Utzon's Favourite Work by Le Corbusier Sets New World Record

Tuesday evening the enamel "20 heures, arrivée à Chandigarh" by Swiss-French architect and artist Le Corbusier achieved an impressive hammer price of DKK 1.75 million (€ 234,000 including buyer’s premium), which is a doubling of the previous world record for an enamel by Le Corbusier set in Zurich in July 2016. The work comes from the private collection of the world-famous Danish architect Jørn Utzon and was his favourite piece by the artist. It was made while Utzon and Corbusier collaborated on the interior of the Sydney Opera House during the 1950s.

“It is the second time we offer such an important piece of art from Jørn Utzon’s private collection. In June 2015 we also broke a world record for a work by Le Corbusier, when we auctioned off the monumental tapestry ”Les dés sont jetés”, which was purchased by the Sydney Opera House. The record-breaking enamel at this auction was made for Jørn Utzon personally, as an example for the Sydney project. It has never been exhibited in public, nor offered for sale before and has been in the ownership of the Utzon family until today,” says Frederik Bruun Rasmussen, Director of international sales at Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers.

The collaboration between Utzon and Le Corbusier is well documented in a number of letters between the two – dated between 1958-60. In a letter from 31 March 1960 Jørn Utzon writes to Le Corbusier: “Every day your paintings are a great inspiration to me here on our walls – I am looking very much forward to the Tapisserie”. On the back of the enamel there is a reference to a sketch by Le Corbusier, which describes how this type of artwork could be hung in the Sydney Opera House.

The work comes from Utzon’s private home in Hellebæk about 50 kilometres north of Copenhagen.

Utzon, Le Corbusier and the Opera House

Jørn Utzon (1918-2008) graduated as an architect in 1942. His career gathered momentum when he in 1957 won the international architectural competition for the Sydney Opera House. The next several years he worked on the most famous building of the 20^th century, and everything went according to plan until a change in government in Australia in 1965, which forced Utzon to leave the construction process of the building.

The opera house's exterior was finished, and Jørn Utzon was about to begin work on the interior. He had plans to decorate the interior of the opera with tapestries and enamels by Le Corbusier. But the new governing party in the Australian parliament wanted the building finished quickly and inexpensively. Therefore, they suspended the payments to Jørn Utzon, who withdrew from the construction in 1966. Australian architects completed the construction, and the Sydney Opera House was finished in 1973 without Utzon's ideas regarding the interior design and Le Corbusier’s decorations. 

The son of Jørn Utzon, Jan Utzon, was present at the sale of the enamel Tuesday evening, where it was sold for a record hammer price of DKK 1.75 million / € 234,000 (including buyer’s premium).

The seller of the enamel, Jan Utzon, stated after the auction: “The result exceeded my wildest expectations, and I’m very happy that I chose Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers for the sale of this family treasure. I considered contacting the auction houses of Christie’s and Sotheby’s among others, but as you had so successfully taken care of my earlier sales, I found it natural to let you handle this, for my family so important piece of art.”