Artprice by ArtMarket.com

Five Important Painters Over 99 Years Old - Pierre Soulages, Wayne Thiebaud, Carmen Herrera, Sun Qifeng and Toko Shinoda

PARIS, Nov. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pablo Picasso was 56 when he painted Guernica in 1937, and some say it was the pinnacle of his career... with his best works already behind him. It was sometimes suggested that during his 35 remaining active years, Picasso – the most imaginative of the artists of the 20th century – never reached the same level of creativity. It's just one opinion of course... but when his painting Women of Algiers (Version 'O') dated 1955 sold for the record price of $179 million in May 2015, that sort of thinking appeared to no longer hold sway on the art market.

 

 

Some artists have very long careers and our fascination with their early work can sometimes act as a block to our appreciation of their later work. Often the market only really begins to acknowledge later works when earlier works start becoming rare on the auction market.

As thierry Ehrmann, founder/CEO of Artmarket.com, put its: "artists generally tend to live much longer these days. By the time celebrated artists reach the age of 99, they often enjoy considerable prestige and celebrity, generating an aura on which museums, galleries and nowadays, even auction houses, have learnt how to capitalise."

We have identified five major artists, all of whom have reached the age of 99 or beyond, and all of whom are still at the forefront of art market news.

Pierre Soulages (born 1919) - 2019 auction turnover: $25.4 million

On the eve of his 40th birthday, Pierre Soulages painted Peinture 186 x 143 cm, 23 décembre 1959. In November 2018, that painting fetched his auction record of $10.6 million suggesting the market considers it his best work to date.

His other auction results also suggest that the period 1955-1965 corresponds to the 'peak' of his career. However, he never stopped painting and he pursued research into "outrenoir" (beyond black) for many years. Galerie Perrotin's branch in Shanghai is currently showing his most recent paintings (2017 and 2018) until next 28 December. Back in France, the world's largest museum, the Louvre, will soon be offering him the best gift an artist can receive: an exhibition in the famous Square Salon, as of 11 December 2019.