Four season-themed paintings by Halil Pasha, one of the leading artists of the transition period from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, sold for $725,760 at a Sotheby’s auction, marking the highest price ever achieved for the artist.
According to a statement from the auction house Sotheby’s, the 1912 work had been estimated to sell for between $269,600 and $404,400 but exceeded expectations during the sale. The four-panel composition was featured in the “Orientalist Art” auction, which highlights works inspired by North Africa, Egypt, the Levant, Arabia and the Ottoman world from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The strong result underscores continued international demand for Halil Pasha’s works in the global art market.
An earlier version of the same composition, dated to the early 1900s, is currently on display at Pera Museum in Istanbul.
The exhibition, “By the Water: The Life and Art of Halil Paşa,” organized by the Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation, brings together the artist’s works alongside archival documents, photographs and sketchbooks.
The show examines Halil Pasha’s artistic production shaped by his time in Istanbul, Paris and Egypt, with emphasis on portraiture, still life and landscape painting, as well as his relationship with light and nature.
Visitors can also see works from different periods of the artist’s career, including “The Cavalryman,” which was previously part of the Versace Collection and later sold at Sotheby’s.
The exhibition runs through Aug. 23 at the Pera Museum.
Halil Pasha was among the prominent painters of the late Ottoman and early Republican era, known for blending Western academic techniques with Orientalist themes.
