Sotheby’s double-headed sale valued at $706 million, includes second-highest price ever

In a marathon double auction of nearly three hours, Sotheby’s sold Gustav Klimt’s Elisabeth Lederer portrait for $236.4 million on Tuesday night, the second-highest price ever paid for an art piece at auction, and that’s not all. Two Klimt landscapes later, the auction house has sold a total of paintings by the Vienna Secession artist worth nearly $400 million.

Klimt’s result, part of a series by the recently deceased cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder, won rounds of applause and marked a bright moment for an art market that has been unstable over the past two years.

Lauder’s portion of the night totaled $527.5 million, far more than its The low presale estimate was $379 million, and auctioneer Adrien Meyer concluded: “This is definitely a win, and we’re excited.” But by then, the night wasn’t over yet.

Next, Phylis Kao’s “Contemporary and Now” auction was hammered down, with an estimate of US$143.6 million to US$198.25 million, and a total transaction volume of US$178.5 million. The total transaction volume that night reached US$706 million; the lower limit of its pre-sale estimate was US$522.8 million.

The top lot in the “Now & Contemporary” sale was a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting from the collection of French actor Francis Lombrail, which exceeded its high estimate of $45 million and sold for $48.3 million (all prices include fees unless otherwise stated). The painting entered a bidding war between Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Chairman Gregoire Billault and Sotheby’s Asia Vice Chairman Jen Hua for $36 million. Hua won the piece, suggesting it likely fell into the hands of an Asian client.

The Klimt portrait wasn’t the only record-setting artwork of the evening, however. In the Lauder section, Vincent van Gogh’s “The Sower” selmer of sunbeam champion (“The Sower in the Wheat Field”, 1888), sold for $11.2 million, setting a new auction record for the artist’s pen and ink work; the previous record was $10.4 million ramusme (1888), offered at Christie’s in 2021.

The “Now & Contemporary” sale saw individual auction records set by Cecily Brown, Antonio Oba, Yu Nishimura, Jesse and Noah Davis. Multiple bidders chase Brown’s house by phone and room High society (1997-98) Bidding started at $4 million during the 10-minute showdown, bringing the total to $9.8 million, a full $3 million higher than her previous record set in 2018. Yet another close record: the paintings of Agnes Martin garden (1964) earned $17.6 million after another 10-minute bidding war. Her record is $18.7 million.

Lauder is a white glove sale, meaning every item is sold. But two large, high-value works at the “Now” sale failed to sell. Untitled painting by Kerry James Marshall, 2008, from the Neda Young collection, estimated at $10-15 million, and Barkley Hendricks, 1973 Arriving soonEstimated at $9 to $12 million, both barely passed the bidding.

And one of the most talked-about lots at the auction almost sold. Maurizio Cattelan’s gold toilet, USA (2016), the opening price was US$10 million, slightly higher than the current gold price of US$9.9 million. The final single bid for the work was $12.1 million. A post-sale report states that the piece was sold to a “well-known American brand” that typically deals in dinosaur skeletons through Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice president of science and natural history. The winning number is USA He was also the buyer of two Matisse sculptures at the Lauder auction.

Later in the “Now” sale, a group of four works from the collection of Roy Lichtenstein and his widow Dorothy sold for less than their low estimates—a rare occurrence that night—but all had third-party guarantees.

Two lots later, sculptures by Jeff Koon, 2004-12 Hulk (rock) Come to the block. Larry Gagosian, the major dealer to whom Koons had returned just a few months earlier after a stint at Pace Gallery, was locked in a fierce competition with Lisa Dennison, Sotheby’s chairman of North and South America, who was on the phone bidding on the work on behalf of a client. Gagosian won the piece for $4.4 million, perhaps a sign of confidence in the profligate artist he was.

Sotheby’s had initially guaranteed a minimum price for Lauder’s materials, but by the time of the sale tonight, the house was completely risk-free: all but five of the house guarantees had turned into third-party guarantees, including three by Klimt. (In fact, all lots estimated at more than $1 million now have third-party guarantees.) In the “Now & Contemporary” sale, nearly half of the 44 lots had third-party guarantees.

Speaking ahead of the auction, Anita Heriot, president of the Americas for London-based consultancy Fine Art Group, commented on what she called “the auction house’s active commitment to guaranteeing the works for sale.”

“No one wants an unsold work,” Herriot said, “but with so many guarantees on the market, the psychological power of auction bidding is diminished. Too many guarantees are taking away the oxygen from the room.”

Gabriela Palmieri, former Sotheby’s Chairman of Contemporary Art Advisor, said that after the auction ended that night art news”, “In fact, there were some unique pieces of art for sale tonight, and collectors showed up. Between last night at Christie’s and tonight at Sotheby’s, it was a cathartic night, two days of catharsis for the market. You can see it in the depth of the bid. We’re used to saying, “They’re done.” But tonight, the real competition was on the phone, in the room, and at a level that had yet to be tested. ”