Guggenheim Sold a Kandinsky for $62,000 in 1964

One 1923 painting by Wassily Kandinsky is about to sell for roughly 1,290 times what the Guggenheim Museum paid for it in 1964.

The work, titled 'Betonte Ecken,' will go to auction at Christie's this month with a pre-sale estimate of $60 million to $80 million. The painting was sold by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation 62 years ago for £22,000. At the time, that sum equated to about $62,000. In today’s dollars, that 1964 price tag is worth approximately $540,000. The sale was part of a larger liquidation effort where the foundation sold 50 of its 170 Kandinsky pieces.

Harry F. Guggenheim, the nephew of the museum’s founder, explained the decision in 1964 by citing a lack of physical space. He stated that the trustees feared the artworks would remain hidden in vaults. He added, "We have concluded that this should not be the fate of these paintings." The 50 works sold for a combined £536,580 at a London auction that year. That total was equivalent to roughly $1.5 million at the time.

Max Carter, global chairman of 20th and 21st century art at Christie’s, described the 1964 sale as a response to an "embarrassment of riches." He noted that the foundation sold masterpieces that would be "unthinkable to sell today." Carter said the painting is "quintessential" Kandinsky and that its style is "canonical" in the current market. He observed that the work was "still very forward-looking" when it was sold but has since become a standard reference point for the artist’s oeuvre.

The painting is set to break the auction record for Kandinsky’s work. Christie’s confirmed that a guarantor has secured a bid exceeding the previous record of £37.2 million. That record was set in 2023 for the painting 'Murnau mit Kirche II,' which sold for $44.55 million. The new sale is expected to surpass that figure comfortably.

Kandinsky painted 'Betonte Ecken' between December 1922 and January 1923. He had recently returned to Germany from Russia to teach at the Bauhaus school in Weimar. The canvas measures more than 4.25 feet on each side, making it unusually large for the artist. The work features black lines that resemble musical scores, reflecting the influence of Wagner on Kandinsky’s career. Carter said the composition is "symphonic" and that the disparate shapes create a harmonious whole rather than a chaotic jumble.

The high value of the piece is also driven by the relative scarcity of Kandinsky’s output. One scholarly catalogue lists fewer than 1,200 oil paintings by the artist. By comparison, one catalogue for Pablo Picasso lists more than 16,000 paintings and drawings. The Guggenheim currently owns more than 150 Kandinsky works, including the famous 'Komposition VIII.' Harry F. Guggenheim stated in 1964 that the foundation only released paintings that could be sold "without diminishing the standing of the museum's permanent collection."