O Baile no Moulin de la Galette, Versão Menor, Paris, França (Bal du Moulin de la Galette) - Pierre Auguste Renoir

O Baile no Moulin de la Galette, Versão Menor, Paris, França (Bal du Moulin de la Galette) - Pierre Auguste Renoir
Paris - França
Coleção privada
OST - 78x114 - 1876



Renoir painted a smaller version of the picture (78×114 cm) with the same title. The painting is now believed to be in a private collection in Switzerland. Apart from their size, the two paintings are virtually identical, although the smaller is painted in a more fluid manner than the d'Orsay version. One is presumably a copy of the original, but it is not known which is the original. It is not even known which was the one first exhibited at the 3rd Impressionist exhibition of 1877, because although the painting was catalogued and given favourable attention by critics, its entry did not indicate the size of the painting, information that would serve to identify it.
For many years it was owned by John Hay Whitney. On May 17, 1990, his widow sold the painting for US$78 million at Sotheby's in New York City to Ryoei Saito (Saitō Ryōei), the honorary chairman of Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Company, Japan.
At the time of sale, it was one of the top two most expensive artworks ever sold, together with van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet, which was also purchased by Saito. Saito caused international outrage when he suggested in 1991 that he intended to cremate both paintings with him when he died. However, when Saito and his companies ran into severe financial difficulties, bankers who held the painting as collateral for loans arranged a confidential sale through Sotheby's to an undisclosed buyer. Although not known for certain, the painting is believed to be in the hands of a Swiss collector.
As of January 2013 the Bal du moulin de la Galette is sixth (when adjusted for the consumer price index) on the list of most expensive paintings ever sold.
Histórico de proprietários do quadro:
1-) Victor Chocquet, Paris
2-) Mme Victor Chocquet (sale: Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, July 1, 3-4, 1899, no. 88, sold for 10,500 francs)
3-) Bernheim-Jeune, Paris
4-) Prince de Wagram, Paris
5-) Etienne Bignou, Paris, Reid and Lefevre, London and Knoedler & Co., New York (purchased from the above for £30,706)
6-) John Hay Whitney, New York (acquired from the above on 5 December 1929)
7-) Sotheby's sale, New York, 17 May 1990 (acquired by Ryoei Saito for US$78.1 million)
8-)? Private collection, Switzerland
This scan is from the Sotheby's sale catalogue 17 May 1990. The original was a fold-out with a central crease. The left and right portions were scanned separately and then stitched. The fold line runs just to the right of the central figure's left cheek. A strip 12 pixels wide corresponding to this crease was cropped out. The registration of the two pieces is not completely perfect.