Christie's auction house is one of the most respected auction organizers. Together with Sotheby's auction house, it occupies 90% of the world market for auction sales of antiques and art objects. Its annual turnover is 1.5-2 billion dollars.
Today Christie's offers its many clients works by masters whose paintings adorn the exhibitions of many museums around the world, as well as rare books, cars, cigars, collectible wines and other valuables. Christie's is an elite auction house, and therefore it is very sensitive to your reputation. All lots are provided 
According to experts, the number of scandals associated with this house is minimal.
Story
The Christie's auction house began its brilliant history in 1766, when James Christie organized the first auction. From the very beginning, the house of Christie's had an attitude towards the elitism of the enterprise and the desire for leadership, which was largely determined by the list of high-ranking clients. And the house has something to be proud of: members of the royal family and the aristocracy often sent their collections here, and were often exhibited as lots even the values of the British national heritage, as well as paintings by most of the great European artists: impressionists, modernists, cubists. The golden time in the history of the house was the 18th and 19th centuries, when the famous Christie’s held the largest auctions of that time. It was representatives of this auction house who negotiated with the empress. Catherine the Great about the sale of Sir Robert Worpole's collection, which later formed the basis of the Hermitage exhibition.
The most successful deals
The most expensive painting was Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Doctor Gachet", sold in May 1990 for more than $80 million. In July 2001, Pablo Picasso's work from the "Blue Period" series - "Woman with Crossed Arms" - sold for 55 million dollars, which is twice its starting price. There were 6 more buyers who were willing to pay $32 million for the masterpiece. A similar situation arose in 1940 with Matisse’s painting “Persian Dress.” It was sold for $17 million, while the initial cost was just under $12 million.
Russian branch
So far, the world's largest auction house Christie's does not have its own Russian branch. But following the example of its long-time competitor neighbor, the Sotheby's auction house, which opened its branch in Moscow in May of this year, representatives of the Christie's house also announced their intention to create a branch in the capital of Russia by the end of 2007. Thus, the second famous trading house recognizes the growing role of Russia in the international art market. Indeed, in terms of the number of billionaires living in the country, only the United States and Germany are ahead of Russia. Anna Belorusova will head the Moscow office. Her duties will include the search. clients, as well as works for sale. Actually, there are no plans to hold auctions in Moscow - as a Christie's representative explained, due to the changeability of Russian legislation, the main task of the department will be to inform and advise clients of the auction house about private collections, restoration, and sales. and other things, as well as organizing meetings with 
specialists and experts and holding pre-auction exhibitions.
News
The most recent event in the “Russian period” of Christie’s life: on October 18, an exhibition of the most outstanding (and most expensive) works of those that Christie’s auction house will put up for auction this fall opened in Moscow. Paintings by Matisse and Picasso, a Faberge egg, a plump sculpture by Botero and contemporary works by the Chinese were presented to a discerning public in the White Hall of the Pashkov House. The total amount of works is 250 million dollars.
And on November 15, jewelry worth more than $40 million will be auctioned in Geneva. As a Christie's representative noted, for the first time at this auction there will be a special section of Russian jewelry. “A special section of 15 Russian jewelry includes two 18th-century pieces from the Russian Crown Jewels collection, which were sold in 1927 by the Soviet government. The section also includes products from famous Russian jewelry firms - Faberge and Bolin,” he said.
Ekaterina Khokhlova
Recently, cultural life around the world has been increasingly influenced by the phenomenon of art auctions. The world's largest media (newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and online publications) are filled with sensational news from auctions. These messages and numerous comments attract much more public attention than publications about unique exhibitions of masterpieces of art and news from the largest museums in the world.
Auctions (lat.auctio - sale at public auction) are a common way of selling goods based on a buyer competition. Auctioneers perfectly take into account human psychology and rely on excitement, in which buyers, by inertia, inflate the price to the delight of auctioneers and sellers.
Everything is sold at auctions (antiques, paintings, land, real estate, shares, vintage wine, letters from celebrities, jewelry and even children's drawings). At the same time, a variety of problems are effectively solved: from purely commercial to charitable ones.
It is believed that auctions existed already in the 5th century BC. e. in Ancient Babylon (they sold girls for marriage) and in Ancient Rome. With the fall of the Roman Empire, auctions were closed and reappeared only in France in the 13th century. The emergence of the modern type of auction is historically associated with the Netherlands, where the first book auction in Europe was held in 1599. The auction sale of books was picked up by England (in 1676), which became the birthplace of the largest auction houses in the world. In developed countries, there are now auction houses in almost every major city. There are several types of auctions, but the main ones are “English” (“bottom-up”) and “Dutch” (“top-down”).
