Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
A painting that was once almost destroyed by its artist after she attacked it with a knife because she considered it below standard, but then patched back together after her death, has been sold for a record price of EUR 150,000 (GBP 128,647) at an auction in Austria.
The painting by Ukrainian-French painter Marie Bashkirtseff (1860-1884) which was once slashed with a knife reached an extraordinary value at the Dorotheum auction house, headquartered in Austria’s capital Vienna.
The Viennese action house is currently hosting the so-called Dorotheum’s Classic Week which began on Monday on 7 June 2021.
Frustrated because she believed she had failed to create a decent portrait of her cousin, Bashkirtseff destroyed the art before her early death when she was only 24 years old.
However, the painting was restored and displayed in the exhibition “Kunst der Frau” at the Vienna Secession in 1910, and has now reached a record price at the Dorotheum, making it the most expensive artwork by Bashkirtseff ever.
The painting reached EUR 150,000 (GBP 128,647) after it was initially estimated at EUR 35,000 (GBP 30,033) by “Die Lesende”.
In addition, a four-part mountain panorama of the “Koralpe” which is a mountain range in southern Austria made by Markus Pernhart considered as the pioneer of Carinthian landscape painting achieved a great price of EUR 283,900 (GBP 243,650) at the 19th century painting auction.
The almost eight-metre long landscape painting was taken to an Austrian private collection.
Moreover a museum-quality early major work by Hans Makart known as the “prince among painters”, was sold for an outstanding EUR 325,956 (GBP 279,675) which is the second highest price ever paid for this artist.
A painting named “The Beggar (The Good-Natured Child)” by Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller was sold for EUR 296,100 (GBP 254,061).
Other prominent artists whose art found its place at the auction are Jozef von Brandt with his painting called “Returning Home” which reached EUR 271,700 (GBP 233,003) and Paja Jovanovic with the “Palace Guard” that garnered a stunning EUR 137,500 (GBP 117,990).
