New York auction smashes record for Frida Kahlo work
Issued on: 17/11/2021
A Sotheby's worker arranges the Frida Kahlo self-portrait "Diego y yo," in New York on November 15, 2021 ANGELA WEISS AFP
New York (AFP) – A rare painting by Frida Kahlo sold in a New York auction house Tuesday for almost $35 million, a record price for a work by the iconic Mexican artist.
At the same sale, a painting by French artist Pierre Soulages also broke a record for his work by reaching $20.2 million dollars.
As expected, the self-portrait of Kahlo entitled "Diego y yo" ("Diego and me," 1949), where the face of the painter's husband Diego Rivera appears on her forehead, smashed the former record of $8 million set by a Kahlo in 2016.
That made it the most expensive Latin American work of art in history sold at auction, the previous record having gone to a painting by Diego Rivera himself,
whose work "Los Rivales" (1931) sold for $9.76 million in 2018.
"Diego y yo" is emblematic of Kahlo's self-portraits, known for their intense and enigmatic gaze that made the Mexican painter, a feminist icon, famous around the world.
In the painting, Rivera's face appears on Frida's forehead, above her distinctive eyebrows and dark eyes from which a few teardrops fall.
The depiction of Rivera, who at the time was close to Mexican actress Maria Felix, as a third eye symbolizes the extent to which he tormented her thoughts, art experts say.
Kahlo and Rivera married each other twice. She died aged just 47 in 1954.
"Diego y yo" last sold at Sotheby's for $1.4 million in 1990.
Soulages' painting, which had spent more than 30 years in a private collection, corresponds to the red period of the century-old French artist.
It sold for $20.2 million after a heated battle between several bidders, some of them in Sotheby's auction room and others on the phone, greatly exceeding the previous record reached in 2019 of $9.6 million euros in Paris.
© 2021 AFP
Issued on: 17/11/2021
A Sotheby's worker arranges the Frida Kahlo self-portrait "Diego y yo," in New York on November 15, 2021 ANGELA WEISS AFP
New York (AFP) – A rare painting by Frida Kahlo sold in a New York auction house Tuesday for almost $35 million, a record price for a work by the iconic Mexican artist.
At the same sale, a painting by French artist Pierre Soulages also broke a record for his work by reaching $20.2 million dollars.
As expected, the self-portrait of Kahlo entitled "Diego y yo" ("Diego and me," 1949), where the face of the painter's husband Diego Rivera appears on her forehead, smashed the former record of $8 million set by a Kahlo in 2016.
That made it the most expensive Latin American work of art in history sold at auction, the previous record having gone to a painting by Diego Rivera himself,
whose work "Los Rivales" (1931) sold for $9.76 million in 2018.
"Diego y yo" is emblematic of Kahlo's self-portraits, known for their intense and enigmatic gaze that made the Mexican painter, a feminist icon, famous around the world.
In the painting, Rivera's face appears on Frida's forehead, above her distinctive eyebrows and dark eyes from which a few teardrops fall.
The depiction of Rivera, who at the time was close to Mexican actress Maria Felix, as a third eye symbolizes the extent to which he tormented her thoughts, art experts say.
Kahlo and Rivera married each other twice. She died aged just 47 in 1954.
"Diego y yo" last sold at Sotheby's for $1.4 million in 1990.
Soulages' painting, which had spent more than 30 years in a private collection, corresponds to the red period of the century-old French artist.
It sold for $20.2 million after a heated battle between several bidders, some of them in Sotheby's auction room and others on the phone, greatly exceeding the previous record reached in 2019 of $9.6 million euros in Paris.
© 2021 AFP
Record-Setting Frida Kahlo Portrait Tops Sotheby’s $282 M. Modern Art Evening Sale
BY ANGELICA VILLA
BY ANGELICA VILLA
ART NEWS
November 16, 2021
November 16, 2021
Frida Kahlo "Diego y yo" during the press preview for Sotheby's Marquee Evening Sales starring the Macklowe Collection, New York, NY, November 5, 2021.SIPA USA VIA AP
Following its record-high $676 million sale of the widely anticipated Macklowe collection in New York on Monday night, Sotheby’s staged a modern art evening sale the following evening that brought in a collective $282 million with fees.
