Artist Paul Cezanne whose masterpiece, the ‘Card Player’ painting managed to fetch nearly $20 million, had recently one of his other works, Les Pommes fetch $41.6 million at the Spring sale by Sotheby’s. The master impressionist painter has depicted a few apples put together in this famous painting, which was earlier estimated to bring in between $25 million and $35 million. The auction took place in New York, where Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale event was undertaken by Sotheby’s, whereby other masterpieces such as the Modilgliani portrait also fetched top dollar with a $26 million winning bid. However, Cezanne’s work was known to command the highest bid at this event.

Les Pommes by Paul Cezanne was known to have been made during 1888-90

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One of the Hollywood’s best known faces, Leonardo DiCaprio is not just a star known for leading a fancy lifestyle. The man apart from the magic he puts on the silver screen, is known to have a generous side to himself, especially when it comes to causes related to nature. He has been associated with the ‘11th Hour’ cause made its own documentary to educate people about the hazards of environmental degradation. Now, the star is putting up around 33 of the most cherished artworks on the auction block, so that he raise funds for the cause. Christie’s will be working with Leonardo on the auction sale in May this year, which they say will raise around $15 million from this charity auction. Many artists have actually pitched in by sending art pieces to be sold at the event, and raise as much money as possible. Though there is a whole plethora of known names in the auction, some of the most noted works are listed here.

Leonardo DiCaprio has put forward this auction to raise money for his charity called The 11th Hour to raise awareness for the environment

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A closer look at the trends in the art collection auctions of this year, and there seems to be a distinct presence of Islamic art changing hands across the globe. After the recent Islamic gold coin auction by Morton & Eden, a giant Crystal painting by Farhad Moshiri bought in $987,750 at an auction in Dubai headed by Christie’s. The pre-sale estimate was around $500,000, which makes a final sale price an increment of 97.6% on the initial calculations. With the aggressive bidding process, and the renewed interest in buying collectible works of art, Dubai is fast becoming a long term sustainable market, where coveted art pieces are exchanging hands, and the trend is on the up swing, as per Michael Jeha, the head of Christie’s in the Middle East. However, the ‘Secret Garden’ crystal covered painting, is another feather in the cap of artist Farhad Moshiri who became the first Middle-Eastern artist to sell a piece of artwork for more than $1 million in 2008.

Secret Garden painting by Farhad Moshiri features extensive use of crystals and glitter paint for a fantasy scenery

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One of the greatest painters of all time, Francis Bacon known for his extensive work depicting his subjects in grothesque ways, will have one of his iconic works ‘Study for a portrait of P.L.’, go under the hammer at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening auction on May 14 this year. The painting measuring, 78in x 57in, is known to be a representation of Bacon’s lover and muse, Peter Lacy who is known to have the most profound effect on his life and his works. With the later’s death due to alcohol related complications, Francis Bacon himself took to drinking, and then created this piece of work as a tribute to his former partner, which experts say could fetch around $40 million. His earlier works include the 1961 Crouching nude, the Vulture painting, the Bullfight, and Triptych which have all been picked up at record prices during their auction events.

Francis Bacon’s Study for a Portrait of PL as a tribute to his lover, Peter Lacy

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Chinese Imperial art pieces seem to be the hottest selling items on the auction block these days. After a recent auction saw a rare Chinese bowl found at a garage sale, sell for $2.25 million, another Qing Dynasty red bowl has been sold for $9.5 million. This event, conducted by Sotheby’s saw the rare Chinese bowl sell for the mentioned amount, just after 11 bids by a known figure of the art collection scene, William Chak. He had bid on behalf of a group of investors, who were interested in the art piece, known to date back to the times of the Qing Dynasty, most likely the late 1710’s. Nicolas Chow, who is Sotheby’s ceramics expert, had commented that the bowl was in near perfect condition, and was one of the earliest pieces of Imperial art in the country, which used techniques mastered in the west.

