RESULTS: 20TH/21ST CENTURY: LONDON TO PARIS EVENING SALE SERIES ACHIEVES £153,592,611 / $212,572,174 / €178,321,022
CHRISTIE’S 20TH/21ST CENTURY: LONDON TO PARIS LIVESTREAMED EVENING SALE SERIES, ANCHORED AROUND THE CULTURALLY DYNAMIC CITIES OF LONDON AND PARIS, ACHIEVED A TOTAL OF £153,592,611 / $212,572,174 / €178,321,022
SELLING 90% BY LOT AND 96% BY VALUE
THE BEST SUMMER SEASON SINCE 2017
THE AUCTION SERIES WAS LARGELY ORCHESTRATED BY THREE FEMALE AUCTIONEERS: CAMILLE DE FORESTA, VERONICA SCARPATI AND CÉCILE VERDIER IN ADDITION TO JUSSI PYLKKÄNEN
REGISTERED BIDDERS FROM 32 COUNTRIES AND 5 CONTINENTS DEMONSTRATE DEPTH OF EUROPEAN MARKET
LONDON TO PARIS EVENING SALE SEASON WAS LED BY PICASSO’S L’ÉTREINTE WHICH SOLD FOR £14,697,000 / €17,063,217 / $20,340,648
GIACOMETTI’S HOMME QUI CHAVIRE SOLD FOR £13,703,000 / €15,909,183 / $18,964,952. FROM THE SAME COLLECTION, BRIDGET RILEY’S ZING 2 SOLD FOR £3,262,500 / €3,787,763 / $4,515,300, THE SECOND HIGHEST PRICE ACHIEVED FOR THE ARTIST AT AUCTION
PICASSO FROM 1941-72
In addition to L’Étreinte, Homme au chapeau assis (1972) realised £5,880,500 / €6,827,261 / $8,138,612
Tête de femme (1941) – a highlight of the Collection Francis Gross sold for £3,118,002 / €3,620,000 / $4,315,314
BASQUIAT AND HARING TO BANKSY
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled sold for £5,995,000 / €6,960,195 / $8,297,080
Banksy’s Subject to Availability sold for £4,582,500 / €5,320,283 / $6,342,180
Keith Haring’s Untitled (1984), a digital vision of the future, sold for £4,301,250 / €4,993,751 / $5,952,930, the second highest price for a work by Keith Haring at auction
RENÉ MAGRITTE
La Vengeance (1936) from the Collection Francis Gross saw bidding between six clients drive the price to £12,534,453 / €14,552,500 / $17,347,683, the highest price realised for a work by René Magritte sold at auction in France, and the highest price paid at auction for a painting sold in France during the first half of the year
In London, Le domaine d’Arnheim more than doubled its low estimate to sell for £1,522,500 / €1,767,623 / $2,107,140
FEMALE ARTISTS
Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin sold for £2,662,500 / €3,091,163 / $3,684,900, more than twice its pre-sale estimate
Elizabeth Peyton’s portrait of Julie Mehretu, Julie (Julie Mehretu) sold for £682,500 / €792,383 / $944,580
Germaine Richier’s Le cheval à six têtes, grand sold for £322,997 / €375,000 / $447,028 while La sauterelle, moyenne sold for £107,666 / €125,000/ $149,009
POST-WAR ART
Pierre Soulages’ Peinture 162 x 114 cm, 17 avril 1972 sells for £1,774,332 / €2,060,000 / $2,455,676, leading Paris vente du soir. Peinture, 46.2 x 38.2 cm, 1952 sells for £534,022 / €620,000 / $739,087, sold for more than double the pre-sale estimate. The results affirm Soulages’ position as the most expensive French living artist
Kazuo Shiraga’s T 56 (£1,464,255 / €1,700,000 / $2,026,529) and Zao Wou-Ki’s 19 août 2006 (£1,133,506 / €1,316,000 / $1,568,772)
Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Attesa (£2,902,500 / €3,369,803 / $4,017,060)
GERMAN ART: FROM EXPRESSIONISM TO CONTEMPORARY ART
Wassily Kandinsky’s Noir Bigarré (1935) (£8,848,795 / €10,273,451 / $12,246,732), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Pantomime Reimann: Die Rache Der Tänzerin (£7,140,000 / €8,289,540 / $9,881,760), and Gerhard Richter’s Strip (£1,102,500 / €1,280,003 / $1,525,860) deliver strong prices for German art across the 20th and 21st centuries
ICONIC AND MODERNIST SCULPTURE
Isamu Noguchi’s the sky (£2,662,500 / €3,091,163 / $3,684,900) and Alberto Giacometti’s Lotar II (£2,807,924 / €3,260,000 / $3,886,167) are further sculptural highlights
Alexander Calder’s Big Red Disc which remained in the same collection since 1975 sells for £1,822,500 / €2,115,923 / $2,522,340
EXCEPTIONAL WORKS ON PAPER
Henri Matisse’s Portrait d’Elsa Triolet (£215,332 / €250,000 / $298,019) and Femme à la blouse roumaine (£86,133 / €100,000 / $119,208) highlight the Collection Francis Gross
Egon Schiele’s The Embrace doubles pre-sale expectations, realising £482,343 / €560,000 / $667,562
EDGAR DEGAS
Exploring two of Edgar Degas’ central themes, Danseuse Rose realised £3,022,500 / €3,509,123 / $4,183,140, while Femme Sortant Du Bain sold for £2,422,500 / €2,812,523 / $3,352,740
CONTEMPORARY PAINTING
Stanley Whitney’s Light a New Wilderness sold for a world auction record price of £525,000 / €609,525 / $726,600
Salman Toor’s The Palm Reader III realised £337,500 / €391,838 / $467,100 against a low estimate of £150,000
George Condo’s Untitled drew competitive bidding, eventually selling for £2,542,500 / €2,951,843 / $3,518,820