This sale achieved a near perfect sell-through rate, with 46 out of the 47 lots offered finding buyers. More than half of the lots were secured with financial backing; 25 works from the sale had irrevocable bids, meaning 78 percent of the works would sell for at least their pre-sale low estimate. Before the sale, three lots were withdrawn, including a 1932 Georgia O’Keefe painting (estimated at $8 million) and a Henry Moore sculpture. Overall, the lots that went to auction Tuesday night hammered at $240.5 million, landing solidly within its pre-sale expectation of $192.2 million–$266.9 million.
Sotheby’s European chairman, Oliver Barker, returned to the auction podium at the house’s York Avenue headquarters in New York to lead the two-hour evening sale, the second of its four marquee sales this week. Attendees filled the audience of the house’s revamped salesroom, accompanied by new digital frills which were sponsored by electronics company Samsung.
Following its record-high $676 million sale of the widely anticipated Macklowe collection in New York on Monday night, Sotheby’s staged a modern art evening sale the following evening that brought in a collective $282 million with fees.
This sale achieved a near perfect sell-through rate, with 46 out of the 47 lots offered finding buyers. More than half of the lots were secured with financial backing; 25 works from the sale had irrevocable bids, meaning 78 percent of the works would sell for at least their pre-sale low estimate. Before the sale, three lots were withdrawn, including a 1932 Georgia O’Keefe painting (estimated at $8 million) and a Henry Moore sculpture. Overall, the lots that went to auction Tuesday night hammered at $240.5 million, landing solidly within its pre-sale expectation of $192.2 million–$266.9 million.
Sotheby’s European chairman, Oliver Barker, returned to the auction podium at the house’s York Avenue headquarters in New York to lead the two-hour evening sale, the second of its four marquee sales this week. Attendees filled the audience of the house’s revamped salesroom, accompanied by new digital frills which were sponsored by electronics company Samsung.
Claude Monet, Coin Du Bassin Aux Nympheas, 1889.
SIPA USA VIA AP
The sale’s top lot was Claude Monet’s Coin du bassin aux nymphéas (1918), a water lilies still-life scene that sold for $50.8 million. Coming to the sale with an irrevocable bid, it hammered at $44 million, healthily above its low $40 million estimate. It went to a bidder on the phone with Sotheby’s Mexico City office representative Lulu de Creel, who triumphed over two bidders in Hong Kong to win it. According to Artnet News, the work was being sold by engineer and MIT Museum board member Ronald Cordover, who lent it a 2020 exhibition devoted to the French painter that traveled to the Denver Art Museum and the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. He purchased it at auction in 1997 for $6.7 million.
But it was a 1949 self-portrait by Frida Kahlo that stole the show. Held in a private collection for some 30 years, it sold for a record-setting $34.9 million. The painting depicts the artist gazing tearfully at the viewer with an image of her husband, Mexican painter Diego Rivera, superimposed on her forehead, serving as a kind of third eye. Blitzing past Kahlo’s $8 million auction record, the work hammered on a bid of $31 million (just above its low estimate) to a client on the phone with Sotheby’s New York private sales representative Ana di Stasi.
Sotheby’s revealed after the sale that the winning bidder was Argentine financier Eduardo F. Costantini. One of the world’s top collectors and the founder of the private museum MALBA in Buenos Aires, Costantini is no stranger to breaking auction records for Latin American art.
Kahlo’s painting, a response to Rivera’s infidelity, also bested the previous auction record for a work by a Latin American artist, held since 2019 when one of Rivera’s works sold for $9.8 million. In a statement following the sale, di Stasis said, “You could call tonight’s result the ultimate revenge, but in fact, it is the ultimate validation of Kahlo’s extraordinary talent and global appeal.”
Another new auction record was set for French centenarian Pierre Soulages. His 1961 black-and-red abstract canvas for $20.1 million with fees, after a protracted bidding spar between Sotheby’s chairman in Switzerland, Caroline Lang ,and Sotheby’s chairman of Europe, Helena Newman. When it hammered for hammered for $17.3 million to Newman’s client, the salesroom broke into applause. More than doubling its estimate of $8 million, the result exceeded the artist’s previous auction record of $10.6 million set in in November 2018 when a 1959 painting sold at Christie’s in New York.
The sale’s top lot was Claude Monet’s Coin du bassin aux nymphéas (1918), a water lilies still-life scene that sold for $50.8 million. Coming to the sale with an irrevocable bid, it hammered at $44 million, healthily above its low $40 million estimate. It went to a bidder on the phone with Sotheby’s Mexico City office representative Lulu de Creel, who triumphed over two bidders in Hong Kong to win it. According to Artnet News, the work was being sold by engineer and MIT Museum board member Ronald Cordover, who lent it a 2020 exhibition devoted to the French painter that traveled to the Denver Art Museum and the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. He purchased it at auction in 1997 for $6.7 million.