An English auction is based on setting a minimum price for further auctions, during which the price gradually increases, and the item goes to the one who set the highest price (this is how, for example, both major auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's work).
The Dutch auction starts with a very high price and proceeds with a gradual decrease in price. The item or product goes to the one who was the first to “intercept” the reduced price. This form is actively used now, for example, at auctions of tulips or fish, that is, where something needs to be sold quickly.
The larger the auction house, the more versatile its activities (from antiques and fine art to collectible cars and musical instruments). Trading sometimes takes place several times a day, including in on-line mode, and begins to resemble stock exchanges, although the turnover is still not comparable.
Antiques, paintings, graphics and sculpture are the core of any major art auction. This is, as a rule, a secondary art market, that is, it does not sell new works, but what was created earlier, then bought or inherited.
One of the most determining factors for a successful auction is the preliminary assessment of the proposed works. In addition to general fashion, the author’s place in the history of art, genre, technique, rarity and preservation of the work, its price is influenced by the so-called. provenance of the painting (English provenance - origin, source). This is a kind of “biography” of the work: author, date, which collections it was in, which exhibitions it was exhibited at. Provenance is usually provided in auction catalogs to confirm the authenticity of an item. Interesting provenance can significantly increase the price level of the auction.
Each auction offers detailed instructions for sellers and buyers. Usually the auction is accompanied by a pre-auction exhibition, which opens a few days before the auction.
A catalog is prepared for each auction, which can be purchased or viewed on the auction website. The catalogs provide information about specific lots (individual objects or groups of objects offered for sale as indivisible units), as well as the pre-sale price range within which a specific lot is expected to be sold.
To participate in the auction, those wishing to make a purchase must register and receive a token. If the client cannot be present during the auction, he can make a purchase by phone or leave a written request in advance, which indicates the maximum price he is willing to pay for a particular lot.
The successful buyer should keep in mind that the price in the auction room (English “hammer price” - the price after the hammer hits) is less than the actual purchase price: it will be necessary to pay the auction commission, as well as various taxes applicable in the country in which the auction takes place bargaining.
Today, perhaps, everyone knows about the two “pillars” of auction trading, the oldest English houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The Sotheby's auction house was founded more than 260 years ago in London.
Its date of birth is considered to be 1744, and its founder is Samuel Baker. He started out in the book trade and quickly amassed substantial capital. In 1767, Samuel's nephew, John Sotheby, began working at the company. After Baker's death, the company became known as Sotheby's. Gradually, purchasing lots at her auctions began to be considered a sign of good manners and a guarantee of serious investments. Sotheby's central halls are located in London on the elegant New Bond. This is where spectacular performances worth hundreds of millions of dollars are staged. Sotheby's entry onto the international stage was the creation of a branch in New York in 1955. Then a large network of branches was created around the world (in Paris, Los Angeles, Zurich, Toronto, Melbourne, Munich, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Heusten, Florence, etc.).
In 1990, the turnover of all Sotheby's branches reached more than $2 billion.
The entire history of Sotheby's is brilliant evidence that trading works of art is profitable, prestigious and promising.
One of the first to capture the fine arts market was another major auction house, Christie’s, whose history began on December 5, 1766, when its founder, former naval officer James Christie, opened the first auction. Soon he already owned a premises in London with an auction hall specially built for him.
It is believed that the largest auctions of the 18th and 19th centuries took place here. And by the way, none other than James Christie himself mediated the deal to sell the famous collection of paintings by Sir Robert Walpole, who is considered the first British Prime Minister, to the Russian Empress Catherine II. This deal laid the foundations for the future Hermitage Museum.
The most important achievement of Sotheby's and Christie's in the 20th century was the triumphant sales of works by impressionists and modern artists. For the first time, it was possible to attract the attention of clients to the art of modern times and turn the works of these masters into expensive lots. Trade in works of art has now become a big business with its own specifics and its own surprises. In recent years, the two auction giants have managed to pull off several stunning sales that have gone down in the history of the business and determined the modern level of prices for art objects. The amazing news of the auctions became the property of the front pages of the press around the world.
