Rare Piet Mondrian Painting Could Sell For More Than $50 Million

Topline

A painting from one of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian’s most famous eras is expected to sell for more than $50 million at Sotheby’s in November, the auction house says, more than twenty times higher than the last time the painting sold at auction nearly 40 years ago.

Key Facts

Mondrian painted “Composition No. II” in 1930, when he was living in Paris and refined his grid-based abstract art with black lines and primary colors, which he may be best remembered for.

The painting comes from a well-known series of square-format canvases Mondrian completed during this time period, the majority of which are held in museum collections and rarely come to the private market.

“Composition II” stands a chance at breaking the artist’s record at auction, with the current most expensive Mondrian painting ever sold being “Composition No III, with Red, Blue, Yellow and Black,” which fetched $50.6 million in 2015.

The painting last appeared at auction in 1983, when it sold for $2.1 million to a private Japanese collector in a sale that at the time was the most valuable Mondrian artwork and most expensive piece of abstract art ever sold at auction (after accounting for inflation, the $2.1 million would be worth about $6.4 million in 2022 dollars).

Tangent

Sotheby’s Head of Impressionist & Modern Art in New York Julian Dawes told Forbes the last time “Composition II” went to auction, the art market as a whole was “vastly different and far less global and competitive” than it is today. Along with the increase in size and value of the overall market since 1983, Mondrian’s work in particular has also seen a “tremendous” increase in value, Dawes said. Since the auction nearly 40 years ago, Dawes said Mondrian’s reputation has only been further cemented as one of the cornerstones of European Modernism to be known as an artist “who fundamentally altered and forever expanded our perceptions of art.”

Big Number

$65.1 billion. That’s the art market’s total sales in 2021, according to an estimate from Art Basel and UBS. That figure marks a 29% jump over the previous year, when the Covid-19 pandemic caused a slump in the market. Last year’s total surpassed even the estimated $64.1 billion in sales reached in 2019, marking a post-pandemic rebound.

Key Background

The potentially record-breaking Mondrian sale comes as art continues to fetch skyrocketing prices at auction. High-end art prices have surged over the past few decades, partially because of inflation, and because wealthy buyers view artwork as an investment that can hold value more consistently than other assets since its return is largely independent from other market conditions or major asset classes. Over the past year, art auctions have continued to break records, like the collection of artwork amassed by real estate tycoon Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda that sold for a total of $922.2 million at Sotheby’s, the most valuable collection ever sold at auction. The record may be broken again this year when late billionaire Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen’s collection goes to auction at Christie’s, where it’s estimated to sell in excess of $1 billion.

Further Reading

Real Estate Mogul Harry Macklowe And Ex-Wife Linda’s Art Collection Fetches Record-Breaking $922.2 Million (Forbes)

Why Larry Gagosian Bought Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe Portrait For A Record $195 Million (Forbes)

Billion-Dollar Art Collection Of Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen Going On Sale—It Could Be The Biggest Art Auction Ever (Forbes)