A Bouquet of ‘Irises’ for Art Lovers

Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece “Irises” has been returned to the art lovers of the world, thanks to the intervention of the J. Paul Getty Museum. It is an exciting addition to the imaginative collection of that great institution. Happily, the museum has wasted no time in placing the painting on public view.

The acquisition by Getty ends a troubling but instructive period in which the painting disappeared from public view for more than two years, first to a private office wall and then to a secret vault. It was the captive of Alan Bond, an Australian business baron. His purchase had been facilitated by Sotheby’s New York auction house, which accepted the painting as collateral for a loan that the auction company itself advanced to cover half the record price of $53.9 million paid at its own auction. The disquiet inspired by this novel application of leveraged purchasing, and its bald contribution to art inflation, has at least won a change of policy from Sotheby’s, which no longer will accept paintings as collateral for credit extended by the company in its own sales. That move could help make prices more realistic.

“Irises” has been hidden in private collections more than it has been on public display in the years since it was painted in 1889. But from 1975 until its sale to Bond in 1987, it was on loan for display at the art gallery at Westbrook College in Portland, Me. The then-owner, John Whitney Payson, subsequently decided to auction it to raise money for a philanthropic foundation. His decision was inspired by the earlier sale of Van Gogh’s painting of sunflowers for $39.9 million, a record at the time. The extraordinary price paid by Bond exceeded all expectations. And, were it not for extraordinary business reverses the next year, which have generated a $5-billion debt for Bond’s enterprises, the painting might still be hanging in an office in Perth instead of in the Getty in Malibu.