From a low estimate of $250.4 to a high estimate of $343.4 million dollars, the house of New York evening auction hauled over a $310.2million which comprised a sale of 72 lots and an impressive profitability of 95.8%.
Francis Bacon’s,’Three Studies of George Dyer’ was a winning lot of the night with $36.8 over a low estimate of $35.
The triptych
After the triptych, there was Andy Warhol’s Mao which got hit at $32.4 over a lower estimate of $30.
The Mao
Both of these paintings had never been offered in an auction before and hence face only one bid based upon third- party guarantees co-ordinated by the contemporary art head of the house.
Such a sale cannot be compared with the record sale of Leonardo Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. The art-piece got sold out for $450.
Leonardo Vinci’s Salvator Mundi Record auction-$450
Auctioneer Oliver Barker quotes that if the record sale is separated then Christie’s make a sale of worth $338.6 million which is just a bit higher than Sotheby’s, their arch rival.
Contemporary Art Head, Gregoire Billault mentions Salvator Mundi as a historic sale and marking the right direction for the auction.
Compared to last year’s figures of $276.6 million and $319.2million from last May, Sotheby’s have faired well this year.
Furthermore, it was the untitled work of Basquiat which had made a difference of $100 million threshold last year, marking it as the most expensive collectibles of its kind, an American has ever sold in it’s lifetime.
Michel Basquiat
Without any close competition with Baquiat’s work, the sale got accelerated by an untitled work by Laura Owens.
She has got a space assigned to her in the Whitney Museum where all her works shall be available on loan to the collectors right after the auction is over.
Laura Owen
The bid for Owens’ work started from $200M ranging towards $300M and then shooting to a high of $800M which then got braked by Lisa Dennison at $950M. Denisson being the Chairman of Sotheby secured the bid at $1.45 to $1.75 for her client shattering Owens’ record of $336.5M.
Lynette Yiadom Boakye’s Hours Behind You (2011) was yet another record breaking collectible which got sold to James Mackie via Jeffrey Deitch, the dealer for the night.
Jeffrey sealed it in for $1.3, adding a premium and moving it to $1.58 which is actually higher than its 4x multiplier range.
Coming next was Marlene Dumas’s Magdelena(Underwear and Bedtime Stories) which got sealed in for $3.62.
Following Roy Lichtenstein’s Female Head sealed in at $24.5M to Bame Fierro March, a specialist.
Then Jean Michel Basquiat’s Cabra was sealed in for $10.9
For the last but not the least, there were a couple of more paintings shuttling for the close. At last Franklin Bacon rose up to a bid of $35M marking the end of a marvelous show of a night.
‘Bid till the last and give your best. There is always a next time to gain!’ quoted a bidder.
What do you think?