Source: ArtDaily (www.artdaily.org)

PARIS, FRANCE - Drout auctioneers announced the auction of the painting titled “Blue Star” by Joan Mirу for a record price of $16.7 million. The highest paid for one of his works. The painting dates from 1927 and had been estimated at 5-7 million euros and is considered by Mirу as a key work. The auction included works by Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Leger and Laurens with a total sale of 21.8 million euros.

Morу’s "Bird" sold for 6.2 million euros. Juan Gris's painting "The Guitar Player", 1918, sold for 2.17 million euros, a record in France for the artist. According to Drout, the works were acquired by European collectors. The works came from the collection of Andre Lefevre, a banker and art patron of the first half of the 20th century. The works had been kept in a bank vault for 40 years. Many of the works from the Kefevre collection were sold in the 1960’s, but his relatives left ten works up until now.