The painting «The Survivors» by Russian marine artist Ivan Aivazovsky set a new price record at Sotheby’s after being sold for £4.188 million, the highest price ever paid for a work by the artist.
Dated to 1878, «The Survivors» is the largest painting by Aivazovsky ever offered for public sale. In April 2004, it appeared at Sotheby’s in New York, where it sold for just $745,000.
In the iconic painting, the artist depicts a moment of hope for those who have survived a shipwreck and realize that rescue is at hand. A sailor standing at the bow of a small boat floating atop the stormy sea has just spotted something in the distance and points toward it.
«A leading representative of European Romanticism, Aivazovsky was particularly drawn to storms and shipwrecks. These subjects allowed him to juxtapose the beauty and force of nature with human vulnerability,» Sotheby’s said in a statement.
Aivazovsky is one of the most famous Russian artists. Born in Feodosia, he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts, traveled throughout Europe, and later became the chief artist of the Russian Navy. During his lifetime, he created more than 6,000 works and opened his own gallery in Feodosia. At auction, prices for his paintings range from about $33 to $5.3 million, depending on size and medium.
Earlier this month, a rare copy of Superman No. 1 (1939) sold for over $9 million, setting a new world record. The comic was discovered by three brothers while clearing out their mother’s attic in San Francisco.
