Rodin

A Look Inside The World's Richest Man's New Museum

Filed under: Art, Wealth

Last fall we saw video renderings of the plans for the new Soumaya museum planned by Mexico's richest man Carlos Slim. The new branch of the museum named for his late wife is the the second one that he has created. The six-story museum was designed by his son-in-law Fernando Romero. The modern and shiny aluminum structure is composed of over 16,000 tiles. The building has five stories of exhibition space totaling 183,000 square feet with six halls. The AP shot some photos as the museum prepared for its inauguration on March 1 by Mexico's President Felipe Calderon.

Tags: auguste rodin, carlos slim, dali, mexico city, mexico city museum, rodin, salvador dali, soumaya museum

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Carlos Slim's Museum To House Huge Rodin Collection

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The world's richest man, Mexico's Carlos Slim, has had a busy summer. Not only did he pick up the Duke-Semans Mansion in New York for a $44 million, but he's been hard at work on another project, the new branch of his Soumaya museum. The museum in Mexico City is the second one that the has created. The six-story museum, named for his late wife, was designed by son-in-law Fernando Romero. The modern and shiny aluminum structure will contain his treasure trove of artwork by French sculptor Auguste Rodin, the biggest collection outside of France. The new museum will open on November 30 as part of the Mexican bicentennial celebrations and admission will be free.

The building will have five stories of exhibition space totaling 183,000 square feet. A piece by Rufino Tamayo, one of Mexico's best known painters, will grace in the lobby. The Latin American Herald Tribune says that Slim is investing $1.4 billion in Plaza Carso, a complex that will also be home to movie theaters, housing and retail space. Slim has an art collection of 66,000 pieces, a number that makes Eli Broad's 2,000-piece collection seem almost modest my comparison. Check out a couple of video renderings of the project after the jump.

Tags: Auguste Rodin, Carlos Slim, Carlos Slim Helu, mexico city, rodin, soumaya museum

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May Art Sales to Bring Records and Liquidity

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The Impressionist and Modern Art sales on May 4 and 5, 2010 are likely to confirm a continued climb in art auction pricing. We're now six months or so into the badly needed upswing, and there's plenty of room for optimism. Not only are the presale estimates and sales on the way up, but the number of pieces being resold quickly is on the rise, as well. This means that there's a high degree of liquidity in the art market: collectors can sell easily and without worry (as long as the inventory doesn't suck, in which case there's no hope, of course).

The increase in art market liquidity is due in part to the return of guaranteed minimum pricing, in which the auction houses assume some sales risk for attractive or desirable pieces that they feel can beat the numbers and attract buyers and sellers of other strong works. According to ArtPrice, there are "tens of millions of dollars for major works" committed via guaranteed minimum pricing, indicating that confidence is up.

It's the price guarantees that have led to the arrival of some strong pieces at the early may auctions this year, including pieces from the collections of Mrs Sidney Francis Brody, Raymond and Miriam Klein, Bernard Goldberg and Michael Crichton. Brody's works alone could fetch up to $150 million. The high estimate for Christie's is $300 million, a target that doesn't include the top lot, "Nude, Green Leaves" by Pablo Picasso, which as Jared Paul Stern revealed in a recent column is expected to bring in as much as $90 million. Other artists with eight-figure estimates include Henri Matisse, and Alberto Giacometti.

Don't just look for good news – also a expect a few records to b set. Sotheby's has high hopes for pieces by Salvador Dali and Auguste Rodin.

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Tags: alberto giacometti, art auction, art auctions, art market, artist, Artists, auction, auction houses, auction-house, auctions, Christie, Christies, ChristiesAuction, ChristiesAuctionHouse, contemporary, contemporary art, giacometti, Henri Matisse, impressionist, impressionists, michael crichton, modern art, Pablo Picasso, picasso, rodin, Salvador Dali, Sotheby, sothebys

The Thinker Sells For Record Price

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The Thinker is one of the most recognizable sculptures in the world. It even has a role in the film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Last week one of the Thinker sculptures by French master Auguste Rodin was sold at auction for more than 3 million euros ($4.2 million) in Paris at auctioneers Drouot. This Thinker, which is just 28.5 inches high, set a record for any of the Thinkers. This statue is part of a series of 21 sculptures made by Rodin. It was originally meant to be part of Rodin's Gates of Hell inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. Rodin made a first small plaster version around 1880 and the first large scale bronze was presented to the public in 1904. This particular Thinker was purchased by Emile Chouanard in 1917, the same year it was cast. Another Rodin statue owned by Chouanard, "Little Eve" also sold for a record price of over 2.4 million euros at the auction.

[via Reuters]

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Tags: art, rodin, sculpture, the thinker, TheThinker