Buyed for $30 from the “dark corner” picture sold at auction for $ 1.35 million
The painting was bought by a collector for $30 at a property sale. It was later determined to be the work of Gertrude Abercrombie's The Crumbs of Alderman Merriam (1951). It was sold at auction for a record for the work of the artist $ 1.35 million
The painting, bought for $30 at a property sale, sold at auction for $1.35 million after it was found that the author of the work was American artist Gertrude Abercrombie. CNN reports.
As stated in the statement of the auction house Freeman’s, a still life of ten seashells found in July in a “dark corner” of a house in Michigan. The expert identified it as Abercrombie's "Alderman Merriam's Crumbs," completed in 1951. For two years, the painting was exhibited at personal exhibitions of the artist, its price ranged from $50 to $150.
Abercrombie never sold the painting. Instead, she gave it to a doctor from Kalamazoo in Michigan in exchange for medical services. Later, the painting was inherited, until it was put on sale at the property, where it was bought by a collector of vinyl records and furniture, whose name was not disclosed.
The buyer noticed the artist’s signature on a still life, then took the painting to the Milwaukee Art Museum, where an exhibition of Abercrombie’s works was held. The exhibition catalogue features a 1952 newspaper clipping depicting the painting. Freeman’s expert, professor of art history at Roosevelt University Susan Weininger later confirmed the authenticity of the work – it is still in the original frame.
The auction house estimated the painting at $ 150,000-250,000, but at auction it went for a record $ 1.35 million for the works of Abercrombie.
Gertrude Abercrombie (February 17, 1909 – July 3, 1977) was an American artist from Chicago. She is known as the Queen of Bohemian Artists. She worked towards surrealism. Her paintings are distinguished by mysterious, restrained interiors, desert landscapes, motifs of the moon, cats and shells.
In November 2025, the work of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt entitled “Portrait of Elizabeth Lederer” sold at auction in New York for a record $236.4 million. The painting became the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at auction.
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