Sotheby’s capitalized on the energy of Art Basel Week in Paris, setting a record for French Surrealist and Modern art auction totals on Friday. Sales of the company’s “Surrealism and Its Legacy” and “Modern Times” totaled €89.7 million ($104 million), a 50% increase from last year’s double sale.
The result was also the highest total sale of any of Sotheby’s Paris’ various owners’ auction series.
Amedeo Modigliani Hervé Bust (1918-1919) led the way, with its estimate soaring to 7.5 million euros ($8.7 million) and selling for 27 million euros ($31.3 million). This is the highest auction price in France for the Italian artist. Not only that, it became the most valuable work ever auctioned at Sotheby’s in Paris. The painting, which has not been seen since entering a private collection in 1947, had seven bidders.
Another work by Modigliani is titled Raymond (1915) – believed to depict novelist Raymond Radiguet and kept in the same private collection for more than 65 years – also had the pulse racing in the evening’s audience. After 10 minutes of intense bidding, it was finally sold for 10.6 million euros ($12.4 million), more than double the high estimate.
The auction’s Surrealist portion fetched 26.9 million euros ($31.2 million), the second-highest total ever for a Surrealist auction at Sotheby’s in France. Works by Rene Magritte black magic (1934) was the top performer, selling for €10.7 million ($12.4 million), twice its estimate and a record for the series. The painting has been in the same private collection for almost a century and has been described by the auction house as one of Magritte’s “most legendary works”. The painting was acquired directly from the artist by the family of Suzanne Spaak, the World War II resistance heroine who was executed by the Gestapo for helping Jewish children escape Nazi persecution. The Sparks were patrons of Magritte, who had not sold a single painting for two years.
Thomas Bompard, vice-president of Sotheby’s France, previously said: “It is extraordinary to be faced with such an iconic work of Surrealism that it has remained in the same collection since Magritte painted it.” art news. “When you think about collectors of all generations, including American collectors, who have collected Magritte’s work since the 1950s, no one would have dreamed of owning this groundbreaking, famous work. black magic-so far. “
Paul Delvaux woman with a rose (1936) Purchased for €2.4 million ($2.7 million), by Óscar Domínguez dreamy scenery (1938) sold for €990,600 ($1.2 million), and Mustegat Konrad Klapheck’s (1964) sold for €825,500 ($957,580).
The “Modernités” auction in the second half of the year achieved a turnover of 62.8 million euros ($72.8 million), with 85% of the lots sold. On top of Modigliani’s work, Pablo Picasso completed Series 347 The etching was sold for 1.9 million euros ($2.2 million), setting an auction record for a print by the French artist.
At both auctions, nearly 90 percent of the lots found buyers, with American collectors snapping up nearly a third of the Surrealist works at auction.
