Self beaten Lucian Freud sold at auction
Unknown self-portrait by Lucian Freud, which he is depicted with a black eye, February 10 will be put up for auction Sotheby's. Lot estimated at 3-4 million British pounds.
The portrait was painted around 1978, since then he has never participated in exhibitions. The name of the current owner of the picture is not called; The Independent wrote only that the man himself has often posed for Freud in the 1970's. One sitter came to the artist and found that in a rage: it turns out, only that during the skirmish, he struck the London taxi driver. An anonymous seller said that the date give Freud failed. The session was canceled because the artist has decided to immediately sit down at the self-portrait.
The head of the European branch of Sotheby's contemporary art Cheyenne Westphal (Cheyenne Westphal) stated that 87-year-old artist recently looked to them to look at his newly found work, reported Bloomberg. According to her, like Freud self-portrait, but he said he did not remember on what occasion started a quarrel. According to critics, the picture of Freud built on a par with "Self-portrait with bandaged ear," Vincent van Gogh "Self-portrait with a damaged eye," Francis Bacon.
In 2008, Freud's painting "The Sleeping sotsrabotnitsa" was sold for 33,6 million dollars, after which he became the most expensive living artists. Buyer's portrait was named Russia's businessman Roman Abramovich.
It is expected that the Sotheby's auction on Feb. 10 will bring 63.6 million pounds (104 million dollars), 68 percent more than similar auctions in the past year. Among the other top lots - works by Peter Doig (estimate 2-3 million pounds) and Yves Klein (2,8 - 3,5 million).
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2010/01/20/freud/
LOT 67
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION
- LUCIAN FREUD
B.1922
SELF-PORTRAIT WITH A BLACK EYE
3,000,000-4,000,000 GBP