Schjerfbeck painting sold at Christie’s for EUR 939,200

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Several works of the Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) were up for sale at Christie’s in London on Thursday. Three of them were expected to be sold at record prices.
      The paintings were the property of the Swedish producer and art collector Lars Schmidt (born in 1917) and his late wife, actress Ingrid Bergman.
     
One of the paintings, a gouache Girl with Blue Ribbon, was sold for EUR 939,200 (GBP £748,500) - a good deal more than the anticipated hammer price.
      A second portrait of a girl, Girl from California (1934), went unsold, having been expected to fetch a minimum of EUR 500,000. According to experts, this painting had been influenced by the French post-impressionist Paul Gauguin.
      An early work by Schjerfbeck, Kuvakirja (”A Picture Book”), painted in 1917, was sold for EUR 377,000.
      In addition, a signed lithograph sketch of The Convalescent was also up for sale, with an estimated price of GBP 3,000 to 5,000. It went unsold.
      During her life, the artist painted several different versions of the themes of the portraits that were sold on Thursday.
     
The value of Schjerfbeck’s works is growing, partly thanks to the exhibitions set up in Paris, The Hague, and Hamburg last year.
     
Other works by Finnish artists up for sale at Christie’s Nordic Art and Design auction included Albert Edelfelt’s Under the Birches (1881), which went unsold, Tapio Wirkkala’s silver necklace and earrings, sold for around EUR 6,200, and Tove Jansson’s signed sketch of Tuutikki (”Too-Ticky”), which fetched about EUR 7,900.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish National Gallery gets massive donation of Schjerfbeck work (15.11.2005)
  Helene Schjerfbeck painting sold at auction for EUR 485,000 (1.12.2003)
  Scherfbeck painting sells for £600,000 at Christies (4.2.2003)

Links:
  Christie´s

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