Sotheby’s NY / Autumn 2012 Sales of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary Art Total $666.8 Million / £419 Million / €524.3 Million
Sotheby’s November auctions of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary Art concluded late yesterday in New York with an impressive total of $666,810,050 (£419,024,963 / €524,290,021), well within their cumulative pre-sale estimate of $556.8/777.2 million* (£349.7/488.1 million / €437.7/610.9 million). This overall result includes theContemporary Art Evening Auction’s remarkable total of $375,149,000 (£236,329,217 / €295,530,209) – the new record sum for an auction in any category at Sotheby’s** – and exceeds the strong $600 million total for the same sales in November 2011.
Contemporary Art – 13 & 14 November 2012
Sotheby’s November auctions of Contemporary Art totaled $463,694,275 (£292,049,609 / €364,957,880) (overall est. $345.8/472.2 million), the second highest total for a season of Contemporary sales at Sotheby’s worldwide***. The Evening Auction on 14 November was led by Mark Rothko’s No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue), which surpassed the Rockefeller Rothko in selling for $75,122,500 (£47,324,241 / €59,179,068) (top, est. $35/50 million), and set six new artist records, many for Abstract Expressionist works. Eight paintings from a Distinguished American Collection together achieved $101,348,000 (£63,845,281 / €79,838,666), featuring Jackson Pollock’s Number 4, 1951 that set a new record for the artist at $40,402,500 (£25,451,997 / €31,827,778) (left, est. $25/35 million). Seven works by Andy Warhol dominated the top prices for Pop art, including his Suicide from 1964 that achieved $16,322,500(£10,282,537 / €12,858,336) and set a new record for any Contemporary work on paper.
Sotheby’s worldwide sales of Contemporary art have now reached over $1.24 billion worldwide in 2012, with another upcoming auction in Paris this December. In October, Sotheby’s London set a new auction record for any living artist when Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (809-4) sold for $34,190,756 (£21,321,250 / €26,436220) (est. £6/12 million), while the May sales in New York featured Roy Lichtenstein’s Sleeping Girl that set a new auction record for the artist at $44,882,500 (£27,806,518 / €34,544,132) (est. $30/40 million).
Contemporary Art Evening Auction – 13 November
7 works over $10 million
17 works over $5 million
42 works over $1 million
New Artist Records
Jackson Pollock
Number 4, 1951
$40,402,500
Franz Kline
Shenandoah
$9,322,500
Arshile Gorky
Impatience
$6,802,500
Hans Hofmann
Nirvana
$4,562,500
Robert Motherwell
Elegy to the Spanish Republic #122
$3,666,500
Wade Guyton
Untitled
$782,500
Impressionist & Modern Art – 7 & 8 November 2012
The Evening and Day Sales of Impressionist & Modern Art together brought $203,115,775 (£126,975,354 / €159,332,141) (est. $211.1/305 million). The Evening Sale on 8 November was led by six works by Pablo Picasso that together sold for $81,387,000 (£50,905,055 / €63,906,120), featuring two portraits of his iconic muse Marie-Thérèse Walter: Nature morte aux tulipes, which achieved $41,522,500 (£25,971,041 / (€32,604,001) (right, est. $35/50 million), and Femme à la fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse), which sold for $17,218,500 (£10,769,640 / €13,520,188)(est. $15/20 million). Works by notable American museums performed particularly well throughout the evening, as did property from prominent estate collections: Claude Monet’s Champ de blé, sold to benefit future acquisitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art, brought $12,122,500 (£7,582,249 / €9,518,743) (est. $5/7 million), while six works from the estate of Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos together totaled $22,093,000 (£13,818,489 / €17,347,708).
These strong results lift Sotheby’s year-to-date sales of Impressionist and Modern art worldwide to a robust $918.3 million. That figure also includes the $330,568,500 (£203,765,332 / €250,936,357) achieved by the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale held in New York this May – Sotheby’s highest-ever total for a sale of Impressionist & Modern Art worldwide****, as well as its current third-highest total for a single auction in any category***** – which was highlighted by a new world record price at auction for Edvard Munch’s The Scream: $119.9 million (£73.9 million / €91 million)******.
Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale – 8 November
4 works over $10 million
6 works over $5 million
32 works over $1 million
New Artist Record by Medium
Marcel Duchamp
Belle Haleine, Eau de Voilette
$2,434,500
Record for a Work on Paper
* Pre-sale estimates do not include buyer’s premium
** The previous record total for any Sotheby’s auction was $362,037,000, achieved by the Contemporary Art Evening Auction in May 2008
*** The highest total for a single season of Contemporary art at Sotheby’s was achieved in May 2008, when the Evening and Day Auctions totaled $469,807,775
**** Sotheby’s previous record for a sale of Impressionist & Modern Art was $286,165,000, achieved in New York on 17 May 1990
***** Sotheby’s current second highest-ever auction total was achieved by the Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York on 14 May 2008, which totaled $362,037,000
****** The previous record for a work of art at auction was held by Pablo Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, which sold at Christie’s New York in May 2010 for $106,482,500
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