Edward Hopper painting coming to NYC auction

[March 27, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- An Edward Hopper painting of New York City's Roosevelt Island is coming to auction where it's estimated to sell for up to $20 million.

"Blackwell's Island" will be offered May 23 at Christie's. The large-scale oil has never come to auction before.

The 1928 painting has been exhibited in major museums including New York's Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

It was recently included in the first major retrospective of Hopper's work at the Grand Palais in Paris.

It depicts the island from across the river against a dark silhouette of buildings. The island was renamed for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1971.

Christie's identified the seller as a private American collector.

The current Hopper record is $26.9 million for "Hotel Window."

[Associated Press]

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