Sale of Chagall masterpiece expected to net millions more than National Gallery paid
La Tour Eiffel was bought back in 1956 for just $16K — roughly $146K in today's dollars
When the National Gallery of Canada auctions off one of its two Marc Chagall paintings next month, it will not only raise the money to buy what gallery director Marc Mayer says is a more significant work of art, it will make millions of dollars in profit.
Mayer tells CBC that the gallery's La Tour Eiffel was bought back in 1956 for just $16,000 — roughly $146,000 in today's dollars. The expectation is that when the painting is auctioned next month by Christie's, it will fetch anywhere from US $6 million to $9 million (that's $8 to $11 million Canadian). Some believe the painting could fetch even more.
It's the kind of return that gives new meaning to the term 'art appreciation'.
"We were trying to match stickers in this case because we didn't want to risk not raising enough money with smaller, less significant things," Mayer said in an interview airing on CBC Radio's The House.
"We thought (of) one thing that we can live without, that would not be a national tragedy, and I don't think selling this particular painting by Chagall is a national tragedy … All of the people who had the responsibility to weigh in on this ... the eight people with PhDs in art history who are part of the process of deciding this, agree."
Mayer acknowledged that not everyone agrees. When CBC News broke the story of the sale this week, the outgoing head of the Canadian branch of the International Association of Art Critics called the sale an act of "monumental stupidity" and said it should be stopped.
"Future generations will not forgive the gallery for that loss," Ninon Gauthier said.