24 works of art went under the hammer on Thursday evening at the Kringwinkel Getouw social profit secondhand shop in the East Flemish city of Ghent. The auction was well-attended, not least as one of works being sold was by Salvador Dalí. The work had been found in an attic and ended up in the charity shop. Works by the Flemish artists Roger Raveel and Jules De Bruycker also fetched a good price.
It was Nicolas Bracke of Ateljee, the not-for-profit organisation that runs Kringwinkel Getouw, that spotted the work by Dalí in the shop.
Mr Bracke told VRT News that “The discovery of the Dalí meant that an idea we had had previously to hold an auction started to take form. A work by the Ghent artists Jules De Bruycker also happened to end up in the charity shop. The people that brought it in did so after having a clear-out. They had no idea who it belonged to. However, it is strange the work by Raveel was not recognised, because his name is written clearly on it”.
Ateljee is very satified with the amount raised from the sale of some of the works that were auctioned. “We haven't reckoned everything up yet, but the 3 best-know works were sold for a total of more than 12,000 euro”.
Roger Raveel’s work 'Vader en Zoon' (father and son) had been estimated to sell at between 250 and 350 euro. It was eventually sold for 1,300 euro. The buyer told VRT News that she had paid 5 times the catalogue price for the painting as she really wanted it.
She added that paining’s colours perfectly match the decor at her home and she knows exactly where she will hang her new acquisition. The buyer’s sister works at Kringwinkel Getouw so she is well-aware of the valuable work that is done by vzw Ateljee.