Mondrian Painting Goes Under The Hammer For Record-Breaking $51M
This week, Sotheby’s broke a record for the amount sold for a Piet Mondrian painting, which raked in a cool US$51 million.
According to the BBC, Composition No. II (1930) was last sold in 1983. It fetched only US$2.15 million then, equivalent to US$6.4 million today.
The buyer was an anonymous collector from Asia who secured the piece as it went on sale in New York. Bidding began at US$38 million before swiftly soaring to US$51 million.
Mondrian was most known for his abstract and geometric style of art. As stated by the BBC, his work was heavily influenced by paintings of Pablo Picasso and George Braque after he moved to Paris in 1911.
Sotheby’s notes that the red square in the middle of Composition No. II is a rare addition to Mondrian’s 120-piece body of work. Out of that, only 17 oil paintings host this shade of crimson red.
Mondrian’s art style evolved after World War II when he relocated from Paris to England and then to New York. During those years, his pieces lost their signature bold black lines.
Still, he has been credited with changing the landscape of the art community, architecture and fashion.
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