Renoir painting from Whitney estate in Manhasset goes to auction at Christie's

A Renoir masterpiece that hung in the Whitney family’s Manhasset home for nearly a century is set to go public and could fetch more than $30 million at auction.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s classic 1877 painting "La Femme aux Lilas" arrived at Christie’s New York, where it was unboxed for the first time Monday as part of the Whitney family’s collection.

The painting was briefly on exhibit at Christie’s in London, before a planned free public display at Christie’s New York from May 9 through 18, when it was set to go to auction.

The painting is the centerpiece of the Whitney’s family collection, and hung in the living room of the family’s  North Shore home until the death of Lorinda Payson de Roulet in October.

"She’s beautiful," said de Roulet’s daughter, Whitney Bullock, 74, of Florida and Dutchess County, in an interview. "No one has seen it except us for about 100 years."

The painting by Renoir captured one of his favorite subjects, Nini Lopez, a Montmartre actress in France, in an oil painting on canvas, set against a blue background and holding a bouquet of flowers.

"She's gorgeous, you can feel the sun, which is beautiful," said Alex Rotter, Christie's global president, after seeing the painting for the first time Monday.

Art experts consider it a rare Impressionist painting in the Renoir collection to not be on exhibit in museums.

"Renoir was quite prolific. He was long lived, but the greatest works of art that he produced virtually all went to museums at an early stage," said Max Carter, global chairman for 20th and 21st century art for Christie’s. "More than pretty much any other Impressionist, we don't see his truly important paintings come to market publicly. The thing about precious and modern art is that there isn’t more of it. It becomes rarer and rarer every year. ... This is the rarest of the rare."

The painting was purchased for about $100,000 in 1929, about six weeks after the October stock market crash that sparked the Great Depression. Christie’s officials did not estimate the purchase in today’s dollars, but inflation figures would place it at about $1.9 million.

De Roulet was the daughter of Mets founder Joan Whitney Payson and Charles Shipman Payson. Joan Whitney Payson was the sister of John Hay Whitney, former publisher of The New York Herald Tribune and president and chairman of the board of New York's Museum of Modern Art. Manhattan prosecutors recently returned a trove of rare books to the Whitney family. 

Joan Whitney Payson helped found the Mets in 1962 after failing to keep the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. De Roulet also served as president of the team for several years until the family sold its shares in 1980. The family attempted to hold a stake in the team in a partnership with Islanders owner John Pickett before the sale fell through and the team was sold to Pickett with Fred Wilpon and Doubleday and Co.

The painting is valued at between $25 million and $35 million, Carter said. The work will be on display at Christie’s gallery at Rockefeller Center. The Whitney family sold another Renoir painting, the "Bal du Moulin de la Galette" in 1990 for $78 million.

The Whitney family is also auctioning other pieces of their collection, including art by Marc Chagall, Edgar Degas, Winslow Homer, Alfred Sisley and Andrew Wyeth. 

The family art was kept at the Manhasset estate and included a Picasso that hung in the living room — above a Nerf dartboard at which children would shoot foam missiles, Bullock said.

De Roulet sold the Picasso to help start the Locust Valley-based Patrina Foundation to support nonprofits that empower girls and women. 

De Roulet's parents donated 15 acres of their estate in 1949 to establish North Shore University Hospital, and De Roulet continued to support the hospital.

Bullock said the art collection was a big part of her childhood.

Payne Whitney bought the 500-acre family estate, known as Greentree, in 1904. The family never left Long Island, Bullock said, except when Vincent de Roulet served as an ambassador for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973.

"I recognize the fact that I was lucky enough to have grown up with this collection," Bullock said. "I think more later in life, perhaps after grandma passed, that we really recognized how amazing it was."

Bullock said she hopes the artwork goes to a good home, whether it be a private collector or a public institution. She said she is keeping a few of her favorite paintings.

"I'm really hoping she finds a really happy home somebody that really, really enjoys her," Bullock said of the Renoir.