The painting Red Apples by one of Finland’s most acclaimed painters Helene Schjerfbeck was sold for EUR 400,000 at the Bukowski auction house in Helsinki yesterday.
The work of art was acquired by the Finnish Ateneum Art Museum and financed partly by Ateneum’s own acquisition appropriations and partly by a fund in the name of Nanny and Yrjö Kaunisto. Red Apples will be put on display in the Ateneum Art Museum in March.
Schjerfbeck made the smallish oil painting (40.2 x 40.2 cm) in 1915, after which it belonged to the private collection of Scherfbeck’s long-standing friend Einar Reuter.
After having been frequently on display in several domestic and foreign exhibitions, the work was now sold by Reuter’s family.
Schjerfbeck’s portrait of Einar Reuter remained unsold, but another painting entitled Suopursu (”Wild Rosemary”) from the beginning of the 20th century was sold for EUR 340,000. The bidding began at EUR 275,000.
The buyer was the Lasse and Lauri Reitz Foundation in Helsinki.
