LONDON.- A combined total of £130,251,700/$166,591,924/€156,302,040 was achieved tonight at Christie’s London for the 20/21 Evening Sales, with 94% sold by lot, 97% sold by value and 43% of lots sold above the high estimate.
The highest price of the season was achieved by René Magritte’s La reconnaissance infinie, realising £10,315,000 in Christie’s signature The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale.
The sales saw strong international buyer participation with 53% from EMEA, 34% from the Americas and 13% from APAC. Christie’s unique 20/21 evening sale series attracted registered bidders from 27 countries, confirming the wide appeal of our dynamic sale format.
20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale
The 20th/ 21st Century: London Evening Sale achieved a total of £82,180,500 / $105,108,860 / €98,616,600, selling 94% by lot and 96% by value. The results reflected strong demand for a well-estimated sale with 72% of the works offered at auction for the first time. 37% of works sold above the high estimate.
The top performing lots in the sale included:
• Michael Andrews, School IV: Barracuda under Skipjack (£6,060,000), world auction record for the artist
• Tamara de Lempicka, Portrait du Docteur Boucard (£6,635,000)
• Egon Schiele, Knabe in Matrosenanzug (Boy in a Sailor Suit) (£3,307,000)
• Wassily Kandinsky, Schwarze Begleitung (£2,218,000)
• Eduardo Chillida, Estela IV (Stele IV) (£1,250,000)
• Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait de Lunia Czechowska (£6,290,000)
• Francis Bacon, Portrait of Man with Glasses III (£6,635,000)
• David Hockney, Between Kilham and Langtoft (£5,122,000)
The 20th /21st Century London Evening Sale witnessed an incredibly strong performance by Michael Andrews’ School IV: Barracuda under Skipjack Tuna, which sold for £6,060,000, setting a new world auction record for the artist.
Leading 20th century artists also saw competition in the sale led by the restituted work on paper, Egon Schiele’s Knabe in Matrosenanzug (Boy in a Sailor Suit) which sold after several minutes for £3,307,000, Wassily Kandinsky’s watercolour Schwarze Begleitung which sold for £2,218,000, Tamara de Lempicka’s Portrait du Docteur Boucard, achieving £6,635,000, and Amedeo Modigliani’s Portrait de Lunia Czechowska which realised £6,290,000.
The 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale achieved strong prices for British artists, including Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Man with Glasses III which sold for £6,635,000, while David Hockney’s Between Kilham and Langtoft realised £5,122,000, and Lucian Freud’s Mark the Collector achieved £1,613,000.
Several phone bidders worked against one another for three minutes to secure Eduardo Chillida's Estela IV (Stele IV) for £1,250,000 while Study for Pietà IV by Jenny Saville, whose upcoming exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery is also supported by Christie’s, sold for £982,800.
The auction opened with a run of four works by living artists which all exceeded their estimates, including Dreampop by Justin Caguiat (£529,200) and Sanya Kantarovsky’s The House of the Spider (£289,800) while records were set for Danielle McKinney’s Other Worldly selling for £264,600 against an estimate of £40,000-60,000 and Emmi Whitehorse’s Sea Forager II, which realised £302,400.
Other records include: Gerhard Richter’s Abdu (£1,032,200 - auction record for a tapestry by the artist), Tamara de Lempicka’s Portrait du Docteur Boucard (£6,635,000 - auction record for a male portrait by the artist) and Horizontal Painting by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente (£982,800- auction record for a work by this group of artists).
Katharine Arnold, Vice-Chairman, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Europe and Keith Gill, Vice Chairman, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, Europe at Christie’s: “We are delighted to be leading the market with our 20/21 sales tonight, with 94% of lots sold across these sales. Tonight the room had energy with strong competition throughout, responding to a well-curated and fairly estimated sale. We were particularly pleased with the strong prices for Michael Andrews, Egon Schiele, Eduardo Chillida, Tamara de Lempicka and Wassily Kandinsky, amongst others. Collectors responded to the exceptional quality and freshness of our offerings. International bidding demonstrated that London retains its importance at the heart of the global art market. We now look ahead to the Post-War and Contemporary Day Sale at 2pm, featuring an important selection benefitting Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, and the Impressionist and Modern Art Day and Works on Paper Sale on 7 March.”
The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale
The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale achieved £48,071,200 / $61,483,065 / €57,685,440, over £9M above the high estimate, selling 96% by lot and 98% by value.
The sale was led by the much-admired La reconnaissance infinie by René Magritte which achieved £10,315,000, the highest price of the season.
Other top performing lots in the sale included:
• Paul Delvaux, La ville endormie (£6,175,000)
• René Magritte, La lumière du pôle (£4,880,000)
• Paul Delvaux, Les belles de nuit (£4,396,000)
• Jean Arp, Amphore infinie (£3,428,000)
• Max Ernst, Coloradeau de Méduse (£3,065,000)
• Jean Arp, Étoile (£3,065,000)
• Paul Delvaux, Nuit de Noël (£2,339,000)
• René Magritte, La femme du maçon (1,976,000)
A group of three rare works by Paul Delvaux from the same private collection all sold above the high estimate, with La ville endormie selling after 8 minutes of competitive bidding for £6,175,000 – the second highest auction price for the artist. Les belles de nuit sold for £4,396,000 against the pre-sale estimate of £500,000-1,000,000 and Nuit de Noël made £2,339,000 (estimate £1,000,000-2,000,000).
Two works by Jean Arp were also among the sale highlights, with Amphore infinie realising £3,428,000 against an estimate of £1,600,000-2,400,000, a world auction record for a painted relief by the artist, while white marble sculpture Étoile sold for £3,065,000.
Max Ernst’s Coloradeau de Méduse sold for £3,065,000 (estimate: £700,000-1,000,000), followed by sodaliten schneeberger drückethäler (l’énigme de l’Europe Centrale or always the best man wins) which sold for double the high estimate for £781,200.
Olivier Camu, Deputy Chairman, Impressionist and Modern Art, and Ottavia Marchitelli, Head of The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale, Christie’s, London: “We continue to witness ever increasing interest in Surrealist and Dada art, which our unique annual sale has been championing for over 25 years. This season, we saw continued demand for Magritte, with La reconnaissance infinie leading the auction and achieving over £10M, the highest result of the season. Exciting results were achieved by the rare Paul Delvaux paintings offered tonight - coming to market for the first time in over thirty years – which stand as a testament to his lasting legacy within the Surrealist movement.”
