Auction aides Inge Romoschan, left, and Eva Prockl carry the painting "Nadja" of German artist Emil Nolde of 1919 to be auctioned at Ketterer art house in Munich, southern Germany, Tuesday, June 12, 2007. Starting bid is 1,2 million euro.(1.6 Million dlrs US).
Photo: AP
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Emil Nolde’s Nadja Sold for $2.87m
Painted by German expressionist Emil Nolde in 1919, the portrait of some woman called Nadja was sold for $2.87 million (€2.15 million) at the auction held by Ketterer Kunst in Munich. The canvas, which most optimistic estimate had been just €1.8 million went to a well-known private collector residing in Germany.
Owned by Dr. Ernst Rathenau from 1920s, Nadja mysteriously disappeared between October 1977 and September 1979. An anonymous art collector found the canvas in the attic in one of the Berlin houses in late 2006 after the suicide of his daughter. She had been probably involved in Nadja’s disappearance.
The heirs of Dr. Rathenau commissioned Ketterer Kunst to auction the canvas in April 2007.
The identity of the painted woman is still the top secret. Not long before the auction, however, an elderly woman, 85, got in touch with Ketterer Kunst to say that she rented a room to that Nadja in 1950s. This information is being checked now.
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