The price of a work of Oscar Dominguez break your glass ceiling. The electrosexual sewing machine (1934-1935) was auctioned yesterday at Christie’s for 5,245,359 euros. Little is known about the new owner of the flagship piece of the surrealist artist from La Laguna, but it is known that the Cabildo de Tenerife entered and lost a bid that changed hands a painting that was already sold a decade ago by the same British room [Londres, 8 King St, St, James’s] in exchange for 2,452,792 euros.
Christie’s (8) and Sotheby’s (3) have been the two British auction houses that have made the most of their work in the last 17 years: the eleven most profitable operations raised 20,882,944 euros, of which 15,461,987 were generated by the Christie’s managers and 5,420,957 for senior managers at Sotheby’s. None of these movements exceeded the five million euros that were exceeded yesterday in the British capital. Of the 32 paintings auctioned at Christie’s in The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale event [las ganancias de salida se estimaron en 27.490.000 libras esterlinas / 31.305.612 euros], only four had a starting price of more than two million pounds sterling (2,277,600 euros), which was the starting point of the bid for The Electrosexual Sewing Machine: the best valued titles were Le retour (René Magritte / 4 million pounds – 4,555,200 euros), La Masque de la foudre (René Magritte / 3 million pounds – 3,416,400 euros), Souvenir de Voyage (René Magritte / 2,500,000 pounds – 2,847,000 euros) and Portrait from Doctor Ignacio Chávez (Remedios Varo / 2,500,000 pounds – 2,847,000 euros). Only one other work, La voyage fantastique by Salvador Dalí, had the same starting price as the Óscar Domínguez, which is well ahead of the Miró (Personnage, oiseaux, ètolie / 2 million pounds – 2,277,600 euros). The best calculations of Christie’s pointed out before the start of the auction that it would manage to raise more than 42 million pounds (47,880,000 euros), but in the end it boxed 38,859,900 pounds (44,292,741, 98 euros).
Why did this gap occur? Nobody wanted to bid for La voyage fantastique (Dalí – 2 million pounds – 2,277,600 euros) and for Grand personnage, by Jean (Hans) ARP – 800,000 pounds – 911,040 euros) and four operations fell short of the starting estimate . This millionaire already includes the commission of the auction house, which monopolizes 30% of the sale, the percentage that family members, heirs or the company that sells the painting take, estimated at between 12 and 15%, and the appropriate fees in the event that the work is purchased from outside the borders of the United Kingdom. In the hypothetical case that The electrosexual sewing machine had come to the Islands, the IGIC corresponding to the operation would have to be added. That means that we would already be talking about an invoice of more than five million euros. Given the great spring of pounds and euros that moves in appointments like these, it is normal for the parties to sign a series of confidentiality documents before opening fire. These procedures are included in the section reserved for bidders, which is completed electronically. The definitive clue was given by the auction host at the moment in which she mentioned in passing Isidro Hernández, chief curator of the TEA collection. Solvent sources commented to this newspaper that in the weeks prior to the auction -they wanted to bet on discretion so as not to attract the attention of other investors- the island institution was able to set aside an amount very close to 3.5 million euros to maintain live in a bid that is usually attended by giants of the art world. As soon as one of those dinosaurs appeared, more or less, things got complicated. But that risk was even calculated and for that reason a few weeks ago the option of the Government of Canary Islands entered into this operation, but the response that was obtained then was that there was no economic item assigned to deal with such an expensive movement. This caused, at first, the Cabildo to rethink a play that it did not completely rule out, but it did begin to look at it with a certain distance.
It was a “coup de effect”
On April 28, the exhibition Óscar Domínguez: the conquest of the world through images will be inaugurated at the TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes. In addition to the collections of the island’s exhibition center – the catalog is made up of more than fifty works, some of them purchased in circumstances similar to those that occurred at Christie’s – emblematic titles in the artistic career will come on loan to the Island of Tenerife to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the inauguration of the center. Enrique Arriaga, island vice president and head of the Culture area, described this fact as “very relevant” a few days ago. The most optimistic dreamed of seeing The Electrosexual Sewing Machine in that catalogue, but something so extraordinary could only happen if the bid in London was won yesterday. And it is that if the painting fell into other hands [museo o coleccionista privados] the chances of him coming were nil. “It will be the great exhibition it deserves,” Arriaga stressed in relation to an event that will end on October 29. A coincidence in the calendar or an embargoed news that finally did not materialize? Alejandro Krawietz, island director of Culture, also wanted to highlight that “it will be a relevant exhibition”, but it did not go beyond that.
