Sotheby's general director for Russia and the CIS Mikhail Kamensky holds Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist Composition.
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Malevich Painting Fetches $60 Mill.
Kazimir Malevich’s painting Suprematist Composition was sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $60 million on Monday. The name of the buyer was not made public. The sale price is the most ever paid for a work by Malevich or any other Russian artist. The largest sum paid for a Malevich work previously was $17 million in 2000, and the highest paid for a Russian work was $20.9 million for Vasily Kandinsky’s Fugue. Suprematist Composition has been displayed in museums in London and New York.
Suprematist Composition was one of the canvases that Malevich left with architect Hugo Haring in Berlin when he was forced to return to the Soviet Union. He thought the work would be too radical for the Soviets. Several years after Malevich’s death, Haring sold the painting to the Amsterdam Municipal Museum. A protracted dispute between the museum and relatives of the artist ended with the transfer of five Malevich works, including Suprematist Composition, to members of his family. The painting is of a number of rectangles and triangles on a white background. A Sotheby’s representative called it one of the best modern works ever sold.
Works by Monet, Degas, Pissarro and Munch were also auctioned off. Munch’s The Vampire sold for $38 million.
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