Mondrian masterpiece set for £30 million auction

One of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian’s most recognisable works could fetch up to £30 million when it goes under the hammer for the first time.

Composition III, which has not been seen in public for more than 25 years, is expected to sell for between £20 million and £30 million.

Created in 1920, the painting is regarded as one of Mondrian’s most important works and reflects the distinctive style of the De Stijl movement, which he founded alongside critic and poet Theo van Doesburg in 1917.

It will be offered at Christie’s London on October 14 as part of the auction house’s Frieze week.

Keith Gill, at Christie’s, said: “We are delighted to celebrate Mondrian’s extraordinary legacy and present his masterpiece from 1920, Composition III, in London where another key work from this pivotal year resides, in the collection of the Tate.

“Composition III dates from the breakthrough moment in Mondrian’s career, in which he reached a new, radical abstract idiom that profoundly reshaped the language of modern art.

“Appearing at auction for the first time in its history, it ranks among the most important and rarest of his paintings ever to come to market.”

Christie’s says it is the “most important” Mondrian to be offered at auction in Europe since 2009, when Composition Avec Bleu, Rouge, Jaune Et Noir (1922) and Composition I (1920) were sold at Christie’s Paris from the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge.

The painting dates from a pivotal year in Mondrian’s career, when he established the principles of his pioneering abstract language known as Neo-Plasticism, reducing painting and design to straight lines, right angles and primary colours.

Composition III will go on public display at Christie’s London from October 8, following exhibitions in Zurich, Paris, Hong Kong and New York during September.

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