CHRISTIE’S EVENING SALE OF POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART IN NEW
YORK TOTALS $388.5 MILLION (£240.9 MILLION/ €299.1 MILLION)
MOST VALUABLE POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART AUCTION EVER
Mark Rothko’s Orange, Red, Yellow Soars to $86.9 Million (£53.9 Million/
€66.9 Million) Setting a New Record for Any Post-War and Contemporary Work
Sold at Auction
14 New World Auction Records Set
41 Works Sell Above $1 million; 9 Works Above $10 Million
Works from the Pincus Collection Total $174.9 Million, the Most Expensive
Collection of Post-War and Contemporary Art Ever Sold
New York – Christie’s highly anticipated Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on May 8
totaled $388.5 million (£240.9 million/ €299.1 million), marking the highest total ever in auction
history for the category. Record after record fell throughout the night, as bidders from around the
world convened in the saleroom to compete for the sale’s exceptional roster of works by the top
artists of the category, including Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, Jackson Pollock, Alexander Calder,
Yves Klein, Richard Diebenkorn, Barnett Newman, and Willem de Kooning, among others. Fourteen
new auction records were established, as well as a new record for the most expensive Post-War and
Contemporary work sold at auction. The sale was 99% sold by value and 95% sold by lot.
“This was an historic event in the auction world, with three major records set in the space of a few
short hours: a record for any Post-War and Contemporary art sale at $388.5 million, a record for any
private collection of Post-War and Contemporary Art at $174.9 million for the Pincus Collection, and a
new record for the most expensive work of the period, with Rothko’s Orange, Red, Yellow sold for $86.9
million,” said Brett Gorvy, Chairman and International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art.
“This was truly a season of icons, with the best works by Rothko, Newman, Richter, Pollock, Calder
and Klein to come to market in many years. To see so many major records established in one evening
was a tribute to the exceptional works on offer this season.”
The top lot of the sale was Mark Rothko’s magisterial Orange, Red, Yellow from 1961, which soared
over
its
(£53,867,150/€66,899,525), setting a new world auction record for any Post-War and Contemporary
work of art sold at auction. Painted in the years between his famed Seagram murals in 1958 and his
Harvard murals of 1961-62, this monolith-like canvas of warm, shimmering hues has been widely
heralded as the most important Rothko work to come to market since 2007. It sold to an anonymous
bidder on the phone after a seven-minute bidding battle, which started at $24 million and drove
steadily onward to the $77 million level, with more than 50 bids volleyed back and forth between
clients.
The Rothko was the star lot among the 13 stellar works offered in the sale from the Pincus
Collection, the most important private collection of Abstract Expressionist art. With a combined total
of $174,944,500, the Collection now ranks as the most expensive collection of Post-War and
Contemporary Art ever offered at auction. Assembled over a lifetime by David and Gerry Pincus,
prominent Philadelphia collectors and philanthropists, the collection’s top works proved irresistible
to bidders at the sale. In addition to the Rothko, the most sought-after works included Jackson
Pollock’s Number 28, 1951, which realized $23,042,500 (£14,286,350 / €17,742,725), a new world
auction record for the artist. Distinguished by its black enamel and silver-grey paint with pourings
and drips of white, red and yellow, the 4½-foot-wide painting is the most important work of this
quality or scale to appear at auction since 1997.
Additional top works from the Pincus Collection included the rare masterwork from The New York
School, Barnett Newman’s Onement V, 1952, which sold for $22,482,500 (£13,939,150 /
€17,311,525). Painted in 1952 in an ethereal ink-blue palette, the painting soared beyond its pre-
sale estimate of $10-15 million, also setting a new world auction record for the artist. The exceptional
ensemble of definitive works by Willem de Kooning, including two major oil on canvas works:
Untitled I, 1980, which sold for $14,082,500 (£8,731,150/ €10,843,525) and Untitled V, 1983, which
fetched $8,482,500 (£5,259,150/ €6,531,525). Additional works from the Pincus Collection will be
featured in Christie’s Day sales on May 9.
Collector demand for Abstract Expressionist works was reflected in the strong results for works from
the Collection of Evelyn D. Haas, a prominent San Francisco collector. Five works from the collection
were featured in the Evening Sale, achieving a combined total $11,664,500. Richard Diebenkorn’s
Berkeley #56, was the top lot of the collection, and achieved $6,242,500 (£3,870,350 / €4,806,725).
