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Rabat – A Marrakech auction house has sold “The Son of Saint Mrabet”, a painting by French artist Etienne Dinet, for MAD 13,12 million (€1.2 million), breaking the record for the most expensive painting sold at auction in Morocco and the African continent, except South Africa.
Moroccan Art House Auctions “Artcurial Maroc“, exhibited the painting on December 30, 2019, at the prestigious Mamounia Hotel in Marrakech.
“Artcurial Maroc” said in a statement that three bidders strongly competed for the painting, to be sold at the largest price ever achieved by the French artist’s paintings since 2008.
The overall sales of “Artcurial Maroc” achieved great success, totaling MAD 41.07 million (€3,819,319), including costs.
Artifact enthusiasts were able to contemplate two exhibitions. The first one was dedicated to the French artist “Majorelle” and his contemporaries, where 71 pieces were exhibited, including the masterpiece of Etienne Dinet “the Son of Saint Mrabet” achieving overall sales of MAD 29.38 million (€2.7 million).
Four Majorelle paintings, including “Les Allamattes” oil, were sold at MAD 3.2 million, much more than their estimated cost between MAD 1.65 million and 2.2 million (€154,451 and €205,934).
Meanwhile, the second exhibition was dedicated to “Made in Morocco” and included 188 pieces, achieving a total sale of MAD 11.68 million (€1 million).
The “Made in Morocco” exhibition was devoted to Moroccan decorative and modern art, such as the artists Mohamed Melehi, Chaibia, and Hassan El Glaoui.
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El Glaoui won the award for the best show and sold his painting “La sortie du roi” at around MAD 715,000.
Chaibia’s painting, “Un cycliste”, was sold for MAD 676,000 (€62,868) while the painting of Melehi, “Flamme bleue” was sold for MAD 650,000 (€60,450).
The Moroccan pavilion saw an important number of international customers, especially on the side of jewelry, textiles, and furniture where a necklace of 4 rows of amber pearls, weighing 1.6 kg, was sold at MAD 520,000 (€48,702), while “Le voile de bain de mariée“, dating back to the 19th century, multiplied its estimate by 12, reaching MAD 234,000 (€21,000).
The exhibition brought together Moroccan and international artifact lovers of at least 15 different nationalities.
In view of its success since its inception in Morocco in 2011, Artcurial Maroc opened a subsidiary in Marrakech in November 2019 to develop its sales through displaying paintings of Orientalists and contemporary African art.
Located in the Hivernage Garden district in Marrakech, the Moroccan Art House highlights the great richness of Moroccan decorative arts, in areas such as ceramics, glassware, furniture, textiles, jewelry, and even ancient weapons.
Artcurial Maroc, the first international auction house in the African continent, will organize three auctions sessions in 2020.
To be held in Casablanca, the first session will be dedicated to modern and contemporary Moroccan and international drawings and contemporary African art, while the two remaining sessions will be held in the fall of 2020 in the Mamounia hotel in Marrakech.
