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Andy Warhol Six Self Portaits, 1986 ($25-35 million). Copyright in this image is vested in Sotheby’s.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $30,125,000

A group of six self-portraits by Andy Warhol will come up at Sotheby’s sale of contemporary art in New York on May 14.  Executed in 1986 – 20 years after the artists last series of self-portraits and just months before his unexpected death – the group represents the definitive self image of Warhol and his brand. They are among the last and greatest works of his career.

The group was acquired by the present owners in July 1986 from the London gallery of legendary dealer Anthony d’Offay.  They bought it soft $57,500.  Now to be offered as one lot it is estimated at $25-35 million. Warhol had laid out strict instructions as to the height at which they should be hung (so as to correspond exactly with his own head height) and to the sequencing (blue, green, orange, lilac, pale blue, pink).  They have hung in that manner for the last 28 years.

Jeff Koons
Popeye
signed, dated 2009-2011 and numbered 3/3.  UPDATE: IT MADE $28,165,000

AN immaculate, gleaming, seven-foot tall statue of Popeye by Jeff Koons comes up at Sotheby’s New York evening auction of contemporary art on May 14.  The cartoon character and American pop culture icon is Koons’ most accomplished and major work of recent years. It is from an edition of three and no example has appeared at auction until now. The present Popeye has never been exhibited publicly, and will make its debut in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries on May 2.  The estimate is in the region of $25 million.

Flawlessly finished in kaleidoscope glazes Popeye stands at the culmination of a long line of sculptures in which Koons has sought to re-frame the terms of high art for the masses. Originally conceived in 1929 as part of a newspaper comic strip Popeye became a cultural phenomenon during the Great Depression. Ordinary, tough, resilient, confident and super strong Popeye personified the American dream. Koons began referencing Popeye in 2000 but it was not until 2009 that he reappropriated this American champion in heroic sculptural over life size form as an icon for a new millennium.

Alex Rotter, Co-Head of Sotheby’s Worldwide Contemporary Art Department, commented: “The history of Pop Art begins and ends with Popeye. From his first representations by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol in the 1960s, to the present three-dimensional crescendo by Jeff Koons a half century later, this ultimate American hero and self-made man has remained a true icon of both art history and popular culture.”

Here is a video about the the work:

Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: IT MADE $80,805,000

Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards will highlight Christie’s sale in New York on May 13.  It is one of the most important triptychs from the 1980’s still in private hands. Celebrating one of the most significant relationships in Francis Bacon’s life the painting represents John Edwards, a bar manager from the East End of London, who Bacon had met a decade earlier and who went onto to become one of the artist’s inseparable companions, his most trusted confidents,  and the rare witness to the artist at work. Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards, embodies the sense of calm and confidence that came over Bacon’s work in the last decade of his life. It is estimated at around $80 million.  Last year Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud  sold for a world record of $142,405,000.

“We are honored to announce one of the greatest paintings from Francis Bacon’s acclaimed Late Period. Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards, executed in 1984 was the centerpiece of the artist’s retrospective at the London Tate Gallery in 1985-86, and a work that the artist himself ranked amongst his best works. It shows an incredible tenderness and harmony that was prompted by Bacon’s paternal relationship with the sitter, and this period of contentment elicited a confidence of style that has been compared to late Matisse”, said Brett Gorvy, Chairman and International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art.

AN exceptional selection of 54 works of every media by the most revered artists of the 20th century come up at Christie’s  Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, Including Property from the Estate of Edgar M. Bronfman  in New York on May 6.  The best Impressionist works by Monet and Renoir to come to market in many years from the estate of Huguette Clark are coupled with equally distinguished examples by Degas from the estate of Edgar Bronfman.  Important Modern works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Braque and Dalí from the collection of Viktor and Marianne Langen pair with an orientalist van Dongen and an arcadian Picasso also from the Bronfman estate. The evening sale is expected to achieve in excess of $245 million.

Claude Monet
Nymphéas, oil on canvas, 1907 ($25.35 million). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $27,045,000

Pablo Picasso
Portrait de Femme (Dora Maar) ($25-35 million) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014  UPDATE: THIS MADE $22,565,000

Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Jeunes filles jouant au volant circa 1887
($10,000,000-15,000,000) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014  UPDATE: THIS MADE $11,365,000

Andy Warhol’s White Marilyn, 1962, one of the most iconic portraits created by the artist and recognized as one of the finest examples of his Death and Disasters series comes up at Christie’s in New York on May 13.  Created immediately after Monroe’s death in 1962 it is estimated at $12-18 million. The work was one of eight Marilyns selected for Warhol’s first one-man exhibition at Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery in New York in 1962, and was once part of her personal collection.

“Compared to the perfectly coiffed media propagated publicity images of the actress, in White Marilyn she appears touched by humanity, and transcends reality to become a modern Saint. Warhol dedicated this work to Ward and expressed his gratitude scattering hearts on the reverse of the painting. Warhol gave Mint Marilyn to Jasper Johns, Gold Marilyn Monroe and Blue Marilyn were acquired by Phillip Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Barr before being gifted respectively to the National Gallery of Arts in Washington, and the Princeton University Art Museum.” declared Laura Paulson, Christie’s Chairman and International Director for Post-War and Contemporary Art.

UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $41,045,000 in the highest grossing sale in art history which brought in $744 million.

Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Big Family No. 3 sold for a world record price of $12.1 million US.

Auction records were established for Chinese, Japanese and South East Asian artists at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Asian Art sale in Hong Kong.  There were eight auction records in a sale which realised US$85.9 million.  The top lot was Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Big Family No. 3 which sold for US$12.1 million.  Collectors from around the world competed vigorously and Asian buyers took most of the top pieces. Seven bidders competed for Potted Chrysanthemums, a previously unrecorded painting by modern Chinese master Sanyu which sold for US$10.4 million.

Amedeo Modigliani
Portrait de Paul Alexandre, 1911-12 (5-8 million). Copyright: Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 13,537,500

A Modigliani portrait of his major patron Paul Alexandre comes up at Sotheby’s in Paris on June 4.  Never before on the market it portrays his patron during the seven years after his arrival in France in 1907.  It dates from 1911-12.  It has remained in the ownership of Paul Alexandre’s descendants to this day. Alexandre was Modigliani’s confidant, mentor and patron from his arrival in Paris until his conscription in 1914.  The painting is estimated at 5-8 million.

It is one of Modigliani’s five portraits of Alexandre (two of which are in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen). It was painted just after the death of Paul Alexandre’s mother, in dull tones and imbued with poignant melancholy. The picture has never left Paul Alexandre’s family, is in perfect condition, and boasts powerful paintwork, notably to the face and hands. It is one of the most individual and compelling Modigliani male portraits ever to appear at auction.

Tygers at Play by George Stubbs.

A masterful depiction of two leopard cubs by George Stubbs will lead Sotheby’s sale of Old Master and British paintings in London next July 9.  Tygers at Play, one of the most celebrated works by Stubbs, is estimated at £4-6 million. Painted c1770-75  it has been exhibited only four times in public since its original appearance at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Julian Gascoigne, Specialist, British Paintings at Sotheby’s commented: “Major big cat compositions by Stubbs very rarely appear at auction. Having only passed through two careful owners since it was painted, this work is in perfect condition, down to the delicate whiskers of the leopards, which is exceptionally rare for a work of this date. Never has the art market been so global and the universal beauty of Stubbs’s animals appeals today to an ever-growing array of collectors across the world. We therefore very much look forward to exhibiting this extraordinary work in Hong Kong, Moscow, New York and London in the three months leading up to the sale”.