Auction at MoMA

Works by Picasso, Renoir, Francis Bacon will be sold to fund its online content and social media channels. 30 WORKS: MUSEUM IS ESTIMATED TO RAISE $70 MILLION

This spring, the foundation of the late businessman William S Paley will auction off a selection of its masterpieces that were on longterm loan to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Their sale at Sotheby’s could fetch some $70 million (about R1.2 billion), largely benefiting the museum.

William S Paley bequeathed 81 paintings and sculptures to his namesake foundation, with the stipulation that they could be made available to MoMA after his death in 1990 on condition that the works should serve to support the evolution of the museum and its missions.

As such, MoMA has decided that some of the works in its care could be used to fund the museum’s digital media and technology initiatives and new acquisitions. Around 30 of these masterpieces will be auctioned off as part of modern and contemporary art sales held by Sotheby’s in October and November in London and New York.

These include Three Studies for Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, a small triptych by Francis Bacon. This could fetch at least GB£30 million (US$34.7 million) on 14 October in London. Guitare sur une table, will be auctioned off on 14 November in New York, along with Les Fraises, a still-life by Pierre-Auguste Renoir dating from 1905.

The former should fetch between $20 million and $30 million, while the latter carries an estimate of $3 million to $4 million. “I remember how my father loved the great artworks he collected,” William C Paley, the late collector’s son and vice-president of the foundation, said in a statement.

“Proceeds from the sale will be used to enhance the museum’s online content, YouTube channel and social networks,” MoMA director Glenn Lowry told the Wall