Although today the auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's control up to 90% of the world's auction sales of antiques and art objects, they, of course, do not exhaust the variety of auction houses in the world. There are several other important “players” in this market, such as the oldest auction house in Germany “Kunsthaus Lempertz” (Cologne), the temple of French auctioneers “Hotel Drouot”, the most famous auction house in Austria “Dorotheum” and others.
It is safe to say that new sensations at auctions will not be long in coming, and we will once again find ourselves witnessing intriguing events in the world of art.
Christie's auction house is currently the largest in the world in terms of turnover. Named after its founder, James Christie, who held his first auction in London on December 5, 1766. From the very beginning, Christie's house had an emphasis on the elitism of the enterprise and a desire for leadership, which was largely determined by the list of high-ranking clients And the house has something to be proud of: members of the royal family and the aristocracy often sent their collections here, and even valuables of the British national heritage, as well as paintings by most great European artists: impressionists, modernists, cubists, were often exhibited as lots. - XVIII and XIX centuries, when the famous Christie's held the largest auctions of that time. It was representatives of this auction house who negotiated with Empress Catherine the Great about the sale of Sir Robert Worpole's collection, which later formed the basis of the Hermitage exhibition.
The most expensive painting was Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Doctor Gachet", sold in May 1990 for more than $80 million. In July 2001, Pablo Picasso's work from the "Blue Period" series - "Woman with Crossed Arms" - sold for 55 million dollars, which is twice its starting price. There were 6 more buyers who were willing to pay $32 million for the masterpiece. A similar situation arose in 1940 with Matisse’s painting “Persian Dress.” It was sold for $17 million, while the initial cost was just under $12 million.
Christie's auction house is one of the most respected auction organizers. Together with Sotheby's auction house, it occupies 90% of the world market for auction sales of antiques and art objects. Its annual turnover is 1.5-2 billion dollars. Today Christie's offers its many clients works by masters whose paintings adorn the exhibitions of many museums around the world, as well as rare books, cars, cigars, collectible wines and other valuables. Christie's is an elite auction house, and therefore it is very sensitive to its reputation. All lots are provided with expert assessment, therefore the number of scandals associated with this house is minimal.
At every opportunity, Christie's does not forget to note that its ties with Russia go back far into the 18th century, when James Christie helped Empress Catherine II with the acquisition of the famous collection of Sir Robert Walpole, rightly considered one of the key ones in the collection of the State Hermitage. Christie's worldwide sales in 2006 amounted to £2.51 billion ($4.67 billion). Christie's carries out more than 600 sales (i.e. an average of 2 times a day) in 80 categories, including such areas as fine and decorative arts, jewelry, photographs, furniture, watches, wine, cars, etc. Christie's has 85 offices in 43 countries on all five continents, and also has 14 of its own sales areas (salerooms), including London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Dubai , Hong Kong. Recently, the house has shown its activity in emerging markets - in Russia, China, India, and the UAE. Christie`s has a permanent Russian department and prestigious Russian Sales. According to the house itself, Russian trading continues to be one of the fastest growing areas of the international market.
In 2006, turnover reached $54.9 million; several new records were set. “In the late 1890s, Russian participation in international exhibitions allowed previously unknown Russian works to appear in America. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first wave of Russian immigrants brought with them a huge number of works of art, which was repeated with each new wave of immigration throughout the 20th century. Nostalgia and interest in Russian culture, instilled in the Russian intelligentsia from their youth, forced them to buy back their national treasure - a process that is now continuing on a larger scale,” said a leading specialist in the Russian department of Christie’s in New York in a recent interview with the Kommersant newspaper. York Elena Kharbik. The Russian department of Christie's annually holds sales in April (New York) and November (London). The icons are regularly sold at a separate auction in London.
The smooth-talking liar: the golden era of the house of Christie's
We know only in general terms about the founder of the Christie's house. It is known that James Christie was born in the Scottish city of Perth in 1730 to a Scottish mother and an English father. After a short service in the Royal Navy, the young man began working as an apprentice auctioneer in Covent Garden was a fashionable area of London at the time.
A few years later, believing that he had gained enough experience, Christie took a risky step and opened his own auction house on Pall Mall. The choice of location was made with prophetic foresight. Several decades will pass, and this particular street will become a symbol of luxurious life - the center of gentlemen's clubs and art centers in London. Christie's first auction took place on December 5, 1766. The net proceeds from the sale of the lots, which included wine, amounted to 76 pounds 16 shillings and six pence. Thus began the more than two-hundred-year history of the world's largest auction house.