But it was a 1949 self-portrait by Frida Kahlo that stole the show. Held in a private collection for some 30 years, it sold for a record-setting $34.9 million. The painting depicts the artist gazing tearfully at the viewer with an image of her husband, Mexican painter Diego Rivera, superimposed on her forehead, serving as a kind of third eye. Blitzing past Kahlo’s $8 million auction record, the work hammered on a bid of $31 million (just above its low estimate) to a client on the phone with Sotheby’s New York private sales representative Ana di Stasi.
Sotheby’s revealed after the sale that the winning bidder was Argentine financier Eduardo F. Costantini. One of the world’s top collectors and the founder of the private museum MALBA in Buenos Aires, Costantini is no stranger to breaking auction records for Latin American art.
Kahlo’s painting, a response to Rivera’s infidelity, also bested the previous auction record for a work by a Latin American artist, held since 2019 when one of Rivera’s works sold for $9.8 million. In a statement following the sale, di Stasis said, “You could call tonight’s result the ultimate revenge, but in fact, it is the ultimate validation of Kahlo’s extraordinary talent and global appeal.”
Another new auction record was set for French centenarian Pierre Soulages. His 1961 black-and-red abstract canvas for $20.1 million with fees, after a protracted bidding spar between Sotheby’s chairman in Switzerland, Caroline Lang ,and Sotheby’s chairman of Europe, Helena Newman. When it hammered for hammered for $17.3 million to Newman’s client, the salesroom broke into applause. More than doubling its estimate of $8 million, the result exceeded the artist’s previous auction record of $10.6 million set in in November 2018 when a 1959 painting sold at Christie’s in New York.
Sotheby’s specialists bidding during a modern art evening sale in New York on November 16, 2021.SOTHEBY'S
Another big-ticket item that outpaced expectations was an untitled hanging mobile sculpture made of painted metal sheet and wire by Alexander Calder. Three bidders between New York and London, including one in the auction room, drove the hammer price up to $16.9 million, well past its $10 million estimate. The piece sold for a final price of $19.7 million. The current seller purchased it at Christie’s two decades ago for $1 million.
Salvador Dali’s L’Angelus (1934-35), a minuscule painting of two male and female silhouetted figures divided by a blue body of water, also surpassed its estimate, going for a final price of $10.7 million. The lot, which has been held in the same collection for three decades, more than doubled its estimate of $4 million.
Other noteworthy sales came throughout the auction. A 1933 portrait of a child holding a stuffed teddy bear, titled Portrait de Mademoiselle Poum Rachou, by Art Deco darling Tamara de Lempicka sold for $7.8 million, against an estimate of $3.5 million. The seller purchased it at auction in 2009 for $2.9 million. A vibrant abstract canvas titled Berkley #6 (1953) by Richard Diebenkorn was sold by the family of developer Jay I. Kislak for $5 million to raise funds for the collector’s family foundation.
Following the record sale of the Kahlo, lots by female Latin American surrealists also found success on Tuesday. Leonor Fini’s Les Aveugles (1968), which depicts two floor-bound women in an embrace that was exhibited in Fini’s 2018-2019 retrospective at the Museum of Sex in New York, sold for $867,000, more than three times its estimate of $200,000. A Remedios Varo painting of two figures in a dream-like interior scene, Les feuilles mortes (1956), sold for $2.8 million, exceeding its high estimate of $2 million.
Unlike others sales this week and last at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, tonight’s modern art auction fielded far more bidding from the U.S. and Europe, than it did from Asia. Though the sale was highly managed with behind-the-scenes financial deals that typically hamper bidding, competition among buyers was still spirited and many of the sale’s lots met expectations after all.
Another big-ticket item that outpaced expectations was an untitled hanging mobile sculpture made of painted metal sheet and wire by Alexander Calder. Three bidders between New York and London, including one in the auction room, drove the hammer price up to $16.9 million, well past its $10 million estimate. The piece sold for a final price of $19.7 million. The current seller purchased it at Christie’s two decades ago for $1 million.
Salvador Dali’s L’Angelus (1934-35), a minuscule painting of two male and female silhouetted figures divided by a blue body of water, also surpassed its estimate, going for a final price of $10.7 million. The lot, which has been held in the same collection for three decades, more than doubled its estimate of $4 million.
