55,000+ Lots Sold across 400+ Live & Online-Only Auctions | Welcoming 10,000+ New Bidders
LED BY THE TOP LOT OF THE YEAR AT ANY AUCTION HOUSE:
Claude Monet’s Meules Achieves $110.7 Million
* World Auction Record for Impressionist Art *
SOTHEBY’S LEADS ASIA FOR THE FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW
2019 Auctions Total $936 Million
* Asian Clients Account for 30% of Sotheby’s Live Auction Sales Worldwide *
A RECORD YEAR FOR SOTHEBY’S FRANCE
2019 Auction Sales Total $395 Million
* Up 41% Over 2018 *
THE HIGHEST ANNUAL TOTAL IN DESIGN AUCTION HISTORY
$193 Million in Auction Sales of 20th Century Design
Marks the Highest Annual Total for Any Auction House
WINE AUCTIONS REACH NEW HEIGHTS
Auction Sales Hit $118 Million, Marking a 20% Increase Over 2018 & The Highest Total in Sotheby’s History
A RECORD YEAR FOR WATCHES
Auction Sales Top $109 Million, Marking a 22% Increase Over 2018 & The Highest Total in Sotheby’s History
SOTHEBY’S ACHIEVES AUCTION RECORDS FOR
Banksy | Barkley Hendricks | KAWS | Lee Krasner | Claude Lalanne | Tamara de Lempicka | Norman Lewis | Claude Monet | Yoshitomo Nara | Charles White
19 DECEMBER 2019 – Sotheby’s concluded our 2019 auctions this week, reaching an annual sales total of $4.8 billion. From the sale of Claude Monet’s Meules for $110.7 million – a world auction record for Impressionist art – to the world’s most expensive sneaker, below is a look back at the major auction moments that helped define the year at Sotheby’s.
“Our 275th anniversary marked an outstanding year for Sotheby’s, with record sales across categories and geographies. The more than 100 auctions we held over the past two months delivered particularly exceptional results that helped us end 2019 on a very high note. That energy and focus will carry us into 2020, which already promises to be an exciting year.”
CONTACT INFO
New York | Darrell Rocha | +1 212-606-7176 | Darrell.Rocha@Sothebys.com
London | Mitzi Mina | +44 (0) 207 293 6000 | Mitzi.Mina@Sothebys.com
Hong Kong | Winnie Tang | +852 2822 8129 | Winnie.Tang@Sothebys.com
About Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sotheby’s became the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973), India (1992) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction house in China (2012). Today, Sotheby’s has a global network of 80 offices in 40 countries and presents auctions in 10 different salesrooms, including New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris. Sotheby’s offers collectors the resources of Sotheby’s Financial Services, the world’s only full-service art financing company, as well as the collection, artist, estate & foundation advisory services of its subsidiary, Art Agency, Partners. Sotheby’s also presents private sale opportunities in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery arm of Sotheby's Global Fine Art Division, and three retail businesses: Sotheby’s Wine, Sotheby’s Diamonds, and Sotheby’s Home, the online marketplace for interior design.
Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Pinterest | Snapchat | Weibo | WeChat | Youku
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium. Prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium and are net of any fees paid to the purchaser where the purchaser provided an irrevocable bid.
Images are available upon request
Stream live auctions and place bids in real time, discover the value of a work of art, browse sale catalogues, view original content and more at sothebys.com, and by downloading Sotheby’s apps for iOS and Android
