A painting by Quebec abstract painter Jean Paul Riopelle went for $ 2.9 million on Wednesday in a virtual auction broadcast from Toronto.
The work done in 1953, entitled No title, is a drip made with a palette knife. The value of the canvas was first estimated at between 1 and 1.5 million by Heffel Fine Art.
The 79 works listed in the Toronto auction house’s spring catalog grossed a total of $ 16.5 million.
Sea of August #5a major work painted in 1972 by American Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell, which sold for nearly $ 2.2 million, the second highest amount paid at auction.
Good result for Group of Seven
Paintings signed by artists from the Group of Seven, an association of Toronto artists from the early 20se century, exceeded expectations, according to Heffel.
One of them, Mountain Sketcha depiction of the Rockies painted by Lawren Harris, which sold for over $ 1 million, roughly double its estimate.
Quebec artist Rita Letendre, a Drummondville native who died in November in Toronto, was represented at the canvas auction Reflection of Edenwhich became $ 450,000.
Source: Radio-Canada
