Expressionist painting by Franz Marc “Foxes” up for auction

The auction house Sotheby’s will put up for sale the canvas of the Austrian expressionist Franz Marc “Foxes”. It was created in 1913 and was shown several times during the life of the artist. And after his death in 1916, it was sold by Mark’s widow.

Later, Kurt Gravi, a banker of Jewish origin from Berlin, became the owner of the canvas. But after Adolf Hitler came to power, Gravi’s business was destroyed, and he himself ended up in a concentration camp. Nevertheless, he was able to flee abroad and ended up in the United States, where he sold the Fox, as he had no means of subsistence.

In the end, the painting ended up in the city art collections of Düsseldorf, where it has been exhibited since 1962. Grave’s heirs, however, sued the museum and demanded the return of the work, arguing that its sale was a direct result of the Nazis’ lawlessness against the banker. The court agreed with the arguments.

Now the canvas will go under the hammer, and if the sale amount is not lower than the declared estimate of about £35 million, it will be the most expensive work of Franz Marc. According to Christie’s President Jussi Pilkkanen, the painting “Foxes” is a canonical work for modernism.

“Collectors prefer museum-quality rare pieces. The outstanding work of Franz Marc has all these key qualities. Mark died young, so his paintings are considered very rare, and most of his masterpieces are kept in the most important museums in the world. In 1913, Mark painted only 45 canvases, of which only four are in private collections,” Pilkkanen told Izvestia.

On January 28, it became known that the heirs of Pablo Picasso – granddaughter Marina and her son Florian – will put up for auction more than 1 thousand NFTs tied to a ceramic product painted by the artist.

The product has not been shown before. The physical original is also planned to be sold.