One of Marcel Duchamp’s reproductions of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa , on to which he pencilled a beard and moustache, has sold for 632,500 euros ($7,50,000) at Sotheby’s in Paris.
It was part of the sale of a collection of surrealist works owned by American Arthur Brandt, with 110 pieces fetching 3.9 million euros, including commission.
However, some stand-out pieces, including a work by Francis Picabia, which was estimated at 7,00,000 euros, did not find a buyer.
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Duchamp’s version of the
The version that sold late on Saturday was created in 1964 after the original 1919 so-called “ready made” piece. The other Duchamp pieces on offer at the auction included Boite-en-valise or ‘Box in a Suitcase’, which beat its pre-sale estimate of 1,80,000 to 2,50,000 euros, selling for 3,19,500 euros.
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Portable museum
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The work is a portable museum featuring 68 of the artist’s most famous works, reproduced or miniaturised. Seven distinct versions were made in limited edition between 1941 and 1966.
A painting by Swiss artist Kurt Seligmann called Buste d’homme , estimated at 60,000 to 80,000 euros, was sold for 1,81,250 euros.