Painting by Segantini goes for SFr1.44 million
Christie’s in Zurich has sold a landscape by Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899) for SFr1.44 million ($1.6 million) at an auction of Swiss art.
Estimated at SFr800,000-SFr1.2 million, the work, entitled Due madre (Two mothers), thus becomes the second-most expensive piece by the Italian-born artist known for his love of the Swiss Engadine Alps.
The record was set at Christie’s in 1999 when a buyer paid SFr8.57 million for a Segantini.
Segantini was born in Arco on Lake Garda, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, into a poor family. He remained stateless during his lifetime after a relative annulled his citizenship as a child. Only after his death was he was awarded Swiss papers.
Other notable results on Monday included a painting by Giovanni Giacometti (1868-1933), estimated at SFr1.8-SFr2.5 million and which sold for SFr1.92 million, and a sculpture by his son Alberto (1901-1966), estimated at SFr900,000-SFr1.2 million and which sold for SFr1.02 million.
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