FX.co ★ Most expensive art objects in collections of Russian businessmen

Francis Bacon, Triptych, 1976

Cost: $86,281,000

Buyer: Roman Abramovich

A well-known businessman bought a triptych at the Sotheby's auction in 2008. The masterpiece has a good history. The only owner bought it in London's Marlborough Gallery in 1977. An exhibition history of the canvas is also impressive. The triptych was first exhibited in 1977 in the Paris Galerie Claude Bernard, after which it went to the 6th documenta in Cassel, then to Madrid and Barcelona. In 1985 it appeared in London's Tate, in 1988 the painting was exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, in 1990 - in the Louvre in Paris. It made a great American tour, and in 2006 the work was exhibited in Gagosian Gallery in London.

Claude Monet, The Pond with Water Lilies, 1919

Cost: £40,921,250

Buyer: Andrey Melnichenko

The artist began drawing the painting in 1914. He experimented with color and light approaching abstraction. Monet even bought unusual varieties of water lilies for his own pond in Giverny. This painting was signed by the author in 1919 and sold together with three other "water lilies" canvases. Works of this series met different fates: one of them became a part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York; another one was sold at Christie's for $12 million in 1992; the third one was cut into two parts, and the fourth - went to Andrey Melnichenko who bought it at Christie's auction in 2008.

Wassily Kandinsky, Soft Hard, 1932

Cost: $10,610,500

Buyer: Leonid Mikhelson

The painting was the property of the Guggenheim Museum from 1949 to 1965, after that, it was sold at Sotheby's auction in New York in 1964, and at the same auction in 2009 it was bought by a Russian entrepreneur, billionaire Leonid Mikhelson.

Francis Bacon, Study for a Portrait, 1953

Стоимость: $28 765 614

Buyer: Leonid Mikhelson

The painting traveled almost the whole world. It was part of the collections that were exhibited in Madrid, Zurich, New York, Tokyo, and Kyoto. In 1984, the canvas was owned by the London gallery Malborough Fine Art, then it got to the Christie's auction in 2011 and was bought by Leonid Michelson.

Constantin Brancusi, The First Cry, 1917

Cost: $14,866,500

Buyer: Leonid Mikhelson

At the Christie's auction in 2011, the chairman of the board of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson purchased another work. Most likely, the head of a crying baby, made of bronze, was exhibited at many exhibitions while the artist was alive and after his death too. In this list, the Vienna Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum and the Chicago Art Institute. All that is known about "The First Cry" provenance is that the work had four owners, the last one bought it in 1975 and put up for sale in 2011.

Ilya Repin, A Parisian Café, 1875

Cost: £4,521,250

Buyer: Viatcheslav Kantor

By 1885, Ilya Repin had already painted "Barge Haulers on the Volga", he was a fellowship of the Academy of Arts. But, nevertheless, even with this status, the artist did not dare to offer his work "A Parisian Café" to the Tretyakov Gallery. According to the Wanderers, the picture had a scandalous plot. Martin Monson bought it in 1916 and took it out of the country. Four generations of the family kept the work, then it was put up for auction. The Tretyakov Gallery attempted to buy it, but Viatcheslav Kantor gave more money for the masterpiece at Christie's auction in 2011.

Wassily Kandinsky, Sketch for improvisation № 8, 1909

Cost: $23,042,500

Buyer: Pyotr Aven

The painting, which is marked as one of the most iconic in Kandinsky's work, is the biggest dream of any museum. In 1950 at the Gerd Rosen auction in Berlin, it was bought by Walter Scharf, then doctors in Zurich became the owners of the canvas, who in 1960 sold it to the owner who put it up for sale more than 50 years later at Christie's auction in 2012.

Boris Kustodiev, Venice, 1913

Cost: $1,222,059

Buyer: Boris Mints

Boris Kustodiev painted Venice three times, in 1907, 1913 and 1918. Over the years, there is an emotional power that was achieved through experiments with color and genres. In 1968, "Venice" was shown at the Kustodiev's exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad. During this period of its history, the painting was part of the collection of the Leningrad collector Mandelstam. In 2013 it was put up for sale by a private European collector at the auction MacDougall's.

Georgy Nissky, Above the snow, 1964

Cost: $2,952,755

Buyer: Alexei Ananyev

It is the first painting of the artist, which was put up for auction, it is also considered one of his best works. Georgy Nissky was a disciple of Ilya Drevin and Robert Falk, a follower of Aleksandr Deyneka, one of the founders of the "severe style." An earlier version of the painting "Above the Snows" is kept in the archive of the State Russian Museum. After numerous discussions, it was established that the aircraft depicted on the canvas is TU-104.

Georgiy Gurianov, Untitled, 1990

Cost: £143,000

Buyer: Anton Abugov

The star of St. Petersburg of the 1990s, the drummer of the "Kino" band, the esthete and handsome Georgiy Gurianov was recognized during his lifetime, but the great commercial success came to the artist posthumously. A self-portrait of Georgiy Gurianov, sold at Sotheby's auction for £143,000, became the most expensive work of the Russian artist in 2016.