Art Auction Week Ends
June 26, 2012
LONDON—Phillips de Pury & Company’s Contemporary Evening Auction finished up a busy week of buying in London last night with a energetic total of $36 million in sales. This final tally easily exceeded pre-sale expectations of $23.4-$32.7 million. Although no individual artist’s work set new records, a Basiquat-Warhol collaboration, “Olympics” (1984) sold for $10,470,938 which was triple its pre-sale estimate of $3.1- $4.6 million.
Christie’s met with even greater success Wednesday night, with an auction total of $207,331,083—the highest such revenue ever set in Europe. Notable sales included Yves Klein’s “Le Rose du bleu” (1960) at a record setting $36,779,11, Bacon’s “Study for self-portrait” (1964), which went for £19.2 million, and Basiquiat’s “Untitled” (1981), selling for an astonishing record of $20,170,071.
By comparison, the Sotheby’s auction on Tuesday appears rather disappointing—the house sold $61.8 million in art, with 83% of the 53 lots sold. Although works by Gerhard Richter and Peter Doig works went for less than their presale estimate, Basiquat fared well: The artist’s “Warrior” (1982) earned £5.6 million, double its 2007 auction price.
Left Image: “The Tragic Conversion of Salvador Dalí (After John Martin)” by Glenn Brown via Christie’s Right Image: “Le Rose du bleu” by Yves Klien via Sotheby’s
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