Work of art donated to CBM will restore sight for many

Painting donated to CBM auctioned at Sotherby's in London.

“Gerhard Richter painting donated to CBM by an anonymous donor raises an extraordinary £35,000 at Sotheby’s auction.

On Thursday 11th February 2016 the Gerhard Richter painting “”Untitled (23 ‘Jan. 2015)””, Lot 108 (open link in new tab), was auctioned at Sotheby’s London for an astonishing £35,000.00, well exceeding the estimate. The funds are being donated to CBM and could restore sight to 1483 people through cataract surgery in the world’s poorest places.

An anonymous art lover based in Germany was moved to donate the painting to CBM having heard about our essential sight saving work from an eye doctor, Dr Kermani. The donor asked for his prized painting to be sold at auction, with all proceeds going direct to CBM. Sotheby’s in London also contributed to the good cause, by arranging all the logistics, including transportation, free of charge and waiving their Commission, enabling all profits to go direct to CBM.

Dr. Rainer Brockhaus, CBM Chairman in Germany said, “”CBM would like to thank the donor and also the buyer of the painting. The sale of this work of art will help us to fund a huge amount of operations, giving people the gift of sight. A cataract operation is a simple procedure but it transforms people’s lives radically””.

Worldwide, there are approximately 20 million people who are blind due to cataracts. It costs just over £24 to perform a cataract operation at a CBM project in developing countries. Ophthalmologist Dr. Kermani adds: “”Eyesight is so precious. It costs so little to give it back””.

The colorful painting “”Untitled (23 ‘Jan. 2015)”” Lot 108 is an oil on colour photograph, sized 11.1 cm by 16.4 cm and was auctioned in the’ Contemporary Art Day Auction’ in London.”

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