‘31.5 million in the first 31.5 million, the second, 31.5 million, the third – sold!’
Behind the misted panes of a chock-full hall, it was the words from the auctioneer Jesper Bruun Rasmussen, as ‘Interior from Strandgade 30’ of Vilhelm Hammershøi, yesterday it was the most expensive traded painting on Danish soil.
the Bid came from J. Stockholm, as part of his position, at Bruun Rasmussen, is telefonpasser during the auctions. She was not, therefore, the buyer of the expensive painting, but the link between the auctioneer and the anonymous buyer. Since the painting was under the hammer, feared she would become a bidding war with the skew amount.
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– When you first sit there (and is in the process of negotiating, ed.) forget the amounts. At first I was very worried that it would be 12.530.000, but it ended with ’just’ be 12,5 – 13 – 13,5 tells Birte Stockholm.
– You don’t think in the millions. You forget completely that you eventually sit and talk about 25-26 million.
It was a costly call to the anonymous buyer at the other end. 31.500.000 crowns was knocked on. Reported by Birte Stockholm, seen in this picture. Photo: Tariq Mikkel Khan
If you have an interest in a subject to an auction, but not present, there are two ways you can get put a bid. You can either put a so-called kommisionsbud, where you in advance informs about how far it will stretch. The alternative is to have a retailer like J. Stockholm by phone.
When you’re talking paintings in the price range that Hammershøi’s ‘Interior from Strandgade 30’, it is not just straightforward. Before she has the buyer in the tube, she has, in collaboration with his colleagues, made a big deal of legwork.
– To daily I’m trying to get the goods into. I try especially to provide confidence to the people who are interested in a particular painting, for they may have tried to be other places, where they did not feel comfortable telling Birte Stockholm, who has been employed at Bruun Rasmussen in a good 35 years.
When the painting came in and was on the auction, there was a lot of work ahead of us. It is, of course, not everyone who just can afford to invest a high amount of money in the arts.
– Along with my colleague Julie, we have made some great material. And then we have been in London and New York and show the painting, above, says Birte Stockholm.
in Addition to the ‘Interior from Strandgade 30’ there were four other Hammershøi paintings at auction. Three of them were sold, but the second most expensive painting from the assessment, ‘White doors. Interior from Strandgade 25’, was not sold as the highest bid ‘only’ was 3.200.000 dollars, where the assessment is sounded at minimum to 4,000,000 dollars.
It was the talk of a potential national record, since the painting was put up on Tuesday. It did not materialize, but the hammer falls at the 31.500.000 crowns do still, that it skims into the top 5 of most expensive paintings, as you can see here. Video: Morten Parsner
