Francis Bacon’s Portrait of George Dyer Talking sold in February for £42.2 million.
Record sales for the half year ended in June have been announced today by Christie’s. Art sales of £2.7 billion are up 12%, there was a 71% increase in online activity and 24% of all buyers were new to Christie’s. No less than 51 works of art sold for over $10 million. Autumn expansion plans include a new Shanghai office due to open in October and a new gallery at the Rockefeller Center to open in November.
Christie’s say a successful strategy to connect with more collectors globally underpins the results, with the figures driven by an increase in the value of artworks sold across categories, geographies and price levels. Digital engagement and new buyers coming to the market have continued to drive growth; new clients represented 24% of all buyers and 15% of the sales total in the first half of 2014. Post-War and Contemporary art had a record breaking six months with total sales of £799.9 million. The May evening sale in New York brought in $744.9 million, the highest total ever in the history of the art market.
Steven Murphy, Christie’s ceo said: “Christie’s continued position of leadership is evidenced again in our half year results. Yet more important is that we are meeting our goal of serving more clients than any other art business globally and at all levels of collecting. Our strategy to engage this growing audience for art through auction, private sales and digitally has been validated and again welcomed many new buyers. We continue to lead the top levels of the art market, particularly in the Post-War & Contemporary Art area, while also successfully serving the broad variety of interests through all our categories and online sales. It is a new era of excitement and engagement about art and for art. By putting the art first, Christie’s has captured the imagination of our clients and served them in their quest to connect with the art itself.”