Carol Vogel announces Christie’s big get for the fall Impressionist and Modern sales. This Manet has been in the Payne family for a century after the Cleveland financier, Oliver Hazard Payne, bought it from Paul Durand-Ruel. The picture had been on loan to the National Gallery in Washington:
Édouard Manet’s 1881 portrait of the actress Jeanne Demarsy in a flowery dress and bonnet was intended as an evocation of spring. Painted in profile, her model-perfect silhouette, with a lacy parasol resting on her shoulder, is likely to be blown up and displayed in Christie’s Rockefeller Center windows as a teaser to the auction house’s big fall auctions. “Le Printemps,” as the painting is titled, is viewed as a star of the Nov. 5 Impressionist and Modern art sale, where it is expected to sell for $25 million to $35 million.
Before an important painting or sculpture like this one comes to auction, experts often try to sell it privately first. According to several dealers, Christie’s officials offered it to several mega-rich collectors for around $55 million over the last six months. When no one bit, Christie’s decided to offer it at auction at a far lower price.
Summer Treats in the Met’s European Galleries (NYTimes.com)
