"Galata Tower in the moonlight" by Aivazovsky sold in Moscow for 130 million rubles

Landscape "Galata Tower in the moonlight" by Ivan Aivazovsky was sold at auction for a record 130 million rubles, reported in the Moscow Auction House on December 18.

The auction was held on December 15. In general, the works of domestic masters of the XVI-XX centuries with a total value of more than 300 million rubles went under the hammer. Among the most expensive sold things were also two works of Ilya Repin: "Landscape with birch trees" worth 40 million rubles and the sketch "Persidka" to the painting "Sadko in the underwater kingdom" for 50 million rubles.

"On the eve of the auction we roughly understand for what "trophy" things will unfold the struggle among the participants of the auction. This time we ourselves with excitement followed the course of the auction and the involvement of players. Initially we predicted that the amount of sales could be 100 million rubles, as a result it exceeded 300 million rubles. In addition, was updated the previous record of the domestic art market for works by Ivan Aivazovsky, also set at the auction of the Moscow auction house. In February 2024, the auction sold "Moon Night" brush artist for a record at that time 92 million rubles", - said the co-founder of the Moscow auction house Fyodor Svetlakov.

According to the expert, "Galata Tower in the moonlight" is of interest for several reasons: in addition to the fact that it is a brush of early Aivazovsky (1845), the painting has an exceptional provenance - its first owner was the Emperor Nicholas I. At the same time in the 1950s, the picture was acquired in Norway, and in the 2010s the canvas was exhibited at Sotheby's, from where, probably, and returned to Russia.

Restoration of the monarch: "Ivan the Terrible" returned to the Tretyakovka exposition

The public will see Ilya Repin's painting for the first time since the 2018 vandal attack

Also in the auction house specified that the sold painting by Ilya Repin "Persian" depicts one of the beautiful daughters of the sea king, which, according to the story, wooed the hero of the Novgorod legend Sadko. The brides' courtship was the subject of the main canvas, executed in Paris in 1876 at the request of Alexander III. At the moment, this work is under the care of the State Russian Museum.

In addition, experts said that the inspiration for the creation of "Landscape with birches" Ilya Repin served as a picturesque area of the famous "dacha capital" Siverskaya, where the artist rested and worked.

At the auction was still sold Vasily Vereshchagin's work "Church near Arkhangelsk" in 1894 for 12 million rubles and canvas "Landscape with a stone fence" by an academician of painting, a member of the Association of traveling exhibitions and "World of Art" Mikhail Nesterov for 4.5 million rubles.

Earlier, on December 16, Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said that the painting "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan" by Ilya Repin, which was damaged in 2018, after restoration returned to the permanent exhibition of the Tretyakov Gallery. The masters who worked on it not only repaired the damage, but also brought back the lost colors.