His most iconic piece
You don’t have to be an art lynx to recognize The Electrosexual Sewing Machine as the most important and valuable painting of all those by Óscar Domínguez. That is the reason why he has already ended up several times at Christie’s.
If the question is whether accounts were made to opt for being able to bring this treasure to the Island, the answer is yes, but it could not be. Christie’s leaves nothing to chance and knows what its customers’ preferences are on afternoons like yesterday’s. It was clear to me that the three René Magritte [Le retour, La Masque de la Faudre y Souvenir de Voyage] They could generate a minimum turnover of 9.5 million pounds (10,818,600 euros), but he was also aware that Óscar Domínguez was on a second step. Likewise, he knew firsthand that the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, an institution that has declared on several occasions a public infatuation with respect to The Electrosexual Sewing Machine, was not in the best conditions to seek an operation of this kind. draft. It is not because its director, Manuel Borja-Villel, confirmed less than a month ago that he is leaving office after a decade and a half at the head of his management, that is to say, that the concerns at this time are to find the person who will take over in the engine room of such a solid benchmark in the world of modern art.
The silence between the two parties [Christie’s y las personas, sociedades e instituciones que se inscriben en la subasta] it has to be complete on the eve of the bid, but the most reliable clients receive precise information, before posting the call on the web, about the content of the paintings that are going to be auctioned. That is a legal way to attract the attention of institutions like MoMa or the Pompidou Center in Paris.
Some Dalí nuances
The electrosexual sewing machine is a difficult composition to interpret with components that are present in the creations of Salvador Dalí (1904-1989). Sex becomes reality through the sacrifice of an animal, a male goat, which spreads all its erotic potential to the rest of the painting, especially in the naked body of a woman on which a trickle of blood falls. That sensuality conflicts with the Freudian world view of pleasure. The luminosity that falls like a waterfall in the central part is one of the values most appreciated by Óscar Domínguez scholars.
Yesterday, then, in the midst of a first-class international artistic marketing [con obras emblemáticas y caras de René Magritte, Dorothea Tanning, Salvador Dalí, Remedios Varo, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, Tanguy…] the most valuable sale that has been registered so far of an Óscar Domínguez was confirmed, a special case in the Islands along with that of Manolo Millares since they are the only two Canarian authors who have works hanging in the New York MoMa and in the Parisian MNAM [Musée National d’Art Moderne – Centro Pompidou]. However, in sales operations, a good Óscar Domínguez can triple the price of a good Manolo Millares: an excellent Millares can be sold at a price of around 600,000 euros and the check for an outstanding Domínguez can reach 2 million euros. Needless to say, that estimate was blown up yesterday in London.
TEA has fifty mid-level Óscar Domínguez who needed to have a treasure of these characteristics at their side to make a considerable leap in quality. The electrosexual sewing machine (99 x 80 centimeters) was going to be that plus on which to start laying the foundations of the great museum dedicated to the surrealist genius. Yesterday was the day. With an inappropriate delay in British culture, an auction began that positioned Óscar Domínguez among the greatest. And it is that only two works[Le retour – René Magritte – 6.129.000 euros – 6.979.705,20 euros y Souvenir de voyage – René Magritte – 5.556.500 libras – 6.327.742 euros]they were sold at a higher price than The Canary’s Electrosexual Sewing Machine. The historical nature of the date is unquestionable if we take into account that Chístie’s is already announcing the auction of Le minotaure for next Friday, with a starting price of 40,000 pounds, also by the author from La Laguna. Peccata minuta if we compare it with the dimension of what happened yesterday afternoon in the second auction of the day at its main London headquarters.
