Cézannes auctioned from Swiss museum for $44.8 million

Cézanne's 'Fruits et pot de gingembre' was one of the lots sold at auction. Keystone / Matt Dunham

Three Cézanne pictures from the inventory of the Langmatt Museum in Baden were auctioned in New York on Friday night for a total of $44.8 million. 

The future of the museum is thus secured in the long term, as the museum foundation announced.

The proceeds were the equivalent of CHF40.32 million, as the foundation wrote in a statement early on Friday morning. The goal was to raise CHF40 million. The precision landing was a good result given the tense market environment, it said.

First, the painting “Fruits et pot de gingembre” (Fruits and Ginger Pot) went under the hammer at Christie’s auction house in New York. It was auctioned for $33.5 million. The auction of the most valuable of the three Cézanne paintings started at $20 million. 

Offers immediately skyrocketed, as could be seen on the live stream of the auction. Starting at the price of $33 million, two representatives discussed in more detail with the potential buyers on their cell phones.

The painting “Fruits et pot de gingembre” was previously estimated to be worth between $35 million and $55 million. The heirs of a former co-owner of the most valuable picture will also receive a share of the sales proceeds, as the museum had announced in advance.

After the first auction, it was the turn of the two further pictures. The work “Quatre pommes et un couteau” was auctioned for $8.7 million. Its estimated value was between $7 and $10 million. “La mer à l’Estaque” grossed $2.6 million. It was slightly below the estimate of $3 million to $5 million. It was not known who bought the works.

The auction of the pictures had met with massive criticism in advance. It is a “breaking of the dam” and a “breaking of a taboo,” said Tobia Bezzola, president of the international museum association ICOM and museum director in Lugano, on Swiss radio SRF. The sale calls into question a consensus among museums that the collections would not be touched.

“The sale as a last resort was a painful step for us,” museum director Markus Stegmann was quoted as saying in Friday’s statement. Thanks to the successful auction, the collection will be preserved in its historical context and remain accessible to the public.

With the auction, the foundation made its key contribution to the overall renovation of the Langmatt Museum, according to a statement from the city of Baden. In June, Baden voters approved a loan of CHF10 million for the overall renovation of the museum at a cost of CHF18.8 million.

The city of Baden continued to write that the focus is now on implementing the renovation. Construction is scheduled to start in March 2024 and the museum will reopen in spring 2026.

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