Masterpieces of art at auction

From November to the end of the year, there are innumerable interesting lots at the auction houses that are perfect for investment in a safe sector: works of art by timeless great artists. Christie’s New York, in November auctioned various masterpieces of post-war and contemporary art: Francis Bacon “Three Studies of Lucian Freud”, oil on canvas, painted in 1969; Andy Warhol “Coca-Cola [3]” painted in 1962, price realized $57,285,000; Jeff Koons “Balloon Dog (Orange)”, chrome-plated stainless steel with transparent coloured coating from 1994-2000, price realized $58,405,000; Cindy Sherman “Untitled #48”, cut-out gelatine silver prints from 1979, price realized $1,565,000; and Oscar Murillo “Untitled (Frijoles)”, painted in 2012 and price realized $245,000. Farsettiarte also put some important modern art works up for auction at the end of November, such as “Le Fantôme de l’Opéra” by Alberto Savinio dated 1929, oil on canvas, estimated €550,000/700,000, as well as “Registrazione ’83-4” by Emilio Vedova from 1983, paint on canvas, estimated €100,000/160,000, and “Labirinto n. 11 (Integrazione argento)” by Carla Accardi from 1957, casein on canvas, estimated price €70,000/95,000. In November, Pananti Casa d’Aste Auction House held two auctions with works of particular interest: “Buio al tramonto” (Darkness at Sunset) by Giovanni Fattori, mixed technique on canvas (sold for €24.000,00); “Ritratto di Maurizio Klum” (Portrait of Maurizio Klum), 1922, by Ottone Rosai, oil on canvas mounted on board (estimated €60,000/80,000); the sculpture “Il pittore” (The Painter) by Arturo Martini dated 1938, terracotta (estimated €35,000/45,000) and the painting "Of America", 1966, by Franco Angeli, sold for €14.000,00. While Porro & C. Art Consulting, at the end of November, auctioned the painting “Sacra Famiglia” (Sacred Family) by the Italian painter Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, oil on canvas, and “Cavallo e Zebra sulla spiaggia” (Horse and Zebra on the Beach) by Giorgio De Chirico, oil on canvas from circa 1935. Dorotheum, the largest auction house in central Europe, during its week of auctions in November showed an array of different trends in modern and contemporary art, beginning with Lucio Fontana with “Concetto spaziale, Attesa” (Spatial Concept, Waiting), bright yellow colour, dated 1968 and with an estimated price of €400,000-600,000; Alighiero Boetti, an exponent of Arte Povera, who uses industrial colours, instead, in his work “Rosso Corallo 102“(Coral Red 102), from 1967 (€250,000-350,000); and from 1963, the diptych “Incidente“by Mario Schifano, a car accident reconstructed with pop colours (€100,000-150,000). The contemporary art section proposed works by Franz West, Herbert Brandl, Adolf Luther, Thomas Schütte, Enrico Castellani (“Superficie Bianca” (White Surface), 2005, acrylic on shaped canvas, €70,000-100,000) and Willem de Kooning. In its modern art section, Dorotheum offered modern Italian works represented by Giorgio De Chirico (“Piazza d’Italia“, €200,000-300,000), as well as works of the First and Second Futurism. Among the curious works seen was “Linee di forza del pugno di Boccioni II“(€50,000-70,000) by Giacomo Balla, a second, more slender version of his first sculpture, made of curved and enamelled bronze. The “Force Lines of Boccioni’s Fist II” offered by Dorotheum is one of nine replicas of the edition exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1968. There were also works by Otto Dix, Gustav Klimt (“Portrait of a girl in profile”, 1890 circa, pencil, heightened with white, € 26,000-36,000), Egon Schiele (“Female nude (back)”, 1917, black chalk on paper, €70,000-90,000), Victor Brauner and Max Oppenheimer. On 2 December, in association with Sotheby’s Paris, Artcurial presented historic works from the private collection of Dina Vierny, including a sculpture by Aristide Maillol, “La Rivière” (1938-1943) in lead, estimated €2,000,000-3,000,000, and the work by Gustave Caillebotte, “Le Pont de l’Europe” from 1876, oil on canvas, estimated €3.000.0004.000.000, one of the versions of the famous composition “Le Pont de l'Europe”