Christie’s has announced the first major painting for its autumn sales in New York, an important Kandinsky which should sell well because it will attract both Russian and International bidding.  “Study For Improvisation 8” is from the artist’s “Improvisations” series and is being sold by the Volkart Foundation, a charitable trust established by the 160-year-old Swiss commodities trading firm, Volkart.  “Kandinsky’s ‘Improvisation’ series is at the nexus of some of the most compelling innovations of the avant-garde era,” said Brooke Lampley, head of Impressionist and modern art Christie’s, and estimates the painting at $20 to $30 million. A sale at that level would establish a new record for the artist, whose previous highest price was $20.9 million paid in 1990 for a 1914 work entitled “Fugue.”  Most of the series are in museums and only two have been sold on the open market in recent years.  One was in November 2008 shortly after the current crisis took hold and that made $16.9 million.

Record Auction Price Up to $30m Eyed for Kandinsky (Reuters/Crain’s New York)