Blaquier-Arrieta Collection 

 

반 고흐 '꽃핀 밤나무' 예상가 1억8천만불, 폴 세잔 '할리퀸' 1억2천만불

르누아르, 피사로, 모네, 시슬리...뉴욕 소더비서 전시(11/7-17), 경매(11/18) 

 

VINCENT VAN GOGH, Châtaigniers en fleurs, 1890, Oil on canvas, 28 by 23 ¼ in. (from left), PAUL CÉZANNE, Arlequin, 1888–90, Oil on canvas, 36 ½ by 25 ⅞ in., PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR, En Canot (Jeune fille à la barque), 1877, Oil on canvas, 29 by 36 ⅝ in.

 

 

소더비(Sotheby's)가 11월 18일 뉴욕에서 전설적인 '블라키에-아리에타 컬렉션(Blaquier-Arrieta Collection)' 12점을 경매에 부친다. 이 컬렉션은 경매 역사상 유례를 찾기 힘든 인상파 및 근대 미술 걸작들로 구성되어 있으며, 총 낙찰가가 약 4억 5천만 달러에 달할 것으로 추정된다. 

 

빈센트 반 고흐의 '꽃 핀 밤나무(Châtaigniers en fleurs, 1890)'(예상가 약 1억 8천만 달러)와 폴 세잔의 '할리퀸(Arlequin, 1888-1890)'(예상가 약 1억 2천만 달러)는 이날 경매 사상 작가 최고 기록을 수립할 것으로 기대되고 있다. 

 

사이먼 쇼(Simon Shaw) 소더비 인상파 및 근대미술부 수석 고문은 이 컬렉션에 대해 "마치 작은 박물관, 즉 '미니어처 오르세 미술관'이 처음으로 문을 여는 듯한 느낌을 준다"고 말했다. 헬레나 뉴먼(Helena Newman) 소더비 유럽 회장 겸 전 세계 인상파 및 근대미술부문 회장은 "이 컬렉션은 그 황금기의 순간을 담은 타임캡슐과도 같다"고 밝혔다. 

 

'꽃 핀 밤나무'는 1890년 5월, 반 고흐가 생레미(Saint-Rémy)의 정신병원에서 퇴원 후 생애 마지막 두달을 보냈던 오베르쉬르우아즈(Auvers-sur-Oise)에 도착한지 며칠 지나지 않아 그린 작품이다. 물감을 두껍게 칠하는 기법인 임파스토에 강렬한 색채가 압권이다. 

 

'할리퀸(Arlequin)'은 폴 세잔이 남긴 15점의 후기 인물화 연작 중 미술관이 소장하지 않은 단 두점 중 하나다. '할리퀸' 연작 4점은 그의 아들 폴(Paul)이 처음으로 모델로 나선 작품들이기도 하다. 이번 경매에 나온 그림은 지난 반세기 동안 대중에게 공개되지 않았고, 도록을 통해서만 볼 수 었다. 

 

이외에도 오귀스트 르누아르가 1877년 여름에 그린 '보트 놀이(배 위의 소녀)(En Canot (Jeune fille à la barque/ 추정가 2,500만-3,500만 달러), 카미유 피사로가 그린 웅장한 파리 거리 풍경화 '테아트르 프랑세즈 광장과 오페라 거리, 겨울 오후의 햇살(La Place du Théâtre-Français et l’avenue de l’Opéra, soleil d’après-midi en hiver/ 추정가 3,000만-4,000만 달러), 그리고 에드가 드가의 파스텔화 '경주 전'(Avant la course, 추정가 2,000만-3,000만 달러), 그리고 클로드 모네의 '튈르리 정원'(Le Jardin des Tuileries)과 알프레드 시슬레의 '포트 마를리의 센 강'(La Seine à Port-Marly) 등 초기 인상파 풍경화 두 점을 비롯, 고갱이 타히티에서의 말년에 그린 희귀한 정물화, 매혹적인 툴루즈 로트렉의 초상화, 카미유 피사로의 또 다른 작품, 그리고 선구적인 야수파 회화 두점이 나온다. 

