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On Monday night, Christie’s kicked off its spring marquee auctions with back-to-back sales that brought in a combined $489 million with fees. The event, which took place in New York, featured a 20th Century Evening Sale. The evening began with the Riggio collection, known for its consistent quality and range.
The collection leaned heavily on Surrealism, Modernism, and Minimalism. It served as a public farewell to one of New York’s prominent art collecting couples. The sale totaled $272 million, including buyer’s premiums, on a low estimate of $252 million.
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Out of 39 lots, 23 had third-party guarantees, and all had minimum price guarantees.
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The highlight of this segment was Piet Mondrian’s “Composition With Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue” (1922), which sold for $47.6 million, including fees, below its estimate of $50 million. René Magritte’s “L’empire des lumières” fetched $34.9 million with fees.
Other key sales included Magritte’s “Les droits de l’homme” and Alberto Giacometti’s “Femme de Venise I,” selling for $15.94 million and $17.66 million with fees, respectively. The 20th Century Evening Sale followed, featuring heavyweight names and generated a hammer total of $181.1 million or $217 million including fees.
Christie’s auction showcases high-end art
The top lot was Claude Monet’s “Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule,” which sold for $42.9 million with fees. Another sale was Mark Rothko’s “No. 4 (Two Dominants) [Orange, Plum, Black],” which fetched $37.785 million with fees.
Gerhard Richter’s “Korsika (Schiu)” was another highlight, selling for $15.2 million with fees. Frank Stella’s “Firuzabad III” exceeded expectations, hammering at $2.7 million and totaling $3.17 million with fees, surpassing its high estimate of $2 million. Dorothea Tanning’s piece set a new auction record for the artist, selling for $2.349 million.
While the night’s total with buyer’s premium of $489 million exceeded the $446 million pre-sale low estimate, the hammer total was below at $409 million, indicating missed expectations. However, the results provided a clear indication of the current art market: steady, stratified, and reliant on proven names. Art advisors noted the effort put into achieving favorable numbers despite the tight market conditions.
While the auction lacked spectacular sales, it was considered solid and reflective of uncertain times. Christie’s solid performance amid a cooled market environment demonstrated that established names still attract high bids, though contemporary preferences are shifting. The auction house’s strategy of leveraging major guarantees paid off, reinforcing the importance of curation and timing in high-end art sales.
