Paysage de Banlieue is a painting by Maurice de Vlaminck, a French Fauvinist. It was auctioned on 4 May 2011 by Christie’s and sold for $22.5 million. The same painting had been auctioned by Christie’s in 1994, fetching $6.8 million. We are talking about a painting that yielded over three times the previous investment.

If you are wondering if this particular painting is worth the investment, let me tell you that the buyer was William Acquavella, the famous New York art dealer. He is not an art collector but rather an individual that makes his money through buying and selling art.

Before we dwell on the financials of this particular investment let me tell you first the influence paintings of this period had in modern society.

These days we often hear about painters expressing their emotions through their art, but this approach to painting wasn’t as acceptable at the time Paysage de Banlieue was painted. The Fauvinism style, introduced by a group of painters lead by the brush of Matisse to whom Vlaminck was associated, didn’t last long but produced a number of works that created the roots of expressionism.

Have you noticed that the painting above is not trying to portray the landscape but rather show the intensity of the colours or the painter emotions?

This may not seem ground breaking today, but if you consider that the initial public reaction was to associate this style to “wild beasts” it clearly shows that people were not allowed to express their emotions those days as they are today. But paintings like Paysage de Banlieue, little by little, helped society to transform and reform.

It is therefore not surprising that paintings from this particular period are well sought by investors. However, when we consider the financials of this particular painting, I personally think it defies comprehension.

Firstly I wonder why Acquavella would pay a premium for a painting, or a painter, that although being an important reference within the Fauvism movement doesn’t have the influence of a Matisse? A google search on the word “Matisse” finds more than 22 million hits while “Vlaminck” only gets 1.2 million hits. Clearly Matissse is a lot more popular than Vlaminck and yet his paintings are not hugely different in price or at least not directly proportional to their popularity on the internet.

Everyone knows that Acquavella bought the painting with a strategy in mind. His investents are meant to change hands, but how much will he be able to sell it for in the future? How much will the profit be for Acquavella? Is the art market expecting another record to be broken?

On another note, while reading the Acquavella lunch with the FT, the  following sentence caught my attention, “(I) went to Paris, bought a Vlaminck for $8,000, came back and sold it for $12,000. And I thought that was a pretty good deal.” Surpised to know Vlaminck had been Acquavella ’s first ever deal, for a brief moment I wondered if Acquavella acquired the Paysage de Banlieue because he had a special attachment for the artist?

Nevertheless, Fauvism paintings have been around for more than 100 years, why all of the the sudden, or in the last 10 years, give or take a few, investors start flocking to bid for this fine art? I am aware that every single painting of this period is unique, but we are not talking about paintings that took the same amount of time to produce as a Renaissence painting. Paintings from this period have been produced in great quantities.

It is hard to say if Acquavella  $22m investment in Paysage de Banlieue is pure speculation or a true reflection of the value of this particular painting. As usual the market will fluctuate and the prices may drop or may not, but it will certainly be interesting to watch.

Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment in this post if you have something to add to this discussion. Thanks in advance.