The painting “The Survivors” by Russian marine artist Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky set a new auction record at Sotheby’s . The painting sold for 4.188 million pounds. This is the highest amount ever paid for the artist’s work.
“The Survivors” is one of the artist’s largest canvases to appear on the market. Dated 1878, the painting was last offered at Sotheby’s in April 2004, becoming the largest canvas by the artist in the history of Russian auctions.
A private collector exhibited the painting. Interestingly, it sold in New York in 2004 for just 745 000 dollars. Its value has now increased almost six fold.
In the painting, the artist depicts a moment of hope for survival, when rescue is at hand. A sailor on the bow of the lifeboat has just spotted something in the distance and points to it.
“Aivazovsky, a leading exponent of European Romanticism, was particularly drawn to storms and shipwrecks. These subjects allowed him to juxtapose the beauty and power of nature with human vulnerability,” Sotheby’s noted.
Ivan Aivazovsky is one of the most famous Russian artists. Born in Feodosia, he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts, traveled throughout Europe, and later became the chief artist of the Russian Navy. During his lifetime, he created over 6000 works and opened his own gallery in Feodosia. At auction, his paintings can fetch prices ranging from 33 dollars to 5.3 million dollars, depending on their size and material.
Kursiv LifeStyle previously reported that a rare copy of Superman No. 1 (1939) sold for over 9 million dollars, setting a new world record. Three brothers while clearing out their mother’s attic in San Francisco discovered the comic.
