May 13, 2021
14:33
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$ 93 million for a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, $ 70 million for a Monet. Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York have not looked at a dollar cent more or less in recent days.
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The two largest auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, traditionally hold their spring auctions in New York in May. They are usually the first highlight of the art market year. This year it was mainly looking forward to how the auctions had sweetened the corona pandemic.
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That turns out to be very good. The extravaganza kicked off Tuesday night at Christie’s with the post-war and contemporary art auction. The star of the evening was the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). His painting ‘In this Case’ sold for $ 93.1 million, including buyer’s commission. The hammer price without commission was 81 million dollars (66.5 million euros). This makes it the third most expensive Basquiat ever to be auctioned. In May 2017, an untitled work sold at Sotheby’s for $ 110.4 million.
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The essence
- The auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s hold their annual spring auctions in New York.
- The American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) produced the most fireworks.
- Christie’s ‘In this Case’ sold for $ 93.1 million. This makes it the second most expensive Basquiat ever.
- At Sotheby’s, the French impressionist Claude Monet led the dance. His ‘Le Bassin aux nymphéas’ brought in $ 70.3 million, the fifth most expensive Monet ever.
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That painting is thematically very related to ‘In this Case’. Both represent a human skull. Basquiat made only three such large canvases. They were shown together at the major Basquiat exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris three years ago.
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Due to the ‘scarcity’ of such monumental works, six collectors competed for the painting. The bids started at $ 40 million. The canvas was valued at $ 50 million. In six minutes, the bidders pushed the price up until there was one remaining, which is allowed to transfer more than $ 93 million to Christie’s account. The buyer’s name was not revealed. The seller was Giancarlo Giammetti, the former president of the Valantino fashion house. He bought the work in 2007. Six years earlier, the painting had already been auctioned for $ 1 million. It has become worth 90 times more in 20 years.
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There was no applause at the Rockefeller Center auction after the hammer was taken down. There was no one there. The auction was streamed. Christie’s had pulled out all the technology for a three-dimensional virtual experience.
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The art market has been working intensively for a year to attract potential buyers through new online channels. In our private banking supplement at the end of April, Alison Leslie, who assists BNP Paribas Fortis wealthy clients from Paris with their art investments, said: ‘Banks, auction houses and galleries have gone through the same evolution in recent months. Everyone was looking for a way to stay as close as possible to the customer while the traditional channels were closed. In a short space of time, huge investments had to be made in digital applications to keep things running. ‘
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Christie’s business was up and running on Tuesday. The entire auction fetched $ 210 million, slightly more than the most optimistic estimate. Digital art was also offered through NFT. The top work was Larva Labs ‘9 Cryptopunks: 2, 532, 58, 30, 635, 602, 768, 603 and 757’. It brought in $ 16 million.
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Sotheby’s
Christie’s major competitor Sotheby’s launched an ensemble of three streamed live auctions with a limited audience in the room on Wednesday evening. Impressionism, modern and contemporary art were sold respectively. Together they raised $ 579 million. That was in line with expectations and was 60 percent more than a similar auction marathon in June of last year.
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The contemporary art auction raised $ 218 million. Basquiat also stole the show here. His 1982 painting ‘Versus Medici’ grossed $ 50.8 million. That was in line with expectations. A nice price was also paid for ‘Untitled (Rome)’ from 1970 by the unsurpassed Cy Twombly. It will cost the new owner $ 41.6 million.
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©EPA
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The most expensive painting of the evening auctioned was hammered off during the Impressionist Art auction. Claude Monet’s ‘Le Bassin aux nymphéas’ (1917-19) fetched $ 70.1 million, a lot more than the highest estimate of $ 40 million, although estimates do not include the buyer’s commission. A short bidding battle from Asia pushed the price up. The painting is fifth in Monet’s personal top list. The expensive work somewhat obscures the fact that the auction of Impressionist art was very unstable. Some paintings fell short of expectations.
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