Heffel Fine Art Auction House President David Heffel doesn’t think the Lawren Harris ‘Mountain Forms’ painting will stay out of the public eye for too long.
The painting which used to be owned by Heffel’s father, Ken Heffel, sold to an anonymous buyer on Wednesday night, for a record $9.5 million, or $11.2 million with auction fees factored in.
“I’m confident that, in the future, the work will be revisited by the public in a museum context,” he told CTV News Channel in an interview on Thursday.
“There is no greater recognition or qualification that a collector can receive than receiving a museum’s curator request to put one of their treasured masterpieces on tour.”
Heffel was thrilled with the auction outcome, after estimating the painting would sell for three to five million dollars.
“It was electric. It was a fantastic tribute to one of the greatest artists of the Americas: Lawren Harris and a real tribute to Canadian art,” said Heffel about last night’s auction, “I think what transpired last night was the best result for one of Canada’s finest artwork.”
He thinks this is just the beginning of a whole new playing field for Canadian art.
“I think we’ve burst through the 42nd parallel. It’s really has propelled Canadian art to a new international level,” he said.
Heffel told CTV News Channel that the sales total at the Toronto auction on Wednesday surpassed the American art sales at both Sotheby’s and Christie's in New York last week, and exceeded British art sales in London for the week prior.
“We’re really at the forefront now. It’s a whole new frontier for the international acceptance of our visual artists who are world class and can compete at a multinational level,” he added.
