Cézanne from the Courtauld Collection Heads to Christie’s

Paul Cézanne’s painting Vue sur L’Estaque et Le Château d’If (1883–1885) will be sold at Christie’s London this coming February. The painting comes with an impeccable provenance, having been in the private collection of British magnate Samuel Courtauld since he purchased the work in 1936.

The painting is one of 12 works by Cézanne that Courtauld acquired in the surrounding decades. However, it was the only piece that the collector kept for himself. The others were gifted to his Courtauld Institute of Art.

The landscape painting—a rare example which Cézanne painted in portrait orientation—features a view over the harbor of Estaque, a fishing village on the French coast near Marseille, which became a favorite motif of the artist in the 1870s and 1880s.

Christie’s has placed a £8–12 million ($12.6–18.9 million) estimate on the piece. However, considering the rampant appetite for Cézanne works in Asia, the quite low supply of works on the auction market, and L’Estaque et Le Château d’If‘s particularly rare to market stature, the piece is likely to surpass expectations.

The auction house’s head of Impressionist and Modern art in London, Jay Vincze told the Financial Times “There’s a huge appetite for Cézanne’s works across Asia. He’s one of the names you hear constantly on people’s wish lists, along with van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso.”