Artists Pablo Picasso and Andre Derain

A collection of paintings by the famous Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard will be put to auction at Sotheby's in June. When Vollard died in 1939, 141 of his paintings were put in a vault, and forgotten about for 40 years. When they were rediscovered in 1979, a legal battle lasting 3 decades began. Vollard was a key player in 20th century art, without him the likes of Gaugin, Cezanne and Modigliani may never had sold a painting. One of the most exciting paintings in the auction is Andre Derain's Harbour at Collioure. It was was part of the 1905 Paris exhibition that included works by Matisse, and led to the critics dubbing their works Les Fauves, or Wild Beasts.

Louis Le Brocquy in Auction

With the recession, it seems that the price of un-established artists has completely bottomed out, and there's a return to safety on the side of art investors. The good ol' names like Louise Le Brocquy, John Shinnors, Sean Scully - along with the dead guys, John Lavery, Charles Lamb, Cecil Maguire - are fetching healthy prices again. As a result, we are seeing artworks by more established artists being dusted off and sent to auction.

Morgan O Driscoll auctioneers have an oil painting by Le Brocquy, entitled Orange (1972) in their forthcoming auction. It has an estimate price of €50,000 to €70,000.

For Le Brocquy collectors who perhaps are feeling the pinch, there are lithographs by the artist, entitled Playboy of the Western World, estimated at between €800 to €1200. Phew! And I thought I was priced out of the art market.

Just in case you do have any spare cash under the matress, there's also a small oil panel by Shinnors called Morning South, which is going for between €20,000 and €30,000.

The auction, for all you art buffs out there is on April 26th, 2010 at the Radison Hotel in Cork.

Art Sale

In 2007 over 40 Irish art works were auctioned belonging to the estate of Richard Hatch. The collection included a painting by Louis Le Brocquy, his Traveller Man, and also Neville Johnston and Colin Middleton. The entire collection achieved over 2 million dollars. Middleton moves betwen expressionism, surrealism and cubism. He is largely self taught and is a hugely prolific painter. Le Brocquy painted watercolours, oils and can be viewed in the Crawford Gallery in Cork.