Market & prices

1897 — 2026

All 25 documented auction and trade mentions of work by Eugène Rensburg, plus 13 historical exhibition asking prices — faithful to the sources, with source-critical notes.

38 market mentions · 1897–2026

Oil painting of a market with vegetable stalls by Eugène Rensburg — Market with stalls — oil on canvas

What was paid for work by Rensburg — in his own time and since? This register collects every market mention from the research dossier: auction lots, estimates, asking prices and realised amounts, rendered faithfully and each annotated.

i. how to read

How to read this: three kinds of figures

An estimate is the auction house’s expectation before the sale; an asking price is what a dealer asks; a realised price is what was actually paid. They are not interchangeable and must not be conflated.

Aggregators such as MutualArt and Invaluable bundle lots from many salerooms and may contain re-offerings, composite lots or duplicates. Where a figure sits behind a login or paywall, we say so explicitly.

ii. 1914–1940

Prices in his own time

Exhibition catalogues of De Onafhankelijken (1914–1925) list prices for Rensburg’s work ranging from ƒ5 for a small etching to ƒ450 for a large work; in 1921, Bierkade, voormalige Wagenbrug, Den Haag cost ƒ35 unframed and ƒ70 framed.

In 1940, shortly after the bombing, Gerzon in Rotterdam presented virtually the entire Rotterdam collection; 20% of the proceeds went to the Stichting Opbouw Rotterdam — an early form of auction philanthropy that underlines the civic role of his documentary oeuvre.

iii. register

Register: 38 market mentions

Auction and trade mentions · 25

Work titles and medium descriptions follow the sources verbatim; amounts are rendered as text and have not been converted or indexed.
	Work	Medium / size	Auction / dealer			Note
1897 / sold 2003-01-21	A harbourscene with a city beyond	olieverf op doek, 28,5 × 48 cm	Christie’s Amsterdam	—	behind paywall	Object label suggests a silver medal; unconfirmed
2011-03-14–17	A Forest Brook	olieverf, 52 × 35 cm	Sotheby’s Amsterdam	$200–300	$6.462	Aggregator data not fully consistent
2019-12-15	Kralingsche Plas (1925) + Groenplaats Antwerpen	—	Veilinghuis Peerdeman	—	€75	Composite lot
date unknown	Zuidblaak Rotterdam	—	Kunstveiling	—	€50	Indexed snippet only
date unknown	Rembrandtsplein Amsterdam	—	Kunstveiling	—	€35	Indexed snippet only
2026-02-12–14	Wijnhaven Dordrecht plus twee werken	aquarel, 38,5 × 99,5 cm	Heritage Auctions Europe	opening bid €50	behind paywall	Two bidders
2025-08-23	De zeedijk te Oostende	aquarel, 1928, 37 × 58 cm	De Wit	€300–600	—	No public realised price
2025-03-17	Nieuwe Haven Rotterdam	pen/inkt/aquarel, 1910, 60 × 100 cm	Medusa	€100–300	—	No public realised price
2023-05-13	Antwerpen	—	Campo	€30–100	—	No public realised price
2023-05-01	Rotterdamgezicht	aquarel, 1952, 30,5 × 47 cm	Genève	CHF 150–200	—	No public realised price
2023-02-16	Werkplaats A.W. Doll, Oudemolstraat 49 Den Haag	1944	Vendu	€100–200	—	No public realised price
2022-10-04	Haagse Tijpen anno 1898	aquarel/krijt/inkt, 49,5 × 64 cm	Van Spengen	€150–300	—	Probably the same motif as HGA z.gr. 2043
2022-06-22	Drie Rotterdamse tekeningen	Bagijnenstraat 1915; haven 1910; Aelbrechtskolk 1910	Zwiggelaar	€70–140	—	Composite lot
2021-05-12	Dertien tekeningen	1909–1936	Burgersdijk	€160–200	—	Composite lot
2020-12-11	Prinsjesdag	aquarel, 62 × 97 cm	Onder de Boompjes	€100–150	—	No public realised price
2019	Brussels straatgezicht	ets/droge naald, 53,6 × 24 cm, 28/150	Bubb Kuyper	€50–70	—	No public realised price
2018-06-20	Antwerpse kathedraal plus vijf etsen	aquarel + etsen	Bernaerts	€150–200	—	Composite lot
2013-01-12	Dutch Harbor	ets	Clars	$50–100	—	No public realised price
2012-04-21	Rotterdamse ets	18/100, 30,5 × 48 cm	Morton Mexico	$900–1.300	—	No public realised price
2011-07-21	Monte Carlo	aquarel, 37,5 × 57 cm	Dominic Winter	£100–150	—	No public realised price
2011-06-04	Boslaan met gebouw	olieverf, 1898	Windibank	£100–150	—	No public realised price
catalogue, date unknown	Wintergezicht	pen, 1918, 35 × 55 cm	Dutch auction	€40–80	€30	Catalogue result/starting price
catalogue, date unknown	Paarden op de kade	pen, 35 × 50 cm	Dutch auction	€40–80	€30	Catalogue result/starting price
catalogue, date unknown	Cacao A. Driessen	pen, 37 × 68 cm	Dutch auction	€40–80	€30	Catalogue result/starting price
catalogue, date unknown	Haven Rotterdam	pen, 38 × 66 cm	Dutch auction	€40–80	€30	Catalogue result/starting price

