Works from the Brooklyn Museum

Property from the Brooklyn Museum, Sold to Support Museum Collections

Sotheby's is pleased to announce that we will auction a selection of important works on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum across a series of sales from autumn 2020 to spring 2021.

T he Brooklyn Museum's proceeds from Sotheby's sales will be used to establish a Collection Care Fund to support caring for the institution's world class collections. Creating a direct care fund will help offset the vastly growing expenses of collection care and stabilize collection care efforts in times of economic downturn. The Brooklyn Museum’s full direct care policy can be found at its website.

Sotheby's will auction works on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum across collecting categories throughout the autumn and winter of 2020 and spring 2021. Further details will be available in advance of each auction.

Sale Calendar

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, New York, 28 October 2020
Contemporary Art Day Auction, New York, 17 November 2020
Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale, New York, 19 November 2020
Fabergé & Vertu: Property from the Brooklyn Museum, Sold to Support Museum Collections, London, 2 December 2020
Impressionist, Modern & Contemporary Art | An Evening Sale, New York, 8 December 2020
Art Contemporain Evening Sale, Paris, 16 December 2020
Imperial Cloisonné & Jade: Chinese Art from The Brooklyn Museum
New York, 17 March 2021


Imperial Cloisonné & Jade: Chinese Art from The Brooklyn Museum

Leading the Sotheby’s Asia Week sale series in March is a remarkable selection of Imperial jades and cloisonné enamels produced during the Ming and Qing dynasties from the Brooklyn Museum, sold to support museum collections. This distinguished group of works include an Imperial Qianlong period white and russet jade brushpot from the Woodward Collection and a group of cloisonné enamels from the world-renowned Samuel P. Avery, Jr. Collection, led by an exceptionally rare ‘bats and clouds’ cloisonné enamel vase.

本季蘇富比春季亞洲藝術週拍賣將由紐約布魯克林博物館館藏專場領銜呈獻,多件明清宮廷玉器及銅胎掐絲琺瑯重品齊聚一堂,拍賣之所得將作為支持其館藏之用。精選拍品包括一件Robert B. Woodward舊藏白玉雕山水人物圖五足筆筒,另有著名收藏大家Samuel P. Avery, Jr.舊藏之銅胎掐絲琺瑯珍器一組,亮點包括一件清乾隆銅胎掐絲琺瑯雲蝠紋雙耳瓶。

Impressionist, Modern & Contemporary Art | An Evening Sale, New York, 8 December 2020

Building on the success of the October Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, Sotheby's is pleased to offer Claude Monet's Vernon, soleil, painted in 1894, to be sold on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum.

Reflecting on his first paintings of Vernon in the summer of 1894, Monet explained: "I discovered the curious silhouette of a church, and I undertook to paint it. It was the beginning of summer… foggy fresh mornings were followed by sudden outbursts of sunshine whose hot rays could only slowly dissolve the mist surrounding every crevice of the edifice and covering the golden stones with an ideally vaporous envelope" (quoted in P. H. Tucker, Claude Monet. Life and Art, 1995, New Haven & London, p. 153). His poetic evocation of the temporal conditions that so inspired his work aptly suits the subsequent beauty of the atmospheric effects achieved in Vernon, soleil.

The present work has been on loan to the Brooklyn Museum since 1908, entering the museum’s permanent collection in 1922 where it has remained until today. Exhibited around the world since the year after it was painted, Vernon, soleil only now makes its first appearance at auction.

Fabergé & Vertu: Property from the Brooklyn Museum, Sold to Support Museum Collections

Contemporary Art Evening Auction, New York, 28 October 2020

Works offered on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum were 100% sold, totaling $12.6 million. Following a 10-minute bidding battle, the selection was led by a highly important and unique Dining Table by Carlo Mollino that soared to $6.2 million - more than double its $3 million high estimate, setting a world auction record for the artist and record for any work of Italian design. Two works by Jean Dubuffet executed at the height of the artist’s career together achieved $6.5 million; Le Messager, one of the most accomplished personnages from the artist’s esteemed Paris Circus series, sold for $3.3 million and Rue Tournique Bourlique from 1963 realized $3.2 million.

More from Sotheby's

Stay informed with Sotheby’s top stories, videos, events & news.

Receive the best from Sotheby’s delivered to your inbox.

By subscribing you are agreeing to Sotheby’s Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe from Sotheby’s emails at any time by clicking the “Manage your Subscriptions” link in any of your emails.

arrow Created with Sketch. Back To Top