LONDON.- Following a week that saw more than 8,000 guests attend the pre-sale exhibition at
Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London, today’s Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Auction was led by the record-shattering result for René Magritte’s sublime L’empire des lumières, selling for £59.4 / $79.8 million.
The result drove the night’s combined sale total to £221.4 / $297.2 million, the highest total ever achieved in a single day at Sotheby’s London (est. £170.4-223.3 million / $227.9-299.7 million).
Later this month, Sotheby’s will present the first sale dedicated to Surrealist art ever staged in Paris, with 25 lots carrying a combined pre-sale estimate of $30 - 43 million.
FACTS & FIGURES FROM TONIGHT’S SALES
• Deep bidding across both sales, spanning all categories
• Five works sold in excess of £10 million, the highest number at Sotheby’s in five years
• Deep bidding from Asia: in The Now sale, 50% of the works attracted Asian bidding, in the Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction 30% of works attracted Asian bidding
• International participation from 46 countries, the highest in almost a decade
• Over half of participants were online, the highest proportion for a London Marquee sale
Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction
Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction: £191.2 / $257.9 million (pre-sale estimate: £154.8-201m / $207.8-269.8m (54 lots)
Sale led by René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières, a masterpiece of 20th century art, which achieved £59.4 / $79.8 million, nearly tripling the artist’s previous auction record and setting a new record for a painting sold at auction in Europe*
• *The price achieved, £59.4 million, represents the highest price, in GBP, ever achieved for any work sold at auction in Europe. The dollar equivalent, $79.8 million, represents the second highest price, in USD, ever achieved for a painting sold at auction in London
• Record for any Belgian artist at auction
• Prior to sale, the painting was exhibited to fanfare worldwide with stops in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Singapore before returning to London
Claude Monet’s Nymphéas, an exceptional example of the artist’s famed and beloved Waterlilies, sold for £23.2 / $31.2 million
David Hockney’s Garrowby Hill, a magnificent return by the artist to the ever-changing East Yorkshire landscape, sold for £14 / $18.9 million (7.5-10.5 million)
The Now Evening Sale
Sale total: £30 / $40.3 million in debut London edition for the series, exceeding its high estimate by 35% (pre-sale estimate: £15.6-22.3 million / $21-29.9 million)
• 95% of lots sold
• 70% of lots exceed their high estimate
• 36% of buyers in the sale were under the age of 40
• Six benchmarks set including new artist records for Shara Hughes, Flora Yukhnovich, Hilary Pecis and Robert Nava, while Rachel Jones and Robbie Barrat make their auction debuts
• Average of more than 5 bidders per lot
• Fresh to market works bring demand, with all works having never before been offered at auction
• Strong participation from Asia (see above)
Paddles raised for women artists, with strong results set for Jade Fadojutimi, Hilary Pecis, Cecily Brown and Elizabeth Peyton, in addition to:
• Rachel Jones whose A Slow Teething achieved £617,400 / $828,613 - nearly nine times the high estimate - in auction debut
• Auction record set for Shara Hughes, whose Naked Lady sold for £2 / $2.7 million following a 15-minute bidding battle between more than 10 bidders, nearly doubled the artist’s previous record
• Meteoric rise of British artist Flora Yukhnovich continued, whose Warm, Wet ‘N’ Wild sold for £2.7 / $3.6 million, setting a new auction record for the artist, more than 13 times the pre-sale high estimate
Further standout results:
David Hockney’s Woldgate Woods, Winter, 2010, the artist’s first multi-camera video work, set a new benchmark for video art by the artist, selling for £922,500 / $1.2 million
Two works by Banksy from the collection of music legend Robbie Williams achieved a combined total of £7.2 / $9.7 million, led by Vandalised Oil (Choppers) at £4.4 / $5.9 million
