Experts have estimated what art will be in price “the new Kandinsky”

Deputy Director General of the Russian Museum Sergey Sirro on the air of Radio RBC answered the question who in domestic collections in 30 years can become the “new Vasily Kandinsky”. In his opinion, when it comes to contemporary artists, an important factor is how much a person is “promoted”, how much he was an innovator and how many works remain on the market.

As for contemporary authors, you know, it all depends on how much a person was promoted, how much he was an innovator and how many works remained in free sale. The smaller they are, the more expensive it is, Sirro explained.

On the eve of the painting by Wassily Kandinsky “Colorful Life” (Das bunte Leben, 1907) was sold at Christie’s auction in London for £ 27 million. Together with the tax, the cost of the canvas was £31.56 million.

"The Colorful Life" is considered one of the key in Kandinsky's early work and an important stage in his transition to abstraction. The work combines the influence of Russian folklore and French Fauvism: the canvas measuring 130.5 by 162.6 cm depicts pilgrims, peasants, church figures, a couple in love and a mother with a child against the background of the landscape.

The record amount for Kandinsky's canvas was achieved in 2023 - then the work "View of Murnau with Church II" was sold at Sotheby's auction in London for £ 37.2 million.

As an example, the expert cited the work of one of the leaders of the Russian avant-garde Pavel Filonov, whose paintings “are practically not found on the market.”.

“The same is true of contemporary authors. If a person has said a new word in art, and if his works are scarce in the market, he will be expensive. Even in 25-30 years, he said.

In addition, the cost of works is affected by the appearance of the artist in publications and catalogs, which increases the popularity of his surname. So, for example, happened with the representative of surrealism Pavel Chelishchev, said Sirro. According to him, at first, the master was little known, but due to publications, catalogs and sales at large auctions, his name gained popularity and his canvases became expensive. This is possible in principle with other artists. But for this you need to invest some money in this, you need to hire a certain PR team that will be able to turn all this into some kind of business and finance, the art critic said.

Olga Rusakova, managing director of the Moscow Auction House, believes that the artist’s popularity is influenced not only by the appearance of his paintings in “good museums”, but also by collectors who acquire modern art and can “create value for these works themselves” through the PR of their collection and exhibition activities.

“In general, the work can cost more in the future, not only because the artist was himself promoted, but because he at some point got into the right collection, and with this provenance this work has more value,” explained Rusakova.

On October 18, the Moscow Auction House will hold auctions, the catalog of which includes 320 lots with a total estimated value of 1.5 billion rubles. Among the most expensive works is the landscape of Vasily Kandinsky “Summer Day. Noon” with a preliminary estimate of 90 million rubles.

Art dealer and co-owner of Omelchenko gallery Yuri Omelchenko agreed that “a lot depends on who bought the work”: “That is, very often it is the scale of the personality of the collector, the philanthropist himself that affects the future fate of this artist.” Either in life or after death.”.

As a vivid example, he cited the work of the French painter Henri Matisse “Dance”, which the entrepreneur Sergey Shchukin ordered to his Moscow mansion. If it wasn’t for his idea, if it wasn’t for just hanging, closing a hole on the wall, so roughly, and hanging the work beautifully in his front room, this masterpiece simply wouldn’t have come to light. And now you know that the work of Henri Matisse, probably, is one of the most famous in the world and replicated already in souvenirs, and so on and so forth, and gave rise to many other works, said Omelchenko.

When asked about the value of contemporary art objects that do not have a physical embodiment and have only an idea, the auctioneer said that art is a “big game” in which much is built on advertising and PR. For example, the work of street artist Banksy “Girl with a balloon” has become very popular due to the fact that after the acquisition at Sotheby’s auction in 2018, it “self-destructed” by passing through a shredder built into the frame.

“It became more expensive precisely because it was a moment the world was watching. That's because it happened at Sotheby's. Just because it broke into thousands of pieces in front of millions of people. And people do not fit into their heads how something that just paid tens of millions of dollars can fall into a thousand pieces, Omelchenko said.

In March, The Wall Street Journal, citing art market experts, wrote that disclosing Banksy’s identity could increase the value of his works. Jean-Paul Engelen, director of New York’s Acquavella Galleries, said the market always rewards clarity. The more information is known about the personal history of the artist, the more confident collectors feel.