At the end of this CultureGrrl Video, you heard Brooke Lampley, Christie’s Impressionist/Modern head, express her hope that Manet’s “Spring,” in a private collection since 1909, might “go to an institution.” It had been on loan to the National Gallery of Art for almost 21 years, until last May.
Brooke wasn’t just babbling. But it wasn’t the National Gallery that hooked this looker.
It was the Getty:
Photo by Lee Rosenbaum
Although a Christie’s spokesperson told me tonight that she couldn’t confirm this, Kelly Scott, arts and culture editor of the LA Times, spilled the beans in these tweets:
Getty picks up another Manet at Christie’s Wed night: the painting Spring (Le Printemps), from 1881. …
— Kelly Scott (@kscottLATArts) November 6, 2014
…it joins two other Manet paintings, a watercolor and the pastel “Portrait of Julien de la Rochenoire (1882),” which was acquired in May. — Kelly Scott (@kscottLATArts) November 6, 2014
The Getty, which I assume will make the announcement soon, is that very rare art institution that actually has $65.125 million (an auction record for the artist) to plunk down for a masterpiece. (I had rhapsodized about “that lushly verdant Manet” in this post.) As bids from around the room (and probably around the world) pelted Christie’s Andreas Rumbler for this, the most hotly contested lot of Christie’s and Sotheby’s Impressionist/Modern auctions this week, the auctioneer quipped:
It’s worth coming to these sales!
For the duration of that spirited bidding war, it was.
Screenshot from the sale’s live feed
For more of my commentary on this week’s Impressionist/Modern auctions (including the anticlimactic $100.965-million Giacometti at Sotheby’s), take a look at my Twitter feed @CultureGrrl.
UPDATE: The Getty has now posted its press release with the exultant announcement of its acquisition.