Lucien Freud

Abramovich Buys $400 Million Private Island in Russia

Filed under: Art, Wealth

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is splashing out around $400 million to buy a private island in the heart of historic Saint Petersburg with plans to build an art museum there housing his incredible collection, the London Daily Telegraph reports. Abramovich, one of the richest men in the world, has quietly established himself as the world's leading collector of modern and contemporary art thanks to the influence of his beautiful young girlfriend Dasha Zhukova, the paper notes. New Holland island, which he has just acquired, is a crumbling 300-year-old former military base which belonged to the Russian admiralty. Abramovich plans to transform the 18th century warehouses into a cultural and commercial center in Russia's old imperial capital, including space for his amazing art collection, starring the record-breaking $86.3 million Francis Bacon triptych he bought in 2008, monumental works by Lucien Freud, Pablo Picasso and more.

Tags: art, contemporary art, Dasha Zhukova, Francis Bacon, island, Lucien Freud, museum, private museum, Roman Abramovich, Russian billionaire, St. Petersburg

Jerry Hall's Paintings Sell Above Estimate

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Artwork owned by the model Jerry Hall brought in a total of £2,489,775 ($3,988,619) at Sotheby's in London this weekend far above a pre-sale estimate of £1.5 million. Hall was selling 14 works, by artists including Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Frank Auerbach, Lucien Freud and Francisco Clemente. Hall told the press that the sale was about letting go of the past. Freud's nude portrait of Hall eight months pregnant, sold for £601,250, twice its estimate. Warhol's Dollar Sign given to Hall as a thank you for her work with his television project brought £217,250. Hall's 1965 Frank Auerbach canvas, Head of Helen Gillespie IV sold for £1.1 million pounds.

Tags: andy warhol, art, jerry hall, lucien freud, sothebys

Roman Abramovich, Last Week's Big Art Spender

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

It seems that whenever a question of big spending comes up all around the world, one name is always bandied about. Mukesh Ambani may be the world's richest man but it's Roman Abramovich who does the most spending. And he was at it again last week busy at both Sotheby's and Christie's. The Art Newspaper reports that the Russian billionaire bought both Francis Bacon's Triptych, 1976, which sold at Sotheby's New York for $86.3 million and Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, 1995, which sold at Christie's for $33.6 million. Why the interest in art from a man who is more famous for his real estate and his huge yachts? Apparently he's looking to furnish his London home. and his girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova, is also an art lover who is planning to is to open a new gallery in Moscow specializing in contemporary art.

[Thanks, Lana]

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Tags: art, contemporary, expire-images2009-5-19, francis bacon, lucien freud, roman abramovich, RomanAbramovich