Other noteworthy sales came throughout the auction. A 1933 portrait of a child holding a stuffed teddy bear, titled Portrait de Mademoiselle Poum Rachou, by Art Deco darling Tamara de Lempicka sold for $7.8 million, against an estimate of $3.5 million. The seller purchased it at auction in 2009 for $2.9 million. A vibrant abstract canvas titled Berkley #6 (1953) by Richard Diebenkorn was sold by the family of developer Jay I. Kislak for $5 million to raise funds for the collector’s family foundation.
Following the record sale of the Kahlo, lots by female Latin American surrealists also found success on Tuesday. Leonor Fini’s Les Aveugles (1968), which depicts two floor-bound women in an embrace that was exhibited in Fini’s 2018-2019 retrospective at the Museum of Sex in New York, sold for $867,000, more than three times its estimate of $200,000. A Remedios Varo painting of two figures in a dream-like interior scene, Les feuilles mortes (1956), sold for $2.8 million, exceeding its high estimate of $2 million.
Unlike others sales this week and last at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, tonight’s modern art auction fielded far more bidding from the U.S. and Europe, than it did from Asia. Though the sale was highly managed with behind-the-scenes financial deals that typically hamper bidding, competition among buyers was still spirited and many of the sale’s lots met expectations after all.
The Macklowe Collection Delivers an Eye-Popping $676 Million at Sotheby’s, Making It the Most Valuable Sale in Company History
The 35-lot sale, the result of the couple's bitter divorce, was the biggest test of the high-end art market since March 2020.
Katya Kazakina,
Sotheby’s billionaire owner Patrick Drahi and Harry Macklowe in front of Jackson Pollock’s Number 17, 1951. Photo: Katya Kazakina
The sale was the biggest test of the high-end art market since the world went into lockdown 19 months ago. While the mood in the room was subdued and competition for many of the lots was relatively sparse, international bidding from 25 countries boosted the results. Four artworks fetched more than $50 million—twice as many as sold in all of 2020. The average lot price was, astoundingly, $19.3 million.
Like at Christie’s 21st century auction last week, the lion’s share of the offerings—almost 80 percent of the sale’s estimated value—was backed by irrevocable bids, meaning those works were essentially presold. While a necessary part of financial wizardry, such arrangements often dampen live bidding, as was the case with several key lots at Sotheby’s.
“Financing is part of the competitive landscape,” said Evan Beard, head of private business services at Bank of America. “They are managing risk like an investment bank does.” Sotheby’s won the consignment in part by guaranteeing the former couple a minimum price no matter what happened at the auction.
Mark Rothko, No. 7 (1951). Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s.
The top lot of the night was Rothko’s No. 7 (1951), snapped up by a client of the chairman of Sotheby’s Asia for $82.5 million. The eight-foot-tall canvas featuring horizontal bands of pink, yellow, and orange, which had never before appeared at auction, was expected to bring in $70 million to $90 million. It fell just short of setting a new auction record for the Abstract Expressionist, whose top price is $86.9 million. (Final prices include buyer’s premium unless otherwise noted; pre-sale estimates do not.)
Giacometti’s Le Nez (1947), a haunting post-World War II sculpture of a bronze head with an extremely long, pointy nose, hammered for $68 million, below the low estimate of $70 million. The final price with fees came to $78.4 million, smack in the middle of expectations. After the sale, Justin Sun, the BitTorrent CEO and Chinese cryptocurrency investor who was the underbidder for Beeple’s $69.3 million NFT, tweeted that he was the buyer of the sculpture. Sotheby’s had previously confirmed the buyer came from Asia.
Out in force, Asian bidders also pursued works by Willem de Kooning, Agnes Martin, and Gerhard Richter.
Giacometti’s Le Nez and Warhol’s Nine Marilyns. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Not every high price was orchestrated in advance. Pollock’s Number 17, 1951, a painting of inky black swirls that resemble a very complex Rorschach test, was a surprise success. It sold for $61.6 million, smashing its $35 million high estimate and surpassing the artist’s previous record of $58.3 million, set for a more characteristic drip painting in 2013.
Martin’s Untitled #44 was another less expected hit. Estimated at $6 million to $8 million, the 1974 Minimalist canvas was acquired by the Macklowes the year it was made. It ended up selling for $17.7 million, a record for the artist, after being chased by five bidders.
