Turkish painting: $3.5 million
A Turkish foundation has bought a 1906 Ottoman oil painting for $3.5 million, the highest ever price for a piece by a Turkish painter, Istanbul newspapers reported Monday.
“The Turtle Trainer” by Osman Hamdi shows a bearded man in a turban with a flute in his hands and five turtles at his feet.
The painting was part of an art collection that was auctioned Sunday to pay the debts of an insolvent Turkish bank, the daily Radikal and other newspapers reported. The Suna and Inan Kirac Foundation purchased the painting and plans to show it in a new museum.
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