Untitled, an early Barnett Newman from 1945, where the signature “zip” makes its first appearance,
was sold for $3,218,500 (£1,995,470 / €2,478,245). pre-sale estimate of $35-45 million to achieve a stunning $86,882,500 At $36,482,500 (£22,619,150/ €28,091,525), Yves Klein’s legendary FC 1 (Fire-Color 1), executed a
few weeks before Klein’s premature death at the age of 34, set a new world record for the artist at
auction, far exceeding the previous auction record of $23.5 million.
artist’s signature skill with fire, water, anthropometry, and his own International Klein Blue pigment,
has become the second-highest price for any European Post War artist at auction, behind the Irish
artist Francis Bacon. A portion of the proceeds of the sale will be donated to Oceana, the largest
international organization working solely to protect the world’s oceans.
The sale also included the most important grouping of works by Alexander Calder ever presented to
the market. The constellation of five offerings included the most important example by the artist ever
to come to auction, Lily of Force, created in 1945, and has been featured in some of the most
important lifetime exhibitions of Calder’s work, including the now-legendary 1946 show at Galerie
Louis Carré conceived by Marcel Duchamp and immortalized in the catalogue essay by Jean-Paul
Sartre. The work fetched $18,562,500 (£11,508,750/ €14,293,125), a new world auction record price
for the artist. Two extremely significant mobiles – Snow Flurry, 1950, and Untitled, 1957 – owned by
Eliot Noyes, the legendary architect and member of The Harvard Five, were sold for $10,386,500
(£6,439,630 / €7,997,605) and $6,354,500 (£3,939,790/ €4,892,965), respectively.
realized the second-highest price for the artist overall, and set a new world auction record price for a
mobile by the artist.
Early in the sale, the first of six paintings by Gerhard Richter rocketed to $21,810,500 (£13,522,510
/ €16,794,085), setting a new world auction record for the artist. Abstraktes Bild (798-3), a
monumental painting from 1993 rendered in a blazing palette of red and blue with touches of green,
inspired one of the most protracted – and entertaining – bidding battles of the night as auctioneer
Christopher Burge adroitly fielded a volley of more than 30 individual bids. Similarly, Richter’s
Seestüeck (Leicht bewöelkt), 1969 realized $19,346,500 (£11,994,830 /€14,896,805), the highest
price yet achieved for a photorealist work by the artist at auction.The sale also saw strong results for contemporary photography. Jeff Wall’s tour-de-force DeadTroops Talk (A vision after an ambush of a Red Army patrol, near Moqor, Afghanistan, Winter 1986),offered from the Pincus Collection, was sold for a world auction record price of $3,666,50 (£2,273,230/ €2,823,205).
Sherman from the Akron Art Museum, sold to benefit the acquisitions endowment. Untitled #96,
recognized as an icon within the artist’s career, sold for $2,882,500 (£1,787,150/ €2,219,525), the
second highest price for the artist at auction. FC 1, which combines the Snow Flurry 1950, and Untitled, 1957 – owned by Eliot Noyes, the legendary architect and member of The Harvard Five, were sold for $10,386,500 (£6,439,630 / €7,997,605) and $6,354,500 (£3,939,790/ €4,892,965), respectively.
realized the second-highest price for the artist overall, and set a new world auction record price for a
Early in the sale, the first of six paintings by Gerhard Richter rocketed to $21,810,500 (£13,522,510
/ €16,794,085), setting a new world auction record for the artist. Abstraktes Bild (798-3), a
monumental painting from 1993 rendered in a blazing palette of red and blue with touches of green,
inspired one of the most protracted – and entertaining – bidding battles of the night as auctioneer
Christopher Burge adroitly fielded a volley of more than 30 individual bids. Similarly, Richter’s
Seestüeck (Leicht bewöelkt), 1969 realized $19,346,500 (£11,994,830 /€14,896,805), the highest
price yet achieved for a photorealist work by the artist at auction.
Christie’s was proud to offer an acclaimed masterpiece by Cindy Sherman from the Akron Art Museum, sold to benefit the acquisitions endowment. Untitled #96, recognized as an icon within the artist’s career, sold for $2,882,500 (£1,787,150/ €2,219,525), the
second highest price for the artist at auction.
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