Sarah Wickett
A painting by Lawren Harris sold for almost $4 million Thursday night – more than twice the expected sale price.
Harris’ Mountain and Glacier painting went as the biggest seller of the night at the Heffel Fine Art Auction in Toronto.
It went for $3.9 million before commission and broke the previous record for another one of his pieces. The expected sale price was between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Three of Harris’ paintings were sold for a collective $9.5 million.
Mountain and Glacier (Photo / CBC)
Known for his precise style and execution of his war art, portraits and abstractions, Harris followed in his father’s footsteps. Twenty-one years after his death, his work commands fierce price wars.
The auction house said the 157 pieces offered at its semi-annual sale sold for a combined $23.4 million. This set a Canadian record for a fine art auction. It was anticipated by experts the total would be closer to $10 million or $15 million.
Winter Landscape, another of Harris’ pieces, sold for $3.1 million – another top seller of the night. The estimated value was $1.2 to 1.6 million.
Winter Landscape (Photo // cbc.ca)
Harris has been in the news lately after Steve Martin, an art collector, was looking at a collection of his paintings at Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum.
Was in London, Ont. to view more Harris. MT @gallerydotca: Steve Martin in front of one of our #LawrenHarris works. pic.twitter.com/Y7SeUU7qXx
— Steve Martin (@SteveMartinToGo) January 22, 2015
The exhibit is also set to hit Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario in 2016.
Records are made to be broken. World-record for Lawren Harris at auction with Mountain and Glacier this evening at $3.9 mil hammer! — Heffel (@HeffelAuction) November 27, 2015