At the auction house Sotheby

At the auction house Sotheby's offered some private collections of modern painting, estimated at 76 million dollars. The works of Yves Klein, Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Beuys, Frank Stella by Helge Lauffs, the widow of one of the most influential collectors of German 1960 - 1980 Walter Lauffsa.

Before the November 2007 meeting was billed in the Art Museum of the City Krefeld, but Lauffs decided not to renew the agreement on long-term loan and start selling off a collection, reports Bloomberg.

Among exhibited at Sotheby's auction lots were canvas Klein IKB 1 , valued at seven million dollars, the picture Rauschenberg Slug (four million), two sculptures Beuys (by 950 thousand each), the work of Stella Concentric Squares (three million).

Bidding will take place in two stages: the majority of works will be exhibited at New York auctions 14 and 15 May, the other things brought to London's bid, which will take place in the middle of the year.

Helga Lauffs decided to draw the family collection from the Museum of Krefeld, in its view, the building of the museum does not meet modern requirements. Direction krefeldskogo museum, trying to get funds for repairs, met in 2006 to sell its primary «pearl» - Claude Monet canvas «View of the British Parliament building» worth 20 million euros. Only the intervention of the German artistic community saved the picture from the sale.

Source: Bloomberg