Sotheby’s has revealed the top picks, including a Magritte, for the upcoming Pauline Karpidas Collection auction.
The collection comes from the iconic London home of Pauline Karpidas, one of the most prolific English art collectors. In June, it was revealed that her art collection would go on sale. Now, Sotheby’s has announced that the auction will be held on September 17-19 in London.
The collection, which comprises 250 lots, is expected to fetch £60 million ($81 million). If met, this would be the highest-selling single-collection sale for Sotheby’s in Europe. However, a major factor behind this would be the star of the show: René Magritte’s La Statue volante (1940-41). The oil painting was originally bought from Magritte by gallerist Alexander Iolas, who also inspired Karpidas to start collecting art. The painting, which has long been the pride of the Karpidas collection, is expected to fetch £9-12 million ($12-16 million).
Among the remaining 249 lots, Magritte features 10 more times. La Race Blanche (1937) is expected to fetch $1.3-2 million, while a bust titled Tête (1960) could fetch up to $650,000. Another major artist in the collection is Andy Warhol, who was also a close personal friend of Pauline Karpidas. Four Warhol paintings would go on the auction block, including Madonna and Self-Portrait with Skeleton’s Arm (After Munch), expected to sell for $2-2.6 million, and The Scream (After Munch), expected to bring a similar $2.6-4 million.
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Olive Barker, Sotheby’s chairman in Europe, who would also be helming the auction, said: “Pauline is imaginative, bold, daring, and she’s also the embodiment of the great collector, which means that every single work she’s ever acquired has something special about it.”
