Malevich painting sells for record $85.8 million at Christie’s

Kazimir Malevich’s painting, titled ‘Suprematist Composition,’ was painted in 1916.

art and culture Updated: May 16, 2018 11:07 IST

Picasso’s 1964 portrait of a woman with a cat, ‘Femme au chat assise dans un fauteuil,’ was part of the same exhibition at Christie’s, but was pulled from the auction by mutual agreement with the seller. (Photographer: Katya Kazakina /Bl)

An amalgam of hard-edged geometric shapes painted in 1916 by Kazimir Malevich became a repeat auction champion on Tuesday.

The painting, ‘Suprematist Composition,’ fetched $85.8 million, a record for Malevich, the leader of Russian avant-garde a century ago. Estimated at $70 million, the work was offered during Christie’s Impressionist and modern art sale in New York.

In 2008, the same canvas sold for $60 million at Sotheby’s and the price remained the artist’s highest until now.

The Christie’s auction originally included two Picasso paintings, estimated jointly at as much as $105 million, that were being sold by the erstwhile casino magnate Steve Wynn. Both were withdrawn after one of them, the artist’s self-portrait ‘Le Marin,’ was damaged on Friday. The sale, which includes eight other Picasso works, continues.

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