Cy Twombly’s 18-foot-wide untitled painting of dripping red flowers on a light green background sold for $58.8 million, on the upper end of its $40 million-to-$60 million estimate. The Macklowes also acquired it the year it was made, in 2007, from Gagosian gallery in New York. Each work in the show was priced at $5 million, according to Matthew Armstrong, the former curator of Donald Marron’s collection, which bought another piece from the series. (“Ours was the best of the bunch,” he added.)
Cy Twombly, Untitled (2007). Image courtesy Sotheby’s.
Two paintings by Andy Warhol also landed among the top 10 lots. Nine Marilyns (1962) sold to its guarantor for $47.4 million, against the estimated range of $40 million to $60 million. It was initially bought by art advisor Jude Hess, but Sotheby’s reopened the lot later in the sale; it ultimately sold for $1 million less than she had bid. It was unclear whether the unusual move was due to a case of buyer’s remorse; Sotheby’s couldn’t immediately explain what happened.
While some experts had worried in the run-up to the sale that the top-quality collection might fail to attract the same level of excitement as hot, in-demand emerging artists have in recent months, the heavyweight prices proved that the top of the market has emerged from lockdown strong, even if the air up there is comparatively thin.
Sotheby’s worked hard to ensure it would deliver. In addition to lining up a phalanx of guarantees, the auction house sent the works on tour to Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, London, Los Angeles, and Paris before they arrived in New York. (Once they got there, the company also invited music stars and social-media influencers for a private tour.) More than 27,000 people attended the previews around the world.
The scene at Sotheby’s Macklowe Collection sale. Photo: Katya Kazakina.
Sotheby’s has six more auctions to go this week, offering over $400 million worth of art. Rival Christie’s generated $1.1 billion from its series of sales last week.
But it’s the Macklowe auction for which this season will be remembered. The sheer number of masterpieces offered at once was unprecedented, according to Oliver Barker, the evening’s auctioneer.
“Tonight was the kind of sale auctioneers dream about,” he said after the event. “It’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
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The 35-lot sale, the result of the couple's bitter divorce, was the biggest test of the high-end art market since March 2020.
Katya Kazakina,
November 15, 2021
The Macklowe Collection sale. Photo courtesy of Sotheby's.
The high-end art market breathed a sigh of relief as trophies from the Macklowe Collection by artists including Mark Rothko, Alberto Giacometti, and Jackson Pollock generated an eye-watering $676.1 million at auction on Monday.
The highly anticipated event was ordered by the court as part of the bitter divorce between real-estate developer Harry Macklowe and his museum trustee ex-wife Linda. The 35 lots offered on Monday were expected to bring $444 million to $619 million. Every single one sold and Sotheby’s heralded the results as the most valuable sale in its history. More Macklowe material will be offered in May.
“I am very, very pleased and happy,” Harry Macklowe said after the auction. “I feel very privileged.”
Both warring exes attended the event, though Linda—who has been credited as the lead architect of the collection, and who fought unsuccessfully to keep the works from hitting the auction block—watched from a skybox and did not speak to the press. Harry, sporting a long, richly patterned scarf around his neck, said he is as proud of the collection he built with his ex-wife over six decades as he is of any of his buildings.
The high-end art market breathed a sigh of relief as trophies from the Macklowe Collection by artists including Mark Rothko, Alberto Giacometti, and Jackson Pollock generated an eye-watering $676.1 million at auction on Monday.
The highly anticipated event was ordered by the court as part of the bitter divorce between real-estate developer Harry Macklowe and his museum trustee ex-wife Linda. The 35 lots offered on Monday were expected to bring $444 million to $619 million. Every single one sold and Sotheby’s heralded the results as the most valuable sale in its history. More Macklowe material will be offered in May.
“I am very, very pleased and happy,” Harry Macklowe said after the auction. “I feel very privileged.”
Both warring exes attended the event, though Linda—who has been credited as the lead architect of the collection, and who fought unsuccessfully to keep the works from hitting the auction block—watched from a skybox and did not speak to the press. Harry, sporting a long, richly patterned scarf around his neck, said he is as proud of the collection he built with his ex-wife over six decades as he is of any of his buildings.
Sotheby’s billionaire owner Patrick Drahi and Harry Macklowe in front of Jackson Pollock’s Number 17, 1951. Photo: Katya Kazakina
The sale was the biggest test of the high-end art market since the world went into lockdown 19 months ago. While the mood in the room was subdued and competition for many of the lots was relatively sparse, international bidding from 25 countries boosted the results. Four artworks fetched more than $50 million—twice as many as sold in all of 2020. The average lot price was, astoundingly, $19.3 million.
