Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

a Pissarro, a Toulouse-Lautrec and a Sisley at the same time. The fact that Gauguin's Still life with cherries and Pissarro's Seated peasant are both atypical of their artist's style, only adds to their interest rather than detracting from it, as one knocker critic has suggested. Not since 1939, when Sir Keith Murdoch brought French impressionist paintings to Melbourne, have such paintings been placed on public display by a private collector. One can only hope that other collectors will be encouraged to follow suit. But, inevitably, we come back to Irises, and, in an age when the dollar sign is often seen as more important than the substance, we cannot ignore the fact that this is the most expensive painting ever bought at auction. That alone puts Mr Bond in the distinguished company of those who, throughout history, have owned the most expensive paintings of the time, and they include a King of Poland, a Tzar of Russia and Mr Pierpont Morgan-in each case a work by Raphael. Irises itself has a fascinating history. It was painted almost exactly a century ago while Van Gogh was a patient in an asylum near Aries. This followed a bitter quarrel with Gauguin' and a period of manic depression during which he cut off one of his ears and presented it to a person (euphemistically described as a doorkeeper at a house of ill repute he had been in the habit of frequenting) with the words, 'Here is something to remember me by: The painting was first exhibited in Paris in September 1889, but despite a favourable review-'The irises violently slash their petals to pieces upon sword-like leaves' was how one critic put it-it failed to attract a buyer. Finally, two years later, the art critic Octave Mirbeau bought it for 250 francs but, fearing that his wife would either criticise his aesthetic judgment or, more likely, complain that he was squandering the housekeeping money, he arranged for the dealer to pretend to give him the painting in return for articles he had written in praise of Van Gogh. Thereafter the painting passed through many hands until it was bought in 1947 by a rich American, Mrs Joan Whitney Payson, for US$84 000, regarded at that time as a ridiculously high price. It was from her that Mr Bond bought the painting in 1987 at Sotheby's in New York for US$53 900 000. Over that period of forty years the painting had increased in value sixteen-fold per annum, or 642-fold in total. The first owner of Irises, Octave Mirbeau, whom I have already mentioned, said of it, 'How well Van Gogh understood the exquisite nature of flowers'. Its present owner was less descriptive but rather more conclusive. He simply called it 'the most important painting in the world'. Whichever point of view you may prefer, Irises is certainly worth more than a passing glance. But the final words on Van Gogh and his art came from Monet: 'How did a man, who loved flowers and the light to such an extent and who rendered them so well, how then did he still manage to be so unhappyl'. It is a question we cannot answer, but it is at least pleasant and somehow reassuring to think that, even if his paintings brought no happiness to this tragic genius, they have, over the years, brought it, in large measure, to countless thousands of lesser mortals. And now it gives me great pleasure to declare this exhibition open and to invite you to view 'Irises and Five Masterpieces'. 67