The Roerich market is said to be dominated by four Russian collectors. It would appear that the portriat of Nicholas Roerich purchased at Christie’s didn’t go to a museum but to one of those collectors. Here’s Bloomberg on the sale:

“A work of art is worth as much as a person is willing to pay for it,” said Elena Kuprina, an art consultant who bought the work with her husband, Maxim Lyakhovich, for a Russian art collector of Nicholas Roerich. “This is a cultural treasure.”

Lyakhovich also placed a winning $1.2 million bid (without commission), for Roerich Senior’s mountainous landscape “The Greatest and Holiest of Tangla” (1929), from the artist’s “Shambhala” series. The work was purchased for the same collection, Kuprina said.

Portrait Sells for Record $3 Million at Christie’s (Bloomberg)