 

블라키에르-아리에타 컬렉션(Blaquier-Arrieta Collection)은 아르헨티나의 부호이자 아트 콜렉터 넬리 아리에타 드 블라키에르(Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, 2020년 작고)와 그녀의 남편 카를로스 페드로 블라키에르(Carlos Pedro Blaquier, 2023년 작고) 부부가 수십 년에 걸쳐 수집한 세계 최고 수준의 인상주의 및 후기 인상주의 미술품 컬렉션이다. 

 

넬리 아리에타는 아르헨티나의 거대 설탕·농업 기업인 '레데스마(Ledesma)'의 유일한 상속녀였으며, 오랜 기간 아르헨티나 국립미술관 친구들의 모임 의장을 맡아 예술계를 전폭적으로 지원했다. 남편 카를로스는 이 기업의 회장을 지낸 거물 기업인이었다. 빈센트 반 고흐, 폴 세잔, 에드가 드가, 카미유 피사로, 클로드 모네, 피에르 오귀스트 르누아르 등 거장들의 마스터피스 12점으로 구성되어 있다. 대부분의 작품이 부부의 부에노스아이레스 저택에 보관되어 약 50년 동안 대중에게 전혀 공개되지 않아 미술계에서는 '신화적인 컬렉션'으로 통했다. 

 

 

 

TWELVE IMPRESSIONIST & POST-IMPRESSIONIST MASTERPIECES 

LARGELY UNSEEN FOR OVER HALF A CENTURY & TOGETHER ESTIMATED TO REALISE IN THE REGION OF $450M 

 

Led by An Exceptionally Rare Van Gogh From his Climactic Final Months in Auvers-sur-Oise Estimated in the Region of $180m

& 

Paul Cézanne’s Arlequin, Estimated in the region of $120m Among “the most magnificent [and] enigmatic [paintings] in his entire oeuvre”

 

Both Poised to Set New Auction Records for the Artists

 

Together with Ten Exceptional Paintings by

Camille Pissarro | Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Edgar Degas | Claude Monet |  Paul Gauguin  Alfred Sisley | André Derain | Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec | Maurice de Vlaminck

 

HIGHLIGHTS TO BE UNVEILED TODAY AT SOTHEBY’S LONDON GALLERIES AHEAD OF SALE IN NEW YORK IN NOVEMBER

 

EXHIBITION DATES

Sotheby’s London, 30 September–1 October

Sotheby’s Taipei, 5–6 October

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 13–15 October

Sotheby’s Paris, 19–23 October

Sotheby's New York, 7–17 November

 

AUCTION CALENDAR

LEGENDARY | The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection

Sotheby’s New York, 18 November 2026

 

NEW YORK/LONDON, 30 September 2026 – On 18 November in New York, Sotheby's will offer the Blaquier-Arrieta Collection, a group of Impressionist and Modern paintings almost without precedent at auction: twelve works, each a masterpiece, each with extraordinarily distinguished provenance and all of the utmost rarity.

 

Expected to realize in the region of $450 million, the collection is led by two landmark paintings: Châtaigniers en fleurs by Vincent van Gogh, estimated in the region of $180 million, and Arlequin by Paul Cézanne, estimated in the region of $120 million.* Neither has been seen in public for over half a century. Both are among the most important works by their respective artists ever to come to the market, and both are poised to establish new auction records.

 

“There was a time when you could walk into a top gallery in London or New York and, over a few years, build something of real museum quality. You simply can’t do that now, at any price. What strikes me most is that the Blaquier-Arrieta collection doesn’t feel like a private collection at all.  It feels like a small museum – a miniature Musée d’Orsay, now opening its doors for the very first time.”