Things immediately went smoothly. James Christie seemed to have been born just like that - with a wooden hammer in his hands. Possessing a special charm and the gift of persuasion, he could sell everything - from a kitchen pot to an extra coffin, for which he earned the nickname “Sweet-tongued liar” from wits. After several years of successful sales, the auction house was already dealing with works by venerable European artists and “old masters” of painting. And Christie himself moved to a new office at 125 Pall Mall, becoming a neighbor of Thomas Gainsborough, who later (like Sir Joshua Reynolds) painted a portrait of the auctioneer.
Having changed owners several times, the portrait of James Christie found its owner in the person of the famous American industrialist Jean Paul Getty, who bought the painting for 26 and a half thousand dollars in 1938. This was the first major acquisition in the field of art by the founder of the Getty Museum.
Christie’s courage and natural talent were enough for a successful start. But to survive in the difficult world of London business, much more was needed. And Christie managed to see a niche in his business that no one had managed to fill before him - the auctioneer relied on contemporary art. And I was right. The fact is that in Britain at that time there was not a single exhibition hall in which the viewer could get acquainted with the artistic works of their contemporaries. Therefore, the place where one could see paintings by Landseer, Rosetti or Sargent was Christie’s auction house.
Another successful move was the emphasis on the elitism of the enterprise. This was largely determined by the list of high-ranking clients. Over the history of Christie's, members of the royal family and aristocracy often sent their collections here, and even valuables of the British national heritage were exhibited as lots. It was representatives of this auction house who were invited as experts to negotiate with the Russian Empress Catherine the Great about the sale of Sir Robert's collection Warpole, which later formed the basis of the Hermitage exhibition, the collection was sold for a phenomenal sum at that time - 40 thousand pounds sterling.
But the apogee of the golden era of the auction was, oddly enough, the French Revolution: Paris, the main art market of that time, was destroyed, and whole streams of the precious heritage of the French aristocrats poured into Britain - gold, paintings, everything that was of any value. The revolutionary government of France even turned to Christie's with an offer to help sell the legendary collection of jewelry of Louis XV's favorite, Countess DuBarry, who died on the scaffold in 1793. James Christie himself outlived the countess by only 10 years. The “sweet-tongued liar” died in 1803 , and his son, James Christie Jr., took over the company.
The wind of change
The era of the Industrial Revolution meant new realities for Christie's, to which it was necessary to adapt. Firstly, aristocratic buyers were replaced by magnate buyers: the main players in the art market were American nouveau riche, such as Andrew William Mellon or John Pierpont Morgan. The auctioneers dreamed of big profits, which means it was time to expand the business. In 1823, Christie's moved to its new home at 8 King Street (the company's London office is located here to this day).
Christie's The room set aside for auctions seemed huge. It was called the Great Hall. According to legend, its plan was conceived in the shape of a hexagon by James Christie in order to create as many vertical areas as possible on which to place the lots auction. Eyewitnesses later recalled that the walls of the Great Room were hung with paintings right up to the ceiling.
The time of “serious business” also meant that the Christie family gradually began to lose their monopoly in the management of the auction house. In 1831, William Manson joined the company, and in 1859, Thomas Woods became another partner of the auction house, and Christie's changed its name to "Christie, Manson and Woods." And 1889 was the last year when the Christie family was still involved in affairs of the auction house of his own name - James Christie retired. Ironically, in the same year the auction for the first time put up for sale works of the Impressionists - the main innovators of their time.
Blows of fate
The first half of the 20th century brought Christie's serious trials. The first blow was the appearance of a new player on the art market - the venerable auction house Sotheby's. Founded two decades earlier by Christie's, it still did not stand in the latter's way, as it was mainly engaged in selling books. But the Art Nouveau era brought with it new temptations: the flourishing of painting meant a good opportunity to make money, and in 1913 Sotheby "s begins to sell paintings. Christie's was seriously scared. In response, he stopped selling his books through Sotheby's and organized his own sales of book collections. Thus began the competition between the two auction houses, which continues to this day.
The biggest success of the 20s. was the sale of a portrait of Mrs. Davenport (1782-1784) by the English portraitist George Romney for £360,900.
But soon Christie's had no time for competitors. The global economic depression of the 1930s and the consequences of the First World War depleted the art market. As a measure of survival, even the option of merging Christie's and Sotheby's was considered. Nothing came of these discussions - having an established base in the USA, Sotheby's gradually regained its position, and the need for unification disappeared.
