Billionaire shipowner Onassis was one of several high-ranking friends of Churchill, to whom he gave his still lifes and landscapes.
At an auction in New York, Winston Churchill’s painting “Moat, Brekkles”, which the late British Prime Minister gave to shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in the 50s of the last century, will be sold. This was announced on Saturday, June 5, according to Al Jazeera.
The painting by Winston Churchill will be auctioned on June 23 at Phillips in New York with an estimate of $1.5 to $2 million.
The landscape was painted by Churchill in 1921 and remained in his personal collection for 40 years. After forming a friendship with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in the late 1950s, Churchill decided to give him the painting, an honor previously bestowed on a select few, including Queen Elizabeth and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
For a long time, Katina was exhibited in the salon of the yacht Onassis “Christina” where she hung next to the paintings of El Greco, Pissarro, Gauguin, and Vermeer.
When Onassis died in 1975, his daughter donated the yacht to the Greek government. The collection remained in the family, and the Churchill painting was placed in storage.
As the publication notes, the recent work of the British politician is popular at auction. So in March, one buyer bought three paintings painted by Churchill at once at Christie’s auction for $16 million.
In 2014, his painting “The Goldfish Pond in Chartwell” went under the hammer for $2.7 million.
Churchill was an amateur artist, he painted more than 500 paintings in his lifetime.
Earlier on May 12, a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat titled In this case sold for $93.1 million. The auction was organized by the auction house Christie’s.
Also, the world’s largest canvas painting Journey of Humanity by British artist Sasha Jafri was sold at auction in Dubai for $62 million.
