Fight for $10m slice of Gauguin sale rests on a handshake deal
IT WAS rumoured to be the world’s most expensive painting, a Gauguin masterpiece bought by the Qatari royal family in a deal that had the art world agog.
Now a High Court battle has disclosed the secret dealings behind the sale, as a broker called “the Mick Jagger of art auctions” sues for the
$10 million (£7.7 million) commission he says is rightfully his.
Simon de Pury claims there was a “gentleman’s agreement” to pay him handsomely if he secured the sale of Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), a study of Tahitian women painted by Paul Gauguin in 1892.
The painting was sold by Ruedi Staechelin, a retired Sotheby’s executive from Switzerland whose grandfather had amassed a collection of Impressionist and post-impressionist works. The sale was reported in 2015 as worth $300 million, making it the most expensive painting ever sold.
In fact, it was the second highest price paid for a work of art, going for the still considerable sum of $210 million after a series of meetings between Mr de Pury and Guy Bennett, the former Christie’s expert who now purchases art on behalf of the Emir of Qatar as director of collections and acquisitions for the Gulf state’s museums. Mr de Pury and Mr Bennett first met to discuss a possible acquisition in 2012, the court heard. Mr de Pury then approached Mr Staechelin, an old schoolfriend, to ask if he had any interest in selling. At that point, Mr Staechelin said he would not sell for less than $250million, and negotiations stalled.
They resumed in 2014 and the sale went through, but Mr de Pury’s commission did not materialise. Mr Staechelin claims Mr de Pury lured him to the table by saying the Qataris were willing to pay $230million, but that this was “dishonesty” as Mr de Pury knew the buyers would offer $210 million.
Mr Staechelin’s counsel, John Wardell QC, said there had been “a clear breach of fiduciary duty and all commission has been forfeited if any right ever existed”.
Mr de Pury claims that he put the $230million figure to Mr Bennett, but it was rejected due to the “changing tastes” of the Qataris.
The offer of $10million in commission was never formalised but that is standard practice in the higher reaches of the art world, according to Jonathan Cohen QC, counsel for Mr de Pury.
“There is nothing surprising in these matters being resolved without the use of a written agreement. It would be unusual to find some types of contract made orally, but that is not true of the art market, which continues to operate in a gentlemanly manner, based on mutual trust,” Mr Cohen said.
The case continues.
Mr de Pury is one of the art world’s more colourful figures. His 2010 wedding to Michaela Neumeister, a German he refers to as “The Giraffe” on account of her 5ft 10in frame, was quite an event.
Held at London’s Saatchi Gallery, it featured rooms devoted to food and drink: one with 1,000 oysters, another with salamis hanging from the ceiling (as styled by a “food artist”). The bride and groom appeared behind a sheet of glass, attended by hairdressers, in a piece of performance art.
Supper was served on beds, in an homage to Tracey Emin’s Unmade Bed, with platters placed on the sheets. One guest described it as “a sort of Roman picnic without the orgy”.