Chardin Melon ends up in Kimbell Art Museum
May 21 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has broken this evening that Chardin's Le Melon entamé, which sold for €26.73m (including fees) at Christie's Paris last June - although the winning bidder failed to pay, has been acquired post-sale by the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. It transpires that they had been the underbidder and are apparently thrilled to have had a second chance to acquire it.
According to the article linked above:
In an interview with ARTnews, museum director Eric Lee called the painting and Basket of Wild Strawberries the “two most important Chardin still lifes that were still in private hands.”
“In my opinion, The Cut Melon is absolutely as wonderful as [Basket of Wild Strawberries]. I just could not be more thrilled to be able to acquire it,” Lee said. “I was so sad when we lost the painting at auction and when this came back around it was almot like a miracle. The painting is so right for the collection. It looks like it’s always been here and it seems impossible to think of the Kimbell without this painting.”