The most terrible blow was not competitors or even the Great Depression. On April 16, 1941, an auction house on King's Street was damaged by a bomb. Auctioneers were able to begin its resumption only in 1953. For even longer - until 1966 - the company had to abandon sales of collection wines, which also meant noticeable financial losses.
New opportunities
Several operational decisions helped the auction house get back on its feet after the war. Firstly, Christie's from an elite establishment, where only the rich had access, turned into a public show. The auction hall was literally flooded with television cameramen, and the most high-profile sales were reported in the news. The auctions became public knowledge, attracting everyone to Christie's more clients. At the same time, the management of the auction house is hiring specialists to create a press office for the company. Then the mastery of new technologies was added to the development of the media space. In 1965, Christie's purchased White Bros. Printers for £38,000 and began printing catalogs and other high-quality publications. The effect of all this publicity was immediate: in 1960, Christie's reported sales of $2.7 million pounds sterling, and the following year this figure reached 3.1 million. But a much more important result of such processes was that in the course of commercialization, it was the leading auction houses that began to dictate fashion in art.
The confrontation between Christie's and Sotheby's resumed with renewed vigor in the late 1950s. Companies literally competed in... reading obituaries, looking for potential objects for sale.
Secondly, despite serious financial difficulties in the post-war period, Christie's was the first among British auction houses to begin working on representation in continental Europe, first opening a branch in Rome. Soon company offices appeared in several European countries and Christie's focused on America . The auction house has also expanded its special interests to include collectible coins and porcelain, and increased its staff of related specialists.
Finally, a successful move was the placement of the company's shares on the London Stock Exchange. This immediately brought good results: in five years, Christie's pre-tax profit grew from 139 thousand to 1.1 million pounds. The company remained public from 1973 to 1999, until it became the property of the French multi-billionaire Francois Pinault.
Gigantism as a business
The further development of the company cannot be called anything other than gigantism. Having taken the first step towards worldwide expansion in Rome, a few years later Christie's was already making leaps and bounds around the world. Faced with strict laws in Italy restricting the export of art objects, the auction house founded another subsidiary in Geneva - Christie's International SA , and Australia, Japan and Canada were included in the “world takeover” plan. In 1977, Christie's opened a sales hall in the famous Delmonico Hotel in New York. A year later, another company showroom appeared in the city, and sales in the USA became of primary importance for the auction house. Christie's reputation in the States was finally strengthened in 1980, when Henry Ford II approaches the company with an offer to sell 10 paintings from his collection of impressionist and modernist paintings. It was then that Van Gogh’s painting “The Garden of Poets” was sold for a record amount of $5.2 million. Today, Christie's offices are located in 43 countries, and permanent auction rooms operate in London, New York, Paris, Zurich, Milan, Amsterdam, Geneva, Dubai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
In the 70s, the sale of Coco Chanel's wardrobe of 40 dresses at Christie's, which brought in £43,250, attracted public attention.
All this time, the company continues to set auction trading records. One of the most striking successes of the 60s was the sale of Holman Hunt's Lady of Shalott for $27,950 - the highest amount ever paid for a Pre-Raphaelite painting. And the sale in 1965 of the Cook collection (paintings by old masters) finally established the reputation of the auction house. A portrait of Titus, son of Rembrandt Van Rijn, sold for an amount that exceeded all expectations - $2.2 million.
1987 set a record number of sales at Christie's auction. In particular, Van Gogh's famous painting "Sunflowers" went under the hammer for $39.9 million; a 65-carat pear-shaped diamond and a 1931 Bugati Type 41 Royale were sold for $6.4 million. for $9.8 million.
In recent years, the auction house has increasingly paid attention to jewelry. Their steady sales helped Christie's International boost its earnings in the first half of 2008. While the company's overall sales revenue rose 10 percent, sales of jewelry, jade and watches rose 34 percent to $275 million.
