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O ver the course of the last two weeks, Sotheby’s New York hosted the marquee Spring Sales in our new headquarters at the Breuer building. Whether it was an auction debut for an emerging Gen Z artist or a celebrated work from the masters of Modernism, the highlights from our Now & Contemporary and Modern Evening and Day Sales broke records and inspired thrilling bidding battles. In total, the season resulted in $908.6 million in sales. Now, as we look ahead to our summer season, we’re reflecting on some of the best moments from the sales.
Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and auctioneer for the evening Oliver Barker kicked things off with Robert Mnuchin: Collector at Heart—a selection of works from the late gallerist and art dealer’s personal collection (which he famously displayed in his home, preferring to live with the art that he loved). The white-glove sale was led by Mark Rothko’s Brown and Blacks in Red, which sold for $85.8 million, the second highest price for the artist at auction. The collection also included exceptional works by Willem De Kooning, Joan Miró, and Franz Kline, all of which exceeded their high estimates.
The Now & Contemporary Evening Auction followed with a portrait of Brigitte Bardot by Andy Warhol, which sold for $24.8 million, setting an auction record for this limited series. Works from Jean-Michel Basquiat and Helen Frankenthaler outstripped their high estimates while younger, artists like Yu Nishimura set new auction records for their works. The evening sale concluded having achieved $433.1 million in total.
The following morning, the Contemporary Day Sale was led by Roy Lichtenstein's 1964 Girl in Mirror, which sold for $6.4 million, the highest price achieved for any work in a marquee day sale at Sotheby’s. The various-owner sale included works from the collections of Annabelle and Bernard Fishman, Adele & Enrico Donati, and Saul and Ellyn Dennison among others.
One hundred percent of the Keith Haring Works from the Collection of Kermit Oswald (the artist’s childhood friend and lifelong collaborator) sold, totaling $5.6 million altogether and exceeding the high estimate of $5 million. Other standouts from the day included works from Alexander Calder including Six Red Poylgons, which sold for $2 million after 9 bidders had their say, and Antonio Lopez Garcia’s El Cuarto de Bano, which, after a high estimate of $300,000, went on to hammer at $2 million.
This week saw the Modern Evening and Day Sales achieve a total of $373 million. Highlights of the Modern Evening sale, led by auctioneer Helena Newman, Chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art, included a rare work from Henri Matisse. La Chaise lorraine from the Barbier-Mueller Collection. The painting, which has been unseen on the market for almost 50 years, soared beyond its estimate to achieve $48.4 million, the second highest price ever for the artist at auction.
It was an evening for the legends of the 20th century: Pablo Picasso’s Arlequin (Buste), a striking portrait featuring one of the artist's most enduring motifs, sold for $42.6 million and Vincent Van Gogh’s La Moisson en Provence went for $29.4 million, the second-highest price ever paid for a work on paper by the artist.
Another highlight of the evening came from the David and Shoshanna Wingate Collection. Alberto Giacometti’s La Clairiere (Composition avec neuf figures) sold for $23.1 million following a five-minute bidding battle between three bidders. A new benchmark was set for Mark Rothko as Untitled achieved $9.3 million—the highest price for a work on paper by the artist in this scale, and for a 1959 work. In all, $230.5 million worth of works by Mark Rothko were sold across Sotheby’s this season.
The Modern Day Auction—which totaled $69 million in sales and had the highest sell-through rate for any various owner Modern Day Sale at Sotheby’s New York (91%)—was led by Edward Hopper’s Monhegan Lighthouse which achieved $4.1 million, more than doubling its high estimate ($1.2-1.8m).
New benchmarks were set for works by Leonora Carrington—her Character studies for The Tempest: A Group of Five Works sold for $793,000, achieved a record for the artist on paper—and Manuel Cabre whose Vista del Ávila desde el country club sold for $166,400, beating his preview record by 11%.
Across all sales, we saw bidding from 61 countries and buying from 48. Top sales came from the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Greater China. We were thrilled as well to see Strong institutional bidding and buying across the sale, including acquisitions by the Cleveland Museum of Art (Willem de Kooning’s Five Women), the Virginia Museum of Fine Art (Grant Wood’s Village Slums), the Wichita Art Museum (Romare Bearden's Poor Thirsty Souls), and more.
Though the spring season is now over, we look forward to our summer season which opens in London in June, led by Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection.
