Churchill painting owned by Angelina Jolie fetches record £7M at Christie's

A painting by Winston Churchill, 'The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque', sold for £7 million (€8.1 million) at Christie's London Modern British Art Evening Sale, setting a record for the artist. The work, estimated at £1.5-2.5 million, was owned by actress Angelina Jolie. Two other Churchill paintings were also sold, bringing the total to £9.43 million. The painting was gifted by Churchill to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943, later sold by his son Elliot in 1945, and eventually acquired by Jolie and Brad Pitt in 2011. It was exhibited at the Daily News Building (1965), Churchill Memorial in Fulton, Missouri (1970), and Millenium Gate Museum in Atlanta (2014-2015). Churchill, a passionate painter, created about 500 works, never selling any but occasionally gifting them. Christie's expert Nick Orchard praised Churchill's handling of light in the painting, depicting the Koutoubia Mosque at sunset.