Mark Rothko’s Orange, Red, Yellow sold on May 8 for $86,882,500 a world record price for any contemporary work of art sold at auction.
Global sales at Christie’s are up 13% to £2.2 billion ($3.5 billion) on the first six months of 2012. Growth in on-line activity saw a 15% increase in the number of clients bidding on line and a 20% increase in visitors to the company website. Collectors from 124 countries registered to bid at global auctions and private sales are up by 53% to £413.4 million.
Post-War and Contemporary art led the categories with auction sales of £576.1 million ($921.8 million) up 34%. The New York auction on May 8 brought in $388.5 million (£240.9 million) and was the most valuable auction ever in Post-War and Contemporary art. In the first six months of 2012, Christie’s sold 340 works at auction for over $1 million (376 in the same period 2011) and 26 for over $10 million (18 in the same period 2011). The market at more accessible price levels also performed strongly; Christie’s South Kensington saleroom, which offers works of art from under £1,000, built on two consecutive years of record sales and recorded its highest ever total.
Christie’s chief executive Steven P. Murphy said: “We’ve seen a steady increase in sales at Christie’s driven by three key factors: growing worldwide demand for art, the quality and curation of important consignments and our consistency in offering the best service and broadest choice to our clients”.
The second half of the year began strongly with the evening auction of Old Master and British Paintings in London on July 3 which realised £85.1 million, a record total for the category. Christie’s will launch the first in a series of online-only auctions for a global collecting category in August with a sale of fine and rare wines. Coinciding with the Olympic Games, Christie’s South Kensington will present The London Sale. An extended public exhibition will start on July 27 and run through to the auction on September 3.