Recipe for a crisis
The global economic crisis, which began in the third quarter of 2008, brought Christie’s a 19% drop in sales (its main competitor, Sotheby’s, had a 15% decline). Nevertheless, the auction house sold 629 works of art in 2008 for amounts exceeding a million dollars. The best lot was “Water Lilies” by Claude Monet, which went under the hammer for 80.5 million. The second position in the top ten most expensive works was taken by Francis Bacon's triptych - 51.7 million, the third - painting "No. 15" by Mark Rothko (50.4 million). The total trading result for the year was $5.1 billion. And at the beginning of 2009, the auction house won a competition with Sotheby’s for the right to auction the art collection of Yves Saint Laurent. Experts valued this meeting at 300 million euros. The auction, which the French press has already called the “auction of the century,” will take place at the Paris Grand Palais on February 23-25. In anticipation of them, the director of the Art of Impressionism and Modernism department at Christie's, Matthew Stevenson, voiced his recommendations for collectors and investors in times of crisis: “In difficult times, always buy the best.”
Interesting Facts
* In 1962, as the Cuban Missile Crisis intensified, company CEO Peter Chance secretly entered Cuba in an attempt to locate auction property that had been nationalized in 1959 after Castro came to power. And although the evaluation commission arrived with a catalog of values, its efforts were unsuccessful.
* In the late 60s, five years after the failure in Cuba, Christie's was able to establish successful trade relations with the USSR, selling 1,700 cutlery from a dinner service made in 1830, previously owned by Tsar Nicholas I, for the amount of 65,751 pounds ($193) 308).
* In January 1967, for the 200th anniversary of its founding, Christie's organized a huge exhibition. About 60 of the most famous paintings that were part of the auction were borrowed from the owners and exhibited to the public. The total cost of these works, including a portrait of the company's founder by Gainsborough, was about $5 million.
* At the end of 2008, representatives of Christie's called the market... icons among the most promising, because there are more and more potential buyers, people from countries where Orthodoxy is accepted.
* In November 2008, Christie’s brought its masterpieces to Kyiv: 18 paintings by old masters, Russian and Ukrainian contemporaries, including works by Canaletto, Frans Hals, Natalia Goncharova and Kazimir Malevich. The highlights of the exhibition were unanimously recognized as two works by Canaletto - “St. Mark’s Square in Venice” and “View of the Grand Canal in Venice.” The cost of each of them is at least 4 million euros. Ukrainian painting, in addition to Malevich, was represented by the works of David Burliuk.
*In February 2009, a nude photo of Madonna taken by Lee Friedlander for Playboy magazine in 1979 was sold at Christies for $37,500.
Under the tag "micro"
The world-famous Christie's is the oldest and largest auction house in the world. It was founded back in 1766.
Each year, Christie's holds about 450 auctions featuring art, antiques, jewelry and wine.
We present the 6 most expensive paintings sold at auction at this famous auction house.
Portrait of Doctor Gaucher, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
This painting was painted in June 1890, shortly before the death of the great Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. The painting depicts the painter's last attending physician - Paul-Ferdinand Gachet?. He sits with a sprig of the digitalis plant, from which he prepared a medicinal potion for the artist.
On May 15, 1990 this picture was sold at Christie's for $82.5 million. For 15 years, this painting remained the most expensive in the world.
Self-portrait without a beard, Vincent van Gogh, 1889
One of the self-portraits of the Dutch artist. He wrote it in September 1889. The dimensions of the painting are small - only 40 cm x 31 cm. This self-portrait was painted without a beard, unlike other self-portraits in which Vincent van Gogh always depicted himself with a beard.
Sold at auction in 1998 for $71.5 million.
Woman with Crossed Arms, Pablo Picasso, 1902
The portrait was painted by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in 1902 in Barcelona. It is one of the most famous works belonging to Picasso's so-called Blue Period.
The painting was sold at auction for $55 million November 8, 2000, which was twice the expected price.
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, Gustav Klimt, 1912
The work of the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. This painting is considered one of the most significant paintings by Klimt and the Austrian Jugendstil in general (an artistic movement in art most popular in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries). The painting depicts the daughter of the CEO of the Vienna Banking Union, Moritz Bauer.
In 2006, the painting was sold through Christie's for $87.9 million.
Green Car Crash, Andy Warhol, 1963
The work of American artist Andy Warhol “Green Car Crash” (Burning Green Car 1) belongs to a series of works in which he, using photographs, reflected the results of tragic accidents. The painting "Green Car Crash" depicts an accident in the city of Seattle.
In 2007, at the Christie's auction, this painting was sold for $71.7 million.
“Pond with Water Lilies”, Claude Monet, 1919
The work of the French painter Claude Monet, one of the founders of impressionism. It is valuable because it is part of a small series consisting of only four works.
The painting was sold at Christie's on June 24, 2008 for $80.4 million.
