Sculpture by Romania’s Brancusi sold at record price in New York auction: USD 8.5 mln

A version of famous Romanian Constantin Brancusi’s sculpture The Kiss (Le Baiser) was sold in an auction in New York earlier this week, for USD 8.5 million, well above the asking price of USD 5 million. The auctioned price exceeds even the maximum evaluation done by Christie’s, which had placed the value of the work of art between USD 5 and 8 million. The sculpture, which is a gypsum version of the stone sculpture on the same theme, was created in the 1920s, and given as a gift in 1954 to a Romania couple, Irène and Pascu Atanasiu, who had settled in France. It was bought 30 years later by a Swiss collector, who now sold at auction again. The name of the new buyer was not made public – the person acquired the piece in Christie’s impressionist and modern art auction at the Rockerfeller Plaza in New York earlier this week. This is the second work of art signed by Brancusi auctioned at Christie’s in New York in the last two years. In 2012, the auction house sold Brancusi’s Une Muse for USD 12.4 million. More about Romania’s Constantin Brancusi, here. editor@romania-insider.com