Purchasing power. A 1914 guilder cannot simply be converted into euros: wages, rents and luxury goods each moved differently. The last column therefore gives a rough indication based on the general price index, purely to make the order of magnitude tangible, rounded to the nearest fifty. It is not a valuation and not proof of a sale: a catalogue asking price did not prove a sale even then. Source: Statistics Netherlands (CBS) StatLine 71905ned, consumer price index 1900=100, reference year 2025; converted at the fixed euro rate of ƒ2.20371.

Historical exhibition asking prices · 13

Asking prices from exhibition catalogues (a.o. De Onafhankelijken, 1914–1925); an asking price is no proof of sale. Amounts rendered faithfully as text, not converted.
	Work	Medium		Value today
1914	Lente	schilderij	ƒ375	± €5.500
1914	De Maas te Rotterdam	gekleurde krijttekening	ƒ175	± €2.550
1914	Oude huizen te Enkhuizen	pentekening	ƒ275	± €4.000
1914	Markt te Rotterdam	schilderij	ƒ450	± €6.550
1914	Gouda	pentekening	ƒ250	± €3.650
1919	Amersfoort	niet gespecificeerd	ƒ375	± €3.100
1920	Scheepswerf te Vlaardingen	niet gespecificeerd	ƒ350	± €2.650
1921	Molen de Hoop	ets	ƒ50 oningelijst / ƒ75 ingelijst	± €400
1921	Molen de Hoop	tekening	ƒ350	± €2.950
1921	Bierkade (voormalige Wagenbrug)	niet gespecificeerd	ƒ35 oningelijst / ƒ70 ingelijst	± €300
1922	Twee ongetitelde etsen	ets	elk ƒ45 oningelijst / ƒ65 ingelijst	± €450
1924	Laroche (Reissouvenir)	ets	ƒ7,50 groot / ƒ5 klein	± €100
1925	Hondenreeks	ets	ƒ7,50 oningelijst / ƒ15 ingelijst	± €100

For comparison: Markt te Rotterdam was listed at ƒ450 in the 1914 catalogue of De Onafhankelijken. A century later four of his pen drawings went for thirty euros each in a Dutch auction catalogue, against an estimate of forty to eighty. Set the two series side by side and what you see is not that the work got worse, but that the attention fell away.

iv. 2011

The 2011 record

The most striking market mention is the sale of A Forest Brook at Sotheby’s Amsterdam (14–17 March 2011): estimated at $200–300, realised $6,462 according to the aggregator MutualArt — more than twenty times the high estimate.

That figure comes from aggregator data that are not fully consistent among themselves; we therefore cite it with reservation, as an indication of what a strong Rensburg oil can achieve on the international market when bidders find each other.

Documentation, not valuation

This register is source-critical documentation, not an appraisal. Amounts are reproduced faithfully as text and have not been converted, indexed or corrected for inflation or currency changes. Some lots are composite lots containing more than one work; some figures are known only through aggregated or paywalled sources.

To find out whether a work is by Rensburg and where it belongs in the oeuvre, see the Appraisal page. More on the provenance of this data: Sources. More on Rensburg’s position: Rediscovery.