ Looking Closely sale of 20th century works. Three Studies for a Portrait of Lucian Freud is estimated to fetch £7,000,000 – 9,000,000. Other top lots in the sale, said to have belonged to the low-profile Geneva collector George Kostalitz, who died last year, include works by Freud, Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall.

“The works were bought between the 1960s and the 1990s,” Helena Newman, Sotheby’s European chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art, told Bloomberg. “It’s a personal collection of pieces that can be lived with on a domestic scale.” The total high estimate for the works on offer is $85 million.

Highlights from the sale:

• Salvador Dalí Portrait de Paul Eluard, Painted in 1929
Estimate: £3,500,000 – 5,000,000

• Marc Chagall Bethsabée, Painted in 1965
Estimate: £2,500,000 – 3,500,000

• Amedeo Modigliani Frans Hellens, Painted in 1919
Estimate: £2,000,000 – 3,000,000

• Alberto Giacometti Portrait d’Annette au pull-over rouge, Painted in 1961
Estimate: £2,000,000 – 3,000,000

• Alexander Calder L’Acrobate, Executed circa 1928
Estimate: £1,000,000 – 1,500,000

• Julio González Masque ‘Ombre et lumière’, Executed circa 1930
Estimate: £800,000 – 1,200,000

• Jean Fautrier Corps D’Otage, Executed circa 1943
Estimate: £700,000 – 900,000

• Paul Klee Freundlicher Ort (Friendly Place), Executed in 1919
Estimate: £650,000 – 850,000

• Lucian Freud Self Portrait, Executed in 1952
Estimate: £600,000 – 800,000

• Eduardo Chillida Peine del Viento II (Wind Comb II), Executed in 1959
Estimate: £600,000 – 800,000

• Jean Dubuffet Le Barbouillé, Executed in 1954
Estimate: £600,000 – 800,000

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