A Finnish village. Roofs by Vasilii Shukhaev
Finnish Village sold at Christie’s
Published 10 June, 2009, 11:23
Nowadays it is becoming more and more prestigious to own a painting by a Russian artist. As one of the oldest auction houses in the world, Christie’s has held Russian sales for several decades.
It holds world records for many Russian artists, including Ivan Aivazovsky and Vasily Polenov as well as much sought-after Fabergé pieces.
Over a hundred paintings and objects of art went under the hammer at the recent sale in London, gathering $6.5 million dollars.
“A Finnish Village. Roofs” by Vasily Shukhaev was sold for a record $1,116,414. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian artist and his wife settled in the tiny Finnish village of Mustamyaki where Shukhaev created a series of escapist paintings.
Ivan Aivazovsky’s “The Survivor”, inspired by the artist’s transatlantic voyage he took in 1892, fetched twice as much as expected – $680,000.
Vasily Polenov’s “The Herzegovinian on lookout” was painted in 1876 at the artist’s studio in Paris. Polenov asked 600 roubles for his masterpiece. At Christie’s auction in London it was sold for $331,000.
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