The modest results of Christie’s 20/21st Century Evening Sale and Art of the Surreal Evening Sale held in London tonight (March 7th) come as a result of the large-scale event held this week in the British capital. It was the best item collected at the spring auction. They sold just below the low estimate of £11 million at the Phillips evening sale earlier today (all estimates are calculated without commission) and at Sotheby’s the night before. The Modern & Contemporary evening auction followed up with a 40% discount on the same home’s comparable sale in 2023.
At two auctions at Christie’s on Thursday night, the house raised a combined £163.3m (£196.7m including fees) from 112 lots, with a pre-sale estimate of £160.3m. 10,000 to 233.1 million pounds. The total value was estimated at £112.3m to £157m, compared to £113.8m (£137.7m including fees) for the 20th/21st Century sale and an estimated £49.5m for the Surrealist sale. (59 million pounds including fees). Estimated between £48m and £76.1m.
The total sales volume was an 18.5% increase in value compared to Christie’s comparable evening auction in London in March last year, but still the 2022 repeat auction (20 contemporary works sold in Christie’s Shanghai saleroom) (including points), it decreased by 24.2%. The market has not yet fully returned to its previous heights.
The total sell-through rate for the evening was 86.7% per lot (though the number drops to 81.2% when withdrawals are taken into account). Approximately 25% of the works offered come with a warranty.Seven works, including one by Francis Bacon, were withdrawn from auction in the 20th/21st century Painting March 1985 (1985), last sold at Christie’s in Paris in 2013, and is expected to sell for up to £6 million tonight. No lots were withdrawn from the Surrealist sale.
René Magritte Rami Intime (1968)
Courtesy of Christie’s Images
top performer
The Art of the Surreal auction was held with 25 lots and formed a short second part of the evening. The promise of being the night’s most valuable production turned out to be both true and anti-climactic.Rene Magritte’s Rami Intime Close Friends (1968), from the collection of the late Gilbert Kaplan and his wife Lena, sold for £29 million (£33.7 million including fees), just shy of its estimate of £30 million to £50 million. It didn’t arrive. The competition took him less than two minutes and was won over the phone through Giovanna Bertazzoni, vice president of Christie’s His 20th Century and His 21st Century divisions.
Other outstanding works in the surreal section included works by Meret Oppenheim; Tisch mit Vogelfussen, a 1939 table whose legs resemble those of a tall bird. The work attracted active bidding from four clients and sold for £420,000 (£529,200) against a high estimate of £200,000. A playful, freshly auctioned painting by Victor Browner (his second of two by the artist in this sale) sold for £170,000 against a high target of £70,000. He earned £214,200 (including fees).
In the 20/21st Century Sale, three lots with eight-figure estimates (all backed by third-party guarantees) help drive tonight’s total and provide a much-needed opportunity. I did. None of these sparked bidding wars, but were sold safely within their respective low estimates.
Claude Monet, Matinee sur la Seine, temporary internet (1897)
Courtesy of Christie’s Images
First up was Monet. Matinee sur la Seine, temporary internet (1897), and was last auctioned in 1978. Bidding almost peaked at £11.5m, but a split bid brought it back up, with Christie’s head of global private sales, Adrian Meyer, speaking dryly on stage. There’s more to come.” The painting was ultimately valued at £12.25 million (£14.4 million including fees), tipping it into the £12 million to £18 million estimate.
After 2 lots, Francis Bacon’s Landscape near Marataba, Tangier (1963) was purchased by the consignor from London dealer Ivor Braca in 2000 and made £16.8 million (£19.6 million including fees) against an estimate of £15 million to £20 million, with an indoor went to bidders.
The last of the three trophy lots was a work by David Hockney that had never been sold at auction before. California (1965), a sun-drenched pool scene with homosexual overtones and an unreleased estimated £16 million. Bidding started at £10 million and quickly rose in £1 million increments to reach £16 million (£18.7 million including fees), via telephone via Joseph Braca, a 27-year-old junior specialist and son of Ivor Braca. Bids were placed. (A Christie’s spokeswoman declined to say whether it had made a bid on his father’s behalf.)
“Ultra-modern” work at a crossroads
The 20/21st Century sale concluded with a group of “ultra-contemporary” works, the first of which performed significantly better than the last.
The opening lot set a new record for Alison Katz. snow globe (in 2018), he earned almost four times as much as £220,000 (£277,200 including fees) from his previous record of £60,000. Soon after, the craze for Jade Fadojutimi grew even more. A garden of twisted thoughts (2021) brought together seven bidders, sparking the longest five-minute battle of the night. The final price of £1.55 million including fees (calculated from the hammer price of £1.25 million) smashed 31-year-old Fadojutimi’s previous record of £1.4 million, set at Phillips in New York just four months ago.
Alison Katz snow globe (2018)
Courtesy of Christie’s Images
But fast forward 70-odd lots, and the work of other fashionable painters in their 30s has failed. Julian Nguyen’s oil met the low target of 70,000 pounds and Lauren Quinn’s oil passed. squeak (2021) hit the low estimate of £50,000 and made a profit of £63,000 including fees.Mr. Sahara Longe after party (2021) was sold at the highest bid of £60,000 (£75,600 including fees), which was still paid for a similar painting by the artist at Christie’s in London in June. This was significantly lower than the £113,400 including premium. 2023.
A softening of the once-enthusiastic auction market for ultra-modern paintings has been observed for at least a year, but the situation may be worsening as waiting lists for coveted artists on the open market shrink. Highly sexual. Tessa Lord, head of post-war and contemporary evening auctions at Christie’s, said this was a “fair view”, but added: “The important context is that a large number of contemporary works are included in the sale. . They perform better than others.”
In his post-sale speech, Keith Gill, head of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, was keen to lock tonight’s sale into 2022, as if last year was an anomaly. “As in 2022, we focused on securing new-to-market masterpieces that could rally collectors in London. “We did that with four titles that grossed more than $20,000. That gave us confidence heading into the New York sale in May,” he said.
Following this, these sales figures can also be comprehensively compared to diagnose the upper end of the market. So, while it’s better than last year, it’s still not back to full health.