Painting by Cezanne Sells for World-Record $250M

(NewsCore) - A painting by French post-Impressionist artist Paul Cezanne has been bought at auction for a world-record $250 million by the nation of Qatar, Vanity Fair reported Friday.

The painting, titled "The Card Players," was purchased by Qatar's royal family for over a hundred million dollars more than the previous record-holder, Jackson Pollock's "No. 5, 1948," which was reportedly sold for $140 million at a private auction in 2006.

The sale, according to Vanity Fair, took place in 2011, but it was only confirmed to the magazine by multiple sources Friday. Qatar's royal family declined to comment and all other players involved in the sale signed confidentiality agreements.

Prior to its latest sale, the Cezanne had been owned by Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos, who died late last year. It is believed that the painting could end up on show at the Qatar National Museum, which is currently undergoing renovation and is due to reopen in 2014.

The painting is one of a series of five that Cezanne (1839–1906) painted in the 1890s. The others, which vary in size and depiction, are housed at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and the Barnes Foundation in Pennsylvania.

The work purchased by Qatar is one of three that depicts two men at a table playing cards.

"$250 million is a fortune," Victor Wiener, a fine-art appraiser, told Vanity Fair. "But you take any art history course, and a 'Card Players' is likely in it. It's a major, major image."

According to the Gulf Times, the oil-rich nation of Qatar has the third highest density of millionaires in the world after Singapore and Switzerland.