Qing Dynasty Chinese bowl

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Billionaire casino owner Steve Wynn has sold one of the gems of his art collection, Pablo Picasso’s ‘Le Reve’, for a sum of $155 million, to fellow billionaire and Hedge Fund Manager, Steven A. Cohen (pictured above). The 1932 oil painting by the Spanish Cubism master painter, was earlier set up for auction in 2006, when Steve Wynn accidentally put his elbow through the painting. Steve Cohen, however never gave up on the deal, and after the extensive restoration work has managed to shell out the princely amount for the rare work of art. This transaction makes it the highest price paid by an American for a work of art, where as the most expensive painting record is set by the ‘Card Players’ by Cazanne which was sold to a royal family member of Qatar for $250 million.

Steve Cohen and Le Reve Painting

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Chinese art is back to making it big at the auction events. We had seen how record prices were realized at the Chinese Art Auctions in 2012 and the Bonhams Asian Art Auction in San Francisco, apart from the rare Li Keran painting sale for $46 million at the Beijing Poly Springs auctions, and a Chinese coin fetching $1 million at the World Coin Auction. Now a rare Song dynasty bowl, which was found in a garage sale, estimated to bring in between $200,000 to $300,000 managed to get 10 times that price, finally billing $2.22 million at an auction in New York. What is now being said about the bowl, is that it perhaps last changed hands in 2007 for around a measly $3, as the family never really new its actual worth. It was only that the latest owners consulted the experts at Sotheby’s, who then put the vessel up for auction.

1000 year old Song Dynasty bowl

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More than 100 years have gone past, but the ship still evokes a sense of ailing nostalgia for the tragedy it met with in 1912. Despite being the largest and the strongest passenger ship of its time, it met with a tragic end to its journey after clashing with an iceberg near the polar region. 1,500 people died and many more families suffered the losses from the tragedy, but the tragic incident still manages to get a lot of attention as something historic, as shown in the most expensive Titanic memorabilia to go on auction. Recently Australian billionaire Clive Palmer unveiled his plan for Titanic II, to set sail by 2016. From the depths of the ocean, the latest discovery from the ill fated ship, which we know will gather considerable interest, is a violin played by Wallace Hartley, the leader of the band playing on the Titanic. Auctioneers Henry Alridge & Sons, who will be undertaking the auction, have also testified that the instrument is authentic and pegs the estimated value at $604,560 (£400,000).

Wallace Hartley’s violin on the Titanic

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Renowned for being America’s third richest and one of the most flamboyant and outspoken businessman of the century who stands out with his tailor made Italian suits and shirts, the Oracle CEO and multi-billionaire Larry Ellison who’s recently in news for buying Island Air shortly after buying the vast majority of the island of Lanai for $500 million, is now all set to exhibit his exceptionally-rare and coveted Japanese art and artifacts collection at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. Dubbed as one of America’s most voracious consumers of trophy real-estate, the software mogul and yacht-race king who has been bullish on Malibu’s Carbon Beach will display near about 80 ancient and breathtaking examples of Japanese art which spans over whopping 1,300 years of history. Notably, this eclectic art work collection was actually collected by Ellison to decorate one of his heavily Japanese-influenced homes in Woodside, California.

Larry Ellison Will Exhibit his Rarely-Seen Japanese Art Collection at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

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Renowned for being America’s third richest and one of the most flamboyant and outspoken businessman of the century who stands out with his tailor made Italian suits and shirts, the Oracle CEO and multi-billionaire Larry Ellison who’s recently in news for buying Island Air shortly after buying the vast majority of the island of Lanai for $500 million, is now all set to exhibit his exceptionally-rare and coveted Japanese art and artifacts collection at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. Dubbed as one of America’s most voracious consumers of trophy real-estate, the software mogul and yacht-race king who has been bullish on Malibu’s Carbon Beach will display near about 80 ancient and breathtaking examples of Japanese art which spans over whopping 1,300 years of history. Notably, this eclectic art work collection was actually collected by Ellison to decorate one of his heavily Japanese-influenced homes in Woodside, California.

Larry Ellison Will Exhibit his Rarely-Seen Japanese Art Collection at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

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