Christie’s kicks off major auction with double-header sales totaling $690 million.

Christie’s held back-to-back major autumn sales on Monday night in a floor packed with collectors and consultants preparing to bid. At least a dozen lots in the auction sparked bidding wars, with total revenue including commissions reaching $690 million. This total was well above the lowest pre-sale estimate of $534.7 million, but just over 5% lower than the highest pre-sale estimate of $731.5 million.

The Robert and Patricia Ross Weiss auction, which consisted of 18 lots from the late former chairman of supermarket chain Weis Markets, kicked off the evening with works spanning some of the most important movements of the 20th century, from Cubism to Abstract Expressionism, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko. Rothko’s work. The works offered on Monday are just a small sample of the high-value Weiss works Christie’s is selling this week, with more than 60 lots still to be auctioned.

The 62-lot 20th Century sale that follows the Weis sale includes more works by Matisse and Picasso, as well as works by Alexander Calder, David Hockney, Marc Chagall and Alberto Giacometti, although these are generally not major works by these artists.

The evening’s 79 lots totaled $690 million, a 41% increase over the same period in May, including $489 million from the 20th Century sale and a separate sale of works from the Len and Louise Riggio collection. The double auction in November 2024 included 72 lots and achieved a turnover of $486 million, including 19 single-owner sales of works from the collection of the designer and Louise Riggio. Philanthropist Mika Ertegun.

Monday’s auction had a sell-through rate of 97% by value and 96% by lot, according to Christie’s. Only one work was withdrawn – that of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Silhouette of vulgar woman (1890), Lot 63 – but three of them failed to sell. Joan Miró’s sun fire desert flower hysteria (1938) and Franz Kline’s Placidia (1961) each received a handful of bids before settling at $7.5 million, with auctioneer Adrien Meyer declaring both works a pass. Man Ray photo from 1933 Sade, PastelmineLot 20 later, two bids were received before Meyer withdrew.

Still, the depth of bidding was evident, with 16 lots meeting or exceeding their high estimates, often after lengthy back-and-forths between Christie’s experts and the lively bidders in the room, first patiently recommended by Meyer and then the final 20 lots, somewhat gruffly recommended by senior specialist David Kleiweg de Zwaan.

Consultant Ralph DeLuca, who sits at the front of the room and is also vice chairman of Sotheby’s popular culture division, has represented clients in some of the longest bidding wars, including a seven-minute-long bid between him, Christie’s chief executive Bonnie Brennan and vice chairman Conor Jordan for a 1937 painting by Henri Matisse. Figures and bouquets (Tête ocre). The piece from Weiss’s collection eventually fell into the hands of Jordan’s bidder for $32.3 million, against a high estimate of $27.5 million. (Unless otherwise stated, all prices include buyer’s premium.)

DeLuca got his revenge just a few auctions later, beating Christie’s global president Alex Rotter to win the Max Ernst chess sculpture king of queens (1944/61) The high estimate was $18 million and the sale price was $20.2 million. (For reference, another version of this work sold for $24.4 million at the 2022 Christie’s Paul Allen auction.)

He also won the most intense auction battle of the night for a work by Marc Chagall. Song of King David (1966), from the collection of the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art. After a heated debate with senior London experts Michelle McMullan Rotter and Cyanne Chutkow, vice president of impressionist and modern art, DeLuca won the work for $26.5 million, against a high estimate of $12 million.

“There’s a lot of money waiting on the sidelines [before tonight]. It’s not so much a lack of funds as it is a lack of confidence. Tonight I feel confident in art again. ” DeLuca said art news After sales. DeLuca confirmed that the works by Ernst and Chagall were purchased for clients. Speaking of Matisse’s work, he said: “It’s impossible to win them all!”

For his part, Lott seemed refreshed by Monday’s event. “It feels like what an auction should feel like,” he told art news After sales. “I sense the tide is rising. These collections add a lot of depth. Some prices have really come down, which is getting collectors involved.”

While bidding activity was certainly encouraging and transactions were brisk, 38 lots were sold entirely within the pre-sale range, with often intense bidding until the lowest estimate threshold was reached. After that, the bidding died down.

The final lot at Weiss’s auction, Mark Rothko’s eye-catching No. 31 (yellow stripe)Starting in 1958, it is a typical example. After bathing viewers in orange-red lighting that mimicked the painting, Meyer opened the bidding with $34 million. Rotter, Vice Chairman Katherine Arnold and an online bidder from Connecticut quickly pushed the bidding toward the work’s $50 million estimate. Lot’s buyer backed out, and Meyer cajoled online bidders into making a few more bids before Arnold sealed the deal with a hammer price of $53.5 million. While the piece’s $62.2 million, including fees, was impressive enough to make the work the night’s number one, the recent madness seemed to portend a more explosive outcome.

There were also quite a few works that were lower than their estimates – 21 in total, excluding those that failed to sell. Many of the works are by some of the most respected artists, including Monet’s Little Dalles Manor and water lily (1881), Amedeo Modigliani Nuasis (c. 1908), Edgar Degas La Coiffure (Fragrance),about. 1892–95, JMW Turner Ehrenbreitstein, or the Stone of Honor and the Tomb of Marceau, from Byron’s “The Pilgrimage of Harold’s Child,” and Picasso’s Lebegnier and Lecture (Marie-Thérèse)starting in 1957 and 1932 respectively.

Evan Beard, president of secondary market gallery Level & Co. art news Mixed results depend more on estimates than on the work itself. “A healthy, rational market,” he said. “Expectations are underperforming and great things are moving fast. But this is not 2021 where everything is moving fast.” He described the current environment as “more selective.”

The sale concludes with works by Picasso mother and child (1965) After six bids, it was finally sold for $100,000 against a low estimate of $4.1 million. After a two-and-a-half-hour auction, the work was sold for US$5 million, winning warm cheers and applause, and the bidding enthusiasm continued throughout the process.

Before the auction began, Guillaume Cerutti, chairman and former chief executive of Christie’s, noted art news The first sale of the week sets the tone. If so, consider Monday a tentative step in the right direction — crowds gathered and bidders jumped into the water. But, as Beard said, this is not 2021 anymore.

“For the first time in a while we have quality that we haven’t had in a while,” Cerruti said. “There was a good vibe all week.”