LONDON.- 20th Century at Christie's concluded on 12 February with a strong total of £190,230,950/ $274,646,341/ €233,022,370 across seven sales. With a robust sell-through rate of 86% of works sold by value and 84% of works sold by lot, Christie’s demonstrated its expertise at reading the art market with accurate estimates and precision selling. Registered bidders from 71 countries across six continents, gave a strong indication that a ‘globalisation’ of taste continues to drive the evolution of collecting today.

The Impressionist, Modern and Surreal Evening Sale on 2 February built on the strength of Impressionist, Modern and Surreal Art in 2015 and sold all of the top ten lots, achieving a total of £117,788,500/ $169,546,690/ €139,991,921, within the pre-sale estimate. A highlight of the season includes the highest ever total for a various owner sale for Impressionist & Modern Art and Picasso Ceramics Sale, at Christie’s South Kensington, with exceptional sell through rates of 95% by value and 90% by lot and Christie’s LIVE™ accounting for 46% of lots either sold or directly underbid online; the Picasso Ceramics portion of the sales was 100% sold.

Continuing an assuring start to 2016, the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 11 February achieved £58,099,000/$84,301,649, €74,599,116, seeing sell-through rates of 89% of works sold by lot and 84% sold by value. British painting led the results with three decades of work by Peter Doig, David Hockney, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud achieving stand out results – six of the top ten results were for British artists. Records established on the evening included top prices for Joseph Beuys and Robert Mangold. Another highlight, Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley donated sculptures that generated £539,000/ $782,089/ €692,076 to benefit redevelopment of the South London Gallery (for further information please click here). The following Day Auction results were similarly buoyant achieving £14,343,450/ $20,798,002/ €18,431,333, with sell-through rates of 90% by value and 85% by lot and establishing records for Aaron Garber-Maikovska and Alan Charlton.

20th Century at Christie’s took place from 29 January to 12 February and provided the opportunity for both new and established buyers at every level of the market.