Like at Christie’s 21st century auction last week, the lion’s share of the offerings—almost 80 percent of the sale’s estimated value—was backed by irrevocable bids, meaning those works were essentially presold. While a necessary part of financial wizardry, such arrangements often dampen live bidding, as was the case with several key lots at Sotheby’s.
“Financing is part of the competitive landscape,” said Evan Beard, head of private business services at Bank of America. “They are managing risk like an investment bank does.” Sotheby’s won the consignment in part by guaranteeing the former couple a minimum price no matter what happened at the auction.
Mark Rothko, No. 7 (1951). Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s.
The top lot of the night was Rothko’s No. 7 (1951), snapped up by a client of the chairman of Sotheby’s Asia for $82.5 million. The eight-foot-tall canvas featuring horizontal bands of pink, yellow, and orange, which had never before appeared at auction, was expected to bring in $70 million to $90 million. It fell just short of setting a new auction record for the Abstract Expressionist, whose top price is $86.9 million. (Final prices include buyer’s premium unless otherwise noted; pre-sale estimates do not.)
Giacometti’s Le Nez (1947), a haunting post-World War II sculpture of a bronze head with an extremely long, pointy nose, hammered for $68 million, below the low estimate of $70 million. The final price with fees came to $78.4 million, smack in the middle of expectations. After the sale, Justin Sun, the BitTorrent CEO and Chinese cryptocurrency investor who was the underbidder for Beeple’s $69.3 million NFT, tweeted that he was the buyer of the sculpture. Sotheby’s had previously confirmed the buyer came from Asia.
Out in force, Asian bidders also pursued works by Willem de Kooning, Agnes Martin, and Gerhard Richter.
Giacometti’s Le Nez and Warhol’s Nine Marilyns. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Not every high price was orchestrated in advance. Pollock’s Number 17, 1951, a painting of inky black swirls that resemble a very complex Rorschach test, was a surprise success. It sold for $61.6 million, smashing its $35 million high estimate and surpassing the artist’s previous record of $58.3 million, set for a more characteristic drip painting in 2013.
Martin’s Untitled #44 was another less expected hit. Estimated at $6 million to $8 million, the 1974 Minimalist canvas was acquired by the Macklowes the year it was made. It ended up selling for $17.7 million, a record for the artist, after being chased by five bidders.
Cy Twombly’s 18-foot-wide untitled painting of dripping red flowers on a light green background sold for $58.8 million, on the upper end of its $40 million-to-$60 million estimate. The Macklowes also acquired it the year it was made, in 2007, from Gagosian gallery in New York. Each work in the show was priced at $5 million, according to Matthew Armstrong, the former curator of Donald Marron’s collection, which bought another piece from the series. (“Ours was the best of the bunch,” he added.)
Cy Twombly, Untitled (2007). Image courtesy Sotheby’s.
Two paintings by Andy Warhol also landed among the top 10 lots. Nine Marilyns (1962) sold to its guarantor for $47.4 million, against the estimated range of $40 million to $60 million. It was initially bought by art advisor Jude Hess, but Sotheby’s reopened the lot later in the sale; it ultimately sold for $1 million less than she had bid. It was unclear whether the unusual move was due to a case of buyer’s remorse; Sotheby’s couldn’t immediately explain what happened.
While some experts had worried in the run-up to the sale that the top-quality collection might fail to attract the same level of excitement as hot, in-demand emerging artists have in recent months, the heavyweight prices proved that the top of the market has emerged from lockdown strong, even if the air up there is comparatively thin.
Sotheby’s worked hard to ensure it would deliver. In addition to lining up a phalanx of guarantees, the auction house sent the works on tour to Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, London, Los Angeles, and Paris before they arrived in New York. (Once they got there, the company also invited music stars and social-media influencers for a private tour.) More than 27,000 people attended the previews around the world.
The scene at Sotheby’s Macklowe Collection sale. Photo: Katya Kazakina.
Sotheby’s has six more auctions to go this week, offering over $400 million worth of art. Rival Christie’s generated $1.1 billion from its series of sales last week.
But it’s the Macklowe auction for which this season will be remembered. The sheer number of masterpieces offered at once was unprecedented, according to Oliver Barker, the evening’s auctioneer.
“Tonight was the kind of sale auctioneers dream about,” he said after the event. “It’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
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