The Russians Rush In
Sotheby’s London
Peter Doig, White Canoe, 1990-91
Estimate: $1.5 million–$2.3 million
Price Fetched: $11 million
At left: Sotheby’s Tobias Meyer orchestrating the bidding on Doig’s White Canoe
Call it contemporary impressionism, at vintage impressionist prices. Or call it uninformed buyers with too much money. But will someone please tell me what inspired bidders at Sotheby’s London to drive a 1990-91 picture by contemporary Scottish painter Peter Doig to the obscene price of $11.3 million, more than five times its estimate and a record for a living European artist?
Okay, I get it. Peter Doig’s White Canoe is a pretty picture. It’s big. It’s colorful. It’s twinkly. It’s like a Monet water lily meets van Gogh’s Starry Night. Hey, it’s even said to be inspired by the horror film Friday the 13th, giving it some, er, pop culture resonance, for those who want “more” than an eyeful of color.
Perhaps even more important to the market, White Canoe also has the Charles Saatchi stamp of approval—although, according to The New York Times, the notorious Brit Art market maker (and more recently, market breaker) cast it out of his temple of speculation, selling that and six other Doig works to Sotheby’s last year for $11 million. It’s been well documented that Sir Charles is wiping his hands of the young Brits and is now focusing on the American and Chinese contemporary frontiers.
But $11 million? The price still has me choking on my hot chocolate here. Is it just that the London February sales were flush this year with ruble-rich Russians and bonus-happy bankers, dumbly driving the Sotheby’s sale total that night to a record $90 million? According to veteran market-watcher Josh Baer, the Doig buyer is believed to be a Russian or Ukrainian, working through an agent in the room. But Baer also noted that there were at least five bidders still active at the $5 million mark, which was already more than double the artist’s previous high price. This wasn’t just two freaks in a room headlocked in a bidding spiral. This picture had serious “buy me now” buzz.
What I’ve noticed among Russian art buyers (I’m not sure how many of the conspicuous spenders qualify as “collectors” yet) is that, after driving up prices for art (and fakes) from their homeland to nosebleed territory in the last three years, many have begun to cross over to more established international markets. Like many rookie art buyers, their first forays tend to be for big-name artists like Warhol and Picasso (remember Dora Maar?) and for mural-sized, easy-on-the-eye canvases to decorate their dachas.
And while this piece qualifies as both mural-sized and easy on the eye, Doig is not yet an internationally bankable big name. Or a distinctively new voice. Or even that amazing a painter. Sure, he has his moments—and White Canoe is undoubtably one of them. But scroll through his artnet sales records and you’ll see—sorry, Peter—a lot of awkward, muddy and uninspired canvases. Will his reputation stand the test of time? Or will he be another David Salle, Eric Fischl or….Ashley Bickerton? The art world seems to have a collective amnesia about the 1980s, when greed and speculation propelled the market for so-so wannabe bad boy painters, whose prices, when the downturn came, crashed into the crapper and never recovered.
For connoisseurs of Doig’s work, this was clearly a very strong piece. But at that price, it was not even close to a great value. His previous record (an aberrational $2 million, achieved just last June) prompted a handful of seven-figure sales last year, but before that, his highest prices were in the mid-six figures. And his sweet spot still falls in the high-five to low-six figure range.
But hey, the buyer can always console himself: it’s cheaper than a Monet water lily.
