GLOBAL PARTICIPATION: 64% AMERICAS / 8% APAC / 28% EMEA

New York – Christie’s kicked off its eight-day Spring Marquee Week of 20th and 21st Century Art sales with Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection and the 20th Century Evening Sale. The salesroom was full, with many bids coming from the audience and in total, the two sales achieved $506,571,600, selling 86% by lot, 90% by value, and 107% hammer against low estimate.

The evening began with 16 works from the collection of S.I. Newhouse, which achieved a total of $177,792,000, selling 100% by lot, and 105.6% by low estimate. With this sale, the Collection of S.I. Newhouse is now established as the sixth highest collection total of all time, combined with a total of $237,975,000 made during sales in 2018 and 2019. Highlights from this group included Francis Bacon’s 1969 Self-Portrait, which made $34,622,500, and Willem de Kooning’s masterful Orestes, which brought $30,885,000.

The 20th Century Evening Sale offered works from a strong group of estates and private collections:
• The Estate of Paul Allen, which made $88,856,000
• The Estate of Alan and Dorothy Press, which totaled $44,482,400
• The Estate of Sophie F. Danforth, which brought $23,837,000
• The collection of Jacques and Emy Cohenca, which realized $20,560,000

The top lot was Henri Rousseau, Les Flamants, which made $43,535,000. Other highlights included, Pablo Picasso’s Nature morte à la fenêtre, which sold for $41,810,000; Ed Ruscha’s Burning Gas Station, which made $22,260,000; Georgia O’Keeffe’s Black Iris VI, which sold for $21,110,000, and David Hockney’s Early Blossom, Woldgatehe Gate, which realized $19,385,000.

Christie’s set three records during the sale. Henri Rousseau’s, Les Flamants – a rare example with impeccable provenance – soared past the artists' previous record of $4,400,000 set in 1993, bringing $43,535,000. Ken Price’s M. Green made $554,400, breaking the artist’s previous record of $509,000. Agnes Pelton’s The Fountains made $3,438,000, her first major work to appear at auction.

Max Carter, Vice Chairman, 20th and 21st Century Art, said, “ S.I. Newhouse towered over American cultural life for fifty years and his profound collecting legacy lives on in the many he influenced and inspired, and in this extraordinarily special series of sales we have been honored to hold at Christie's.”

Vanessa Fusco, Co-Head of the 20th Century Evening Sale and Head of Impressionist and Modern Art Department, said, “Les Flamants has been in the legendary Whitney collection since 1949 and it could easily be another century before we see a work of this caliber come to market. Tonight was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime moment and a career high. Rousseau is an artist who is undoubtably recognized as one of the grandfathers of modern art and until our sale, one of his masterpieces has not been available since the last world record price was achieved 30 years ago. Tonight, we beat that record tenfold and were able to offer Le Douanier alongside many of the artists whom he inspired.”

Emily Kaplan, Co-Head of the 20th Century Evening Sale, said, "It was a true honor tonight to bring to market such exceptional estates and collections ranging from an exquisite group of nine works from Dorothy and Alan Press to the seven works that comprised the Final Installment of Paul Allen, which brought the highest collection total of all time to a staggering $1.7 billion. We could not be prouder of the results of our 20th Century Evening Sale,and look forward to an exciting week of sales to follow."