Christie’s New York sold all 23 lots offered at their Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism Evening Sale on 11 November. Following the stellar results of 21st Century Evening Sale earlier this week, the international auction house pulled off a white-glove sale total of US$332 million dollars with buyer’s premium.
Van Gogh’s masterpiece, Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers et cypres (Wooden huts among olive trees and cypress trees), performed the most brilliantly. The hammer was dropped at US$62 million dollars – US$22 million dollars more than its estimate before the auction. It was sold at US$71.3 million dollars, with buyer’s premium.
Alongside van Gogh’s oeuvre, Cezanne’s L’Estaque aux toits rouges (L'Estaque village with red roofs) and Caillebotte’s Jeune homme a sa fenetre (Young man at his window) paintings were the sale’s second and third most expensive lots. Both were sold for more than US$50 million dollars.
The collection of Impressionist masterpieces was owned by Edwin Lochridge Cox, a key American businessman in the Texan oil and gas industry.
Edwin Lochridge Cox
One of the reasons for the great reception to this lot is the appeal of Cox’s Collection. He collected Impressionist and Modern Art masterpieces by artists such as Monet, Cezanne and van Gogh since the 1970s.
Apart from his personal collection, Cox was also devoted to art institutions in his hometown of Dallas and across the United States. He was an important board member of key American cultural institutions – including National Gallery of Art Trustees Council in Washington D.C., the Library of Congress Trust Fund and the Board of Trustees of the Dallas Museum of Art.
The main source of Cox's Collection was the Wildenstein Gallery. This Parisian gallery, established in 1875, has a huge collection of Impressionist paintings. During the Second World War, business expanded to New York, London and South America. But it is believed that part of the gallery's collection was plundered from Jewish hands by the Nazi German army, which caused lawsuits.
Cox obtained the first right to purchase paintings from the Parisian gallery, so he was able to purchase top works. The Impressionist masterpieces were kept in Cox's mansion in Texas until last year when Cox died at the age of 99. These paintings were released onto the market.
Van Gogh's masterpiece was hammered at US$62 million dollars
Lot 4C | Vincent van Gogh | Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers et cypres, Oil on canvas
Created in 1889
45.5 x 60.3 cm
Provenance:
- Theo van Gogh, Paris (acquired from the artist)
- Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Paris (by descent from the above)
- Paul Cassirer, Berlin (acquired from the above, June 1910)
- Dr. Thust, Berlin (acquired from the above, until at least 1914)
- Marius de Zayas, New York; sale, The Anderson Galleries, New York, 23 March 1923, Lot 84
- Georges Bernheim, Paris
- Georges Renand, Paris (1925, until at least 1950)
- Private collection, Paris
- Private collection, Brussels (1953)
- Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired from the above, 1981)
- Acquired from the above by the late owner, 11 February 1982
Estimate upon request (Expected to fetch US$40 million)
Hammer Price: US$62,000,000
Sold: US$71,350,000
Van Gogh's Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers et cypres was the sale's most expensive lot.
The bidding started at US$32 million dollars. Estimated to fetch $40 million dollars before the auction, this masterpiece was competed amongst nine bidders in New York, London and Hong Kong. The hammer was eventually dropped at US$62 million dollars – US$22 milion dollars more than its pre-sale estimate. It was sold for US$71.3 million dollars, including buyer's premium to an auction room bidder with paddle number 619. It is reported that this buyer is Hugo Nathan – co-founder of an art consulting company, Beaumont Nathan.
After Van Gogh's death, this work was included in the collection of his sister-in-law, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. The painting later changed hands several times before Cox bought it in 1982. According to reports, this work has been publicly exhibited twice since the 1920s – in 1949 and 1980.
Created in October 1889, van Gogh combined his favourite Provencal motifs and captured the characteristics of the artist’s mature style that emerged at Saint-Remy. During the Dutch artist’s yearlong stay in Saint-Remy, his works reached a climax of expression where he depicted the world around him with great intensity. Through spells of mental illness, van Gogh had periods of abundant and creative production. These circular strokes and snaking, impastoed lines of the olive trees came to dominate van Gogh’s work in Saint-Remy.
Lot 10C | Paul Cezanne | L’Estaque aux toits rouges, Oil on canvas
Created in 1883-1885
65.5 x 81.4 cm
Provenance:
- Auguste Pellerin, Paris
- Jean-Victor Pellerin, Paris (by descent from the above, 1929)
- Ingeborg Pellerin, Paris (by descent from the above, 1970)
- Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired from the above, 1978)
- Acquired from the above by the late owner, 15 June 1978
Estimate: US$35,000,000 – 55,000,000
Hammer Price: US$48,000,000
Sold: US$55,320,000
Cezanne's L'Estaque aux toits rouges painting was the sale's second most expensive lot.
The bidding started at US$26 million dollars. After 14 bids, the hammer was dropped at US$48 million dollars – US$13 million dollars more than its low estimate. It was sold at US$55.3 million dollars with buyer's premium, to a client of Head of Impressionist and Modern Art Americas Department, Max Carter.
