Christie's to sell 85 Miro works valued at $49 million, once owned by failed Portuguese bank

 'It's all over the place'. Hoje na página 9 do jornal / referência "Volkskrant" é anunciada a venda da coleção Miró ( um terço de toda a obra do pintor ) como ilustração da falência do Estado Português e da sua desesperada busca de capital. A resistência crítica da opinião pública liderada pelo responsável da iniciativa Carlos Cabral Nunes também é referida.

Falência Financeira / Falência Cultural ?

Christie's to sell 85 Miro works valued at $49 million, once owned by failed Portuguese bank

by

Associated Press

20.12.2013 - 01:02

Christie's to auction trove of 85 Joan Miro works

by JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press - 19 December 2013 / http://www.neurope.eu/news/wire/christies-sell-85-miro-works-valued-49-million-once-owned-failed-portuguese-bank

LONDON (AP) — A trove of 85 works by Spanish surrealist master Joan Miro acquired by the Portuguese government from a failing bank is up for auction with an estimated value of 30 million pounds ($49 million).

Christie's auction house said Friday the collection is "one of the most extensive and impressive offerings of works by the artist ever to come to auction," and covers seven decades of Miro's career.

The Barcelona-born artist was influential in the surrealist movement in the 1920s and developed his signature colorful style, full of squiggles and symbols, during a long career that lasted until his death at 90 in 1983.

The auction includes the 1968 oil painting "Women and Birds" — two recurring motifs in Miro's work — which has an estimated sale price of 4-to-7 million pounds ($6.5 million to $11.5 million); and the 22-by-197 centimeter (8 1/2 inches by 78 inches) oil-on-canvas "Painting," valued between 2.5 million and 3.5 million pounds ($4 million to $5.7 million).

The sale also includes works on paper and a series of paintings on Masonite from the 1930s. The cheapest lots start at about 10,000 pounds ($16,400).

Olivier Camu, Christie's deputy head of Impressionist and modern art, said the sale gave collectors with a wide variety of budgets a chance to "celebrate and engage with the creative genius and joyous immediacy of Miro's work."

Portugal took ownership of the 85 Miro works when it nationalized the struggling Banco Portugues de Negocios, or BPN, during the 2008 global banking crisis. BPN was later sold to Angolan-Portuguese Banco BIC.

The works will be sold during three auctions at Christie's in London Feb. 4 and 5.

The current auction record for a Miro is almost $37 million for "Painting (Blue Star)" in 2012.

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85-Lot Miró Trove Selling at Christie’s in February

By Marion Maneker /0January 10, 2014 / http://www.artmarketmonitor.com/2014/01/10/30m-miro-trove-selling-at-christies-in-february/

Christie’s announces the sale of 85 works by Joan Miró at Christie’s during the Surrealism evening sale and following day sales. The collection comes from Portugal where it was put together privately but is now being sold by decision of the Portuguese government:

Most often associated with Surrealism, Miró’s work has an appeal that transcends traditional categories, with today’s market seeing collectors of both Impressionist & Modern Art and Post-War & Contemporary Art compete for his paintings, works on paper and sculptures. The property was formerly in a private corporate collection and is now being sold by decision of the Portuguese Republic.

Highlighting Miró’s incredible ability to innovate, the works feature a wide range of materials and techniques as well as his key themes and subjects, from poetry and dreams to music and stars, women and birds. He was an artist who allowed himself to be influenced by a range of things, from music, poetry and then hallucinations induced by hunger during his early years in Paris, to patterns made by chance, to the materials themselves. The two top lots are Femmes et oiseaux (Women and Birds), 1968 (estimate: £4-7 million, illustrated above, second row, far left) and Painting, 1953, a monumental oil on canvas measuring 22 ½ x 196 ⅞ in. (57 x 500 cm.) (estimate: £2.5-3.5 million).

With estimates ranging from £10,000 to £7 million, this collection provides collectors at every level with a remarkable opportunity to not only add key works to established collections but for new collectors and enthusiasts to buy their very first work from Miró’s rich oeuvre. The complete collection is expected to realise in excess of £30 million.