-Simon Shaw, Senior Advisor, Impressionist & Modern Art, Sotheby’s

 

“There is something magical about unveiling highlights of the Blaquier-Arrieta collection here in London, where so much of it was originally acquired. To see these paintings here is to step back into the 1970s, when the walls of dealers like Lefevre were replete with treasures of a caliber now only rarely to be found. The collection is a time capsule of that golden moment, and it is our great privilege to now open it up to the world.”

-Helena Newman, Sotheby's Chairman, Sotheby’s Chairman, Europe & Chairman, Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide

 

“For decades now the Blaquier-Arrieta collection has been the stuff of legend: whispered about, kept from public view, it has attained an almost mythical status in the art world. One of the last great private collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, it was formed when major examples by the great names were still within reach. Its re-emergence now marks a historic moment for the market.”

-Philip Hook, Author of The Ultimate Trophy:

 

How The Impressionist Painting Conquered The World

 

Painted with the vigor, rich impasto and intense colour that mark out Van Gogh’s greatest works, Châtaigniers en fleurs was executed in May 1890, days after the artist’s arrival in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise, where he was to spend the last two months of his life. Newly released from the psychiatric asylum of Saint Rémy, and now within an hour of his beloved brother Theo in Paris, Van Gogh experienced a powerful wave of optimism and energy that spilled out onto his canvases, making this the most urgent and expressive period of his entire career. Almost every painting from this period now hangs in one of the world’s great museums.

 

Similarly, Paul Cézanne’s impressive and elegant Arlequin is one of only two of the artist’s legendary sequence of 15 late figure paintings that is not held in a museum. Painted between 1888 and 1890, Cezanne’s four seminal Harlequin paintings are the first for which his son Paul posed. Encapsulating the artist’s deep interest in earlier traditions – both artistic and theatrical – while at the same time looking forward towards abstraction, they mark an important milestone both in Cézanne’s career and in the broader trajectory of Modern Art. 

 

“These are two of the finest works either artist made, painted within a few years of each other, and unseen for half a century. For a generation that has known these paintings only through the pages of catalogues raisonnés, they have become almost mythical. To offer either one would be a career highlight. To offer both, in a single sale, is something truly extraordinary.” 

 

Julian Dawes, Sotheby's Vice Chairman, Head of Impressionist & Modern Art, Americas

 

The wider collection traces the arc of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, with each work standing as a pinnacle in its maker’s career. Further landmark paintings include Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s En Canot (Jeune fille à la barque) (estimated at $25–35 million), a boating scene painted in the summer of 1877, the year the Impressionists took their name; Camille Pissarro’s grand Parisian streetscape La Place du Théâtre-Français et l’avenue de l’Opéra, soleil d’après-midi en hiver (estimated at $30–40 million); and Edgar Degas’s pastel Avant la course (estimated at $20–30 million). Like the great majority of works in the collection, none of these have ever been offered at auction before. 

 

The group is completed by two early Impressionist landscapes – Claude Monet’s Le Jardin des Tuileries and Alfred Sisley’s La Seine à Port-Marly – together with a rare Gauguin still life painted in his final years in Tahiti; a captivating Toulouse-Lautrec portrait; a further work by Camille Pissarro;  and two pioneering Fauve paintings by André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck. 

 

Unveiled today in London where most of the works were acquired in the 1970s, this extraordinary group of long-unseen masterworks emerges at auction from the collection of Carlos Pedro Blaquier and Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier. The Blaquiers came to the city, then the richest hunting ground for great works of art, almost every year. From the Lefevre Gallery on Bruton Street, they acquired no fewer than seven of the works to be offered, including the Cézanne, the Renoir, the Pissarro, the Degas and the Gauguin. 

 

Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier played a pivotal role in shaping the collection. A central figure in Argentine cultural and philanthropic life, her deep interest in the arts and education led her to serve on the boards of numerous cultural institutions, both at home and abroad, while also launching a number of initiatives to support education and medical research. She served as President of the Friends of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, was a member of the International Council at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and a member of the International Committee of the Friends of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.