Cezanne painted this oeuvre in circa 1883 to 1885. The cubically constructed houses and plane of blue sea are vividly depicted. It is one of the culminating works of the intense creativity that L’Estaque, southern France, had greatly inspired the artist over a series of visits to the village in the late 1870s and early 1880s.
Lot 23C | Gustave Caillebotte | Jeune homme a sa fenetre, Oil on canvas
Created in 1876
116 x 81 cm
Provenance:
- Albert Courtier, Meaux (gift from the artist, and by descent)
- Galerie de l’Elysée (Jean Metthey), Paris (circa 1945)
- Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired from the above, 1951)
- Acquired from the above by the late owner, 26 June 1995
Estimate upon request (Expected to fetch more than US$50 million)
Hammer Price: US$46,000,000
Sold: US$53,030,000
Caillebotte's Jeune homme a sa fenetre painting was the sale's third most expensive lot.
Before the sale, this lot was expected to fetch US$50 million dollars. The bidding started at US$28 million dollars. After eight bids, the hammer was dropped at US$46 million dollars. It was sold at US$53 million dollars, including buyer's premium to an auction room bidder with paddle number 526.
Completed in 1876, the artist’s brother Rene is depicted gazing out of the window of the family’s residence in Paris’s 8th arrondissement. Presenting a novel view of Parisian bourgeois life, in which a young man was captured in a moment of contemplation as he watched the street from an elegant apartment, this work showcased the influence of Caillebotte’s academic training alongside his growing interest in realism.
After the sale, it is understood that the buyer was J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The result also set a new record for the French artist, previously set by his Chemin Montant (Rising Road) painting sold at Christie's London for US$22.2 million dollars in 2019. It depicts a sunlit outdoor scene of a man and woman walking side by side.
Caillebotte's Chemin Montant (1881)
Other highlight lots:
Lot 20C | Vincent van Gogh | Jeune homme au bleuet, Oil on canvas
Created in 1890
40.5 x 32 cm
Provenance:
- Theo van Gogh, Paris (acquired from the artist)
- Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Paris (by descent from the above)
- Galerie Bernheim-Jeune et Cie., Paris (acquired from the above, 5 November 1909)
- Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (acquired from the above, 11 October 1911; with
- Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris, circa 1934-1935)
- Elsa von Kesselstatt, Vaduz (by descent from the above, 1935, until at least 1954)
- Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired through Joseph Graf von Meran, Vaduz, 1981)
- Acquired from the above by the late owner, 24 November 1981
Estimate: US5,000,000 – 7,000,000
Hammer Price: US$40,500,000
Sold: US$46,732,500
Van Gogh's Jeune homme au bleuet painting was the sale's fourth most expensive lot.
Two bidders on the phone with Deputy Chairman of the Impressionist and Modern Department in New York, Conor Jordan; and Director of Impressionist and Modern Art Asia, Elaine Holt, competed for the painting. After a lengthy pause, the work was hammered at US$40.5 million dollars – more than 8 times its low estimate. It was sold to Jordan’s client at US$46.7 million dollars, with buyer's premium.
Van Gogh vibrantly depicted a young inhabitant of Auvers-sur-Oise, possibly belonging to a family of farmers who worked the land around the rural village. Created in June 1890, it was the penultimate month of the artist's life.
Lot 8C | Vincent van Gogh | Meules de ble, Gouache, watercolor, pen and brush and black ink over pencil on paper
Created in 1888
48.5 x 60.4 cm
Provenance:
- Theo van Gogh, Paris (acquired from the artist)
- Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Paris (by descent from the above)
- Gustave Fayet, Igny (acquired from the above, January 1907)
- Galerie E. Druet, Paris
- Max Meirowsky, Berlin, later Amsterdam and Geneva (acquired from the above, 1913, until circa 1938)
- Paul Graupe & Cie., Paris (circa 1938)
- Alexandrine de Rothschild, Paris (by 1940)
- Seized from the above during the Occupation of France and transferred to the Jeu de Paume, Paris (April 1941); transferred to Schloss Kogl, St. Georgen im Attergau (18 June 1941; ERR no. R 905)
- Private collection
- Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired from the above, 1978)
- Acquired from the above by the late owner, 1979
Estimate: US20,000,000 – 30,000,000
Hammer Price: US$31,000,000
Sold: US$35,855,000
Van Gogh's Meules de ble painting was the sale's fifth most expensive lot.
Four bidders competed for Van Gogh's Meules de ble painting. In the end, the hammer was dropped at US$31 million dollars – US$11 million dollars more than its low estimate. It was sold at US$35.8 million dollars with buyer's premium to Hugo Nathan. He also bought the sale's most expensive lot – van Gogh's masterpiece, Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers et cypres.
Picturing three towering wheat stacks that dwarf the neighbouring women, this work depicts Arles in the throes of the harvest. Van Gogh used a myriad lines and dashes, strokes and pools of colour to convey the atmosphere of this mid-summer day. Created in 1888, this painting was produced during van Gogh's penultimate years before his death in 1890.
Auction Summary:
Auction House: Christie's New York
Sale: The Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism Evening Sale
Date: 11 November 2021
Number of lots: 23
Sale Rate: 100%
Sale Total: US$332,031,500