Christie’s and Sotheby’s held the most successful auctions in their history

Date November 14, 2012 will undoubtedly go down in the history of Christie’s auction house, as the day when the most successful auction in history was held. Art sales reached an unprecedented amount of $ 412 million.

During the auction of contemporary and post-war art, record prices were recorded for the works of Jeff Koons (Jeff Koons, 1955), Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1960-1988) and Franz Kline (Franz Kline, 1910-1962), whose sample Untitled Abstract Expressionism (1957) was sold for $ 40.4 million with an initial valuation of $ 20 to $ 30 million. Significantly more expensive than the initial estimate (about 35 million US dollars), the painting “Statue Of Liberty” by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was sold. Bidding was stopped at an amount of 43.7 million US dollars.

The sculpture "Tulips" (Tulips, 1995-2006) by Jeff Koons found his buyer for 33.7 million US dollars, which was a new record for the works of this artist. Impressive results were also shown by the nameless drawing by Jean-Michel Basquiat, made in 1981, which was sold for $ 26.4 million, which improved the author’s previous record of $ 20.1 million. Significantly more expensive was the painting by Roy Lichtenstein (Roy Lichtenstein, 1923-1997) Nude with a Red Shirt (Nude with Red Shirt, 1995). At an initial valuation of $ 15 million, the painting was sold for $ 28.1 million.

The day before Christie’s, their main rival, Sotheby’s, in New York, held the most successful auction of contemporary art in its own history. Sales revenue reached $ 375 million.

The most expensive auction item was the work "No. 1 Royal Red and Blue" (No. 1 Royal Red and Blue, 1954), Mark Rothko (Mark Rothko, 1903-1970), which was sold for 75.1 million US dollars, with Estimate at 35-50 million. This result, however, could not exceed the record of 86.9 million US dollars, which on May 8 this year, an unknown buyer paid for the painting "Orange, Red, Yellow" (Orange, Red, Yellow, 1961) at Christie’s auction.

In an official statement, Sotheby’s says that 84% of lots, including the work of Jackson Pollock (Jackson Pollock, 1912-1956), Franz Klein, Hans Hofmann (Hans Hofmann, 1880-1966), Arshile Gorky (Arshile Gorky, 1904-1948), Robert Motherwell (Robert Motherwell, 1915-1991) and Wade Guyton (Wade Guyton, 1972) were sold for record amounts for their authors.

Painting Number 4 (1951) Pollock, estimated at 25-35 million dollars, found its new owner for 40.4 million US dollars. However, the highest price for a painting by an American expressionist was paid in 2006, when Number 5 (1948) went into a private collection for $ 140 million.

Both auction houses also broke their own records at a jewelry auction. So, in Geneva at the Sotheby’s auction, 10.48 - the Fancy Deep Blue cartan blue diamond was sold for 10.9 million US dollars, and the total sales revenue amounted to almost 193 million US dollars. For a record $ 21.5 million, Christie’s also sold the legendary Archduke Joseph, which until 1936 belonged to the ruling Habsburg dynasty.

Anna Sidorova