Private art cache of Ernst Beyeler at Christie's sale

9 May 2011

Paul Gauguin, Le Vallon, Tahiti. Oil on canvas, 1892. Signed lower left, 42 x 67.5 cm. Estimate: £5.5-8.5 million (US$9-14 million).

(Christie's Images Ltd 2011)

Christie's will offer paintings, sculptures and sketches from legendary Swiss art dealer Ernst Beyeler (d. 2010) and his late wife and partner Hildy's private home and gallery collections, including works by Monet, Gauguin, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Matisse, Kokoschka, Klee, Leger, Dubuffet and Roy Lichtenstein.

The Beyeler's renowned collection of 20th c. modernism, including cherished and iconic pieces from their private home that Beyeler would never sell during his lifetime, comprise the sale on June 21 and 22 in London.

The Beyelers donated more than 200 seminal works to their foundation and its purpose-built museum near Basel. Proceeds from the June estate sale will benefit Fondation Beyeler and support the museum's operating costs, according to the dealers' wishes. Their art gallery in Basel will close.

Among the gems on offer is a mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder, a Paul Klee watercolor titled "Parklandschaft" (Park Landscape), which hung in Beyeler's bedroom for 50 years, and one of Monet's series of paintings of Nympheas (water lilies).

Picasso's Buste de Françoise, a colorist portrait of 1946, along with 30 of his ceramics, will be available. Other masterpieces include Gauguin’s Le Vallon Tahiti of 1892, Toulouse-Lautrec’s Miss May Belfort of 1895, Renoir’s Nu allongé of 1902, and Léger’s Le Drapeau of 1919.

A select group of highlights will be on view at Christie’s New York from May 7 to 11.

Read more at news.com.au

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