The Wharton Club of London sponsored an evening viewing of a collection of art that is soon be auctioned off by Christie's, the world-famous auction house. The collection included numerous Degas sculptures, and paintings by Picasso, Monet, and Renoir. Most intriguing to me was the large collection of Picasso pottery -- I never knew he did pottery. The Renoir painting in the auction is expected to sell for $18 - $25 million, and it is spectacular.
Two impressions (pun intended) that I came away with:
1. Most of these works are coming from private collections, and will probably be sold to private collections, so this preview may have been the only opportunity in decades to see them displayed to the public. The curator referred to the Renoir as 'the kind of painting that changes hands once every 50 years.'
2. I asked the curator about how many works of major artists are in private collections, vs. how many are in museums. By her estimate, only 30% of Renoir's known works are in museums, and 70% are in private hands.
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