May 4 at the auction of Impressionist and Modernist Christie's will be painting by Edvard Munch (Edvard Munch), entitled "Fertility", previously estimated at 25-35 million dollars. The work, written in the late 1890's, is considered one of the most valuable works of Norwegian artist, are in private hands.

The first owner was a collector of paintings Max Linde (Max Linde), which helped Munch a career in Germany. Since 1918 the painting was in various private collections in Scandinavia. Collectors occasionally lent it to the museum and gallery-exhibitions in Europe and the United States. At the public auction is not never exhibited.

«Fertility" - one of the major early works of the artist. Its size - 1,2 to 1,4 meters. Scientists believe that the painted red-haired girl - love Munch Tully Larsen (Tulla Larsen). Painter began dating her in 1898. Tully was the daughter of a wealthy wine merchant from Christiania (the former name of Oslo). Unlike Munch, whose father was a military doctor, she belonged to the bourgeois middle class. Their romance was not happy: in 1902 the painter broke with his mistress after a major quarrel, "in memory" of which remained pistol wound in his arm. Who shot, do not know - say that the artist accidentally pulled the trigger, selecting a weapon from Tully, intending to commit suicide.

At the end of XIX century, works by Munch often subjected to harsh obstruction by Norwegian critics and now he is considered one of the most prominent artists-modernists, the forerunner of expressionism. In the market of his work are rare. Paintings 1890 - a rare commodity: the majority is in the public meetings. Price record belongs canvas 1895" The Vampire ", sold for 38.1 million dollars at Sotheby's in November 2008 .

material prepared Yulia Maksimova, AI

Sources: artdaily.org , artinvestment.ru