Parmagianino - Bow-Carving Armor, 1535

Bow-Carving Armor, 1535 (detail)

 

Parmagianino or Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, also known as Francesco Mazzola or Parmigianino or sometimes "Parmigiano", was a prominent Italian Mannerist painter active in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and his native city of Parma

Parmigianino was a prominent Italian Mannerist Painter - Lucretia 1540

Parmigianino, Lucretia - 1540

 

Parmigianino, Lucretia  (detail)

 

Parmagianino or Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, also known as Francesco Mazzola or Parmigianino or sometimes "Parmigiano", was a prominent Italian Mannerist painter active in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and his native city of Parma

 

 

Georgia O'Keeffe Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 sold for $44.4 million at Sotheby's, far above the estimated $10–15 million estimate.

Georgia O'Keeffe Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 sold for $44.4 million at Sotheby's, far above the estimated $10–15 million estimate.
Photo: courtesy Sotheby's.

 

The Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, is responsible for last year's record-breaking Georgia O'Keeffe sale, as well as a major Jasper Johns purchase, reports Lee Rosenbaum on CultureGrrl. Clearly, the Qataris aren't the only people attempting to keep news of their big-ticket art purchases on the down low (see  Paul Gauguin Painting Sells for Record $300 Million to Qatar Museums in Private Sale and Does Qatar's $300 Million Paul Gauguin Acquisition Hide a Dark Secret?.

O'Keeffe's  Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 sold for $44 million at the Sotheby's Evening Contemporary sale in November. This set the record both for the artist and for a work by a female artist (see  O'Keeffe Painting Sells for $44 Million at Sotheby's, Sets Record for Work by Female Artist, topping  Joan Mitchell's Untitled, which sold for $11.9 million at Christie's New York this past May. The work nearly tripled its $15 million high estimate. Crystal Bridges also reportedly picked up Johns's Flag (1983) at the same auction for $36 million.

Founded and primarily funded by Alice Walton, the Crystal Bridges museum opened in late 2011 after a flurry of major, high-priced American art purchases by the Walmart heiress. Many of these acquisitions remained a secret until the museum's public unveiling, a lack of transparency that upset many in the art world.

Although the museum's collecting has slowed of late, the purported O'Keeffe and Johns sales demonstrate a renewed commitment to acquisitions, and a return to secretive practices. Rosenbaum is critical of the museum's decision not to announce the purchase of either painting, arguing that it "demonstrates a misunderstanding of the responsibility of museums to make information about the works in their collections (not to mention the objects themselves) available to the public."

The sale cemented O'Keeffe's place at the top of the marketplace for female artists and landed her among the year's most impressive auctions (see Who Are the Most Expensive Women Artists at Auction? and The 10 Most Expensive Auction Trophies of 2014.

 

Bal au Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir #art for art lovers

 

Bal au Moulin de la Galette (1876) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Sold at Auction in 1990, for $78.1 million. This Renoir masterpiece, the most expensive example of Impressionism ever sold, portrays a Sunday afternoon dance in a Montmartre dance garden. It is one of the most best-known Impressionist paintings, and highlights the artist's unique skill in capturing dappled light, which infuses the whole work with a soft-focus quality. Own a fine art Masterpiece without paying the million dollar price. #paintingstogo.com Trusted expert of inspired hand painted oil canvas reproductions.

Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) by Paul Gauguin was reportedly sold for a record $300 million.

Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) a 1892 oil on canvas by French artist Paul Gauguin was reportedly sold for a record $300 million.

The oil-on-canvas was produced in 1892 during Gauguin's first visit to French Polynesia. It features a pair of Tahitian girls seated next to a tree.

A work by French painter Paul Gauguin, who died penniless in 1903, has reportedly smashed the record books as the most expensive ever sold. The piece, Nafea Faa Ipoipo (Will You Marry Me?) is believed to have fetched $300 million. It is believed to have been purchased by the state-financed Qatar Museums and to have topped the previous record, also set by Qatar, which reportedly bought Cezanne's The Card Players in 2011 for $259 million. #art oil canvas reproductions, own priceless art without the million dollar price.

Le Bassin aux Nynpheas by Claude Monet - #Art Own a Masterpiece without the million dollar price.

Le Bassin aux Nynpheas by Claude Monet - One of the great Impressionistic landscape paintings by one of the world's best landscape artists this painting is an outstanding large-scale example of Claude Monet's Water lilies series. Influenced by Japonism, it features the famous Japanese bridge in Monet's water garden at Giverny, demonstrating his fascination with plein-air painting and his pursuit of pure Impressionism. One of the Worlds Most Expensive Paintings ($80.5m) (2008) #Art Own a Masterpiece without the million dollar price 

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci #PaintingsToGo.com Custom Created Reproductions

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Reputedly the most valuable painting in the world. Best paintings in general, most of the world's best #art resides in famous churches, museums, or galleries. This certainly applies to works by Old Masters like Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, Rembrandt and Vermeer, few of which are in private hands, and most of which are priceless. Estimates of the value of the Mona Lisa, vary from $700 million to $1 billion. #art oil painting reproductions Let PaintingsToGo.com bring the love of art into your life.

Rembrandt - The Man with the Golden Helmet - 1650, #PaintingsToGo®

 

 

The Man with the Golden Helmet - 1650

Claude Monet - Grand Canal - Impressionist Art is Enjoying Renewed Interest #art makes a timeless gift.

Claude Monet - Grand Canal #art makes a timeless gift. Impressionist art is enjoying renewed interest. Throughout history art has been described in as many ways as it has genres: harmony, life distilled, thought expressed through form, a habit-forming drug, and even revolt and even a revolt against extinction. And to be sure art has had a deserved and important place throughout human history. #PaintingsToGo®