Schiele Painting Missing For 60 Years Sells For $21.6 Million
Published June 22nd, 2006
A 1914 painting by Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele, which had been missing for more than 60 years, was auctioned for ?11.7m ($ 21.6 million). The masterpiece was stolen by the Germansin 1938.
According to a report on BBC news website, the masterpiece showing Wilted Sunflowers (Autumn Sun II), which pays homage to Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, was sold at Christie’s auction house in London.
The painting which was feared to have been destroyed during World War II, surfaced last year when an anonymous collector asked Christie’s for a valuation.
It was returned to the family of its original owner, who sold it on Tuesday.
The painting was last exhibited in Paris in 1937, when it was owned by Austrian art dealer Karl Grunwald, who later fled Vienna for Paris in 1938.
Wilted Sunflowers was among 50 paintings stolen by the Germans in Strasbourg. It disappeared after being sold at auction in 1942.
The artwork which depict Schiele’s sombre mood on the eve of World War I, sold at nearly twice its pre-sale estimate.
The London art market is currently experiencing a boom in sales, as a result of new buyers from Russia and the Middle East.
