Yeats painting breaks auction record
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Yeats painting breaks auction record
A painting bought by Laurence Olivier for his wife Vivien Leigh has sold at auction for a record-breaking pounds 804,500. A Farewell To Mayo, by the Irish artist Jack Butler Yeats, was bought by an American private collector bidding by telephone against a packed saleroom at Sotheby's in London. It was the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by Yeats.
Olivier bought the painting from an exhibition at the National Gallery in London in 1942, two years after his marriage to Leigh. It shows a lone emigrant and driver in a horse cart, leaving Mayo at dusk to board a ship for America. Art historians says the work marks a turning point in Yeats's work and in the Irish artistic movement of the 20th century.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments