French painting fails to woo Czech buyers at Saturday sale

A painting by the French artist Maurice de Vlaminck sold at auction in Prague on Saturday for 5.3 million CZK (279,000 USD). Experts had estimated the price of the painting, which dates from 1914, at 7 million CZK. According to the head of the auction house, Marie Galova, the Czech fine art market has a ‘very local character’, and thus buyers show interest primarily in Czech works of art. She said the Vlaminck painting was an exceptional offer aimed to test whether Czech would be willing to shell out for a top-quality work by a foreign painter. As it is, Vlaminck’s painting has become the 13th most expensive work of art to be sold at a Czech auction. Only one foreign painting features in the list of the ten most expensive paintings to be sold at auction in the Czech Republic. That work is by Russian artist Ivan Shishkin, and titled At the Mirror. It sold in 2006 for 7.5 million CZK.