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Francis Bacon’s Study for a Head (Pope Pius XII) made £10,050,500.

Untilted (New York City) by Cy Twombly (1928-2011) made £19,682,500.

Untitled, New York City by Cy Twombly was the top lot at Christie’s Post War and Contemporary art auction in London tonight. It made £19,682,500 in a sale that brought in £117,542,500.  This follows the record-breaking sale of one of Cy Twombly’s blackboards which sold for $69.6 million at Christie’s New York last November.

Gerhard Richter’s photorealist painting Vierwaldstatter See (Lake Lucerne) sold for £15,762,500 and Francis Bacon’s Study for  Head (Pope Pius XII) sold for £10,050,500. Richter’s Karmin (Carmine) sold for £9,682,500, Twombly’s Death of Pompey (Rome) sold for £4,338,500 and  Three Delegates by Jean Michel Basquiat sold for £4,394,500.

Artist records were set for Paolo Scheggi  (£1,178,500), Howard Hodgkin (£1,202,500) and Theaster Gates (£242,500).  Wall of Light, Reef by Sean Scully sold for £554,400.

Francis Outred, International Director and Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe said: “The interest in contemporary art has grown enormously, but at a rate that is sustainable. No bubble produces bidders from 40 countries and six continents for such a diverse range of works.  I am particularly proud that in the week of Richter’s 83rd birthday, one of his greatest paintings – of Lake Lucerne – a place so close to his heart, was so sought after”.

Last sold at auction in in 1993 for £353,000 Francis Bacon’s seminal self-portrait from 1977 made £14.7 million.

The £123.5 million brought in tonight was the highest ever total for a Sotheby’s sale of Contemporary Art in Europe. Gerhard Richter and Francis Bacon, dominated the evening, with Richter’s vibrant Abstraktes Bild from 1986 selling for £30.4 million, establishing a new record for any living European artist. It is one of his largest abstract paintings and one of his favourite works.

Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild sold for £30.4 million.

A powerful self-portrait diptych by Francis Bacon made £14.7 million, more than 41 times the price it achieved when last at auction, at Sotheby’s in 1993. The work is an extremely rare example from a series of profoundly introspective self-portraits Bacon conducted following the suicide of his lover George Dyer in 1971.  A previously unseen masterpiece by Lucio Fontana from a Swedish private collection sold for £8.4 million, a landmark for any of his slash paintings.

Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s Head of Contemporary Art, London said: “The enormous global appetite for Contemporary masterpieces played out tonight as bidding shot up in leaps of £2 million for Richter’s landmark abstract.  It is emblematic of the depth of the market that new benchmarks were set not only for rising star Jonas Wood, but also for the greats: Richter, Fontana, Bacon. This evening’s record-breaking sale sets the scene for a stellar season of Contemporary art at Sotheby’s”.

UPDATE:  The combined total of the evening and day sales was £140.4 million.

Takashi Murakami – Lionel Messi and a Universe of Flowers (2014) at Sotheby’s on February 12. (£200,000-300,000). ©2015 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £317,000

Specially commissioned works of art featuring Lionel Messi will come up at a charity art auction at Sotheby’s in London on February 12. FC Barcelona Foundation, Reach OutTo Asia (ROTA) and UNICEF have launched the ‘1 in 11’ campaign to extend educational opportunities to marginalized children in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal, with the goal of expanding to more countries.

Globally, one in 11 primary school-age children – or 58 million out of 650 million children – are out of school.  The auction will feature donated works by artists including Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Richard Serra and Shirin Neshat.

Takashi Murakami said: “I’m delighted to be able to support the ‘1 in 11’ campaign through donating my artwork to the auction and designing the global campaign logo. I know the money raised by the campaign is going to help some of the most marginalised and vulnerable children across the world. ‘1 in 11’ will inspire the world that integrating sport and play into education can be the catalyst to unlock a child’s potential”.

UPDATE: THE auction, which featured 18 artworks donated by renowned artists, raised £2.6 million. The top lot was Jeff Koons Donkey (Yellow) from 1999 which sold for £557,000.

Paul Cézanne, Vue sur L’Estaque et Le Château d’If sold for £13,522,500

Miro, Cezanne, Modigliani, Giacometti and Magritte were the top sellers at Christie’s sales in London tonight. More than £147 million worth of art changed hands. The Impressionist and Modern evening sale brought in £80,375,000 and the Art of the Surreal auction which followed realised £66,656,000.  This was the first ever Surrealist sale to break the $100 million barrier.

At the Impressionist and Modern sale Paul Cezanne’s Vue sur l”Estaque et le Chateau d’If sold for £13,522,500, Les Deux Filles by Amadeo Modigliani made £7,586,500 and Alberto Giacometti’s Femme de Venise V sold for £6,802,500.

At the Art of the Surreal sale Joan Miro’s  Painting (Women, Moon, Birds) was the top lot of the evening, making £15,538,500. Miro’s L’Oiseau au Plumage  deploye vole  vers l’arbre argente sold for £9,154,500. Rene Magritte’s Quand  l’heure sonnera made £4,338,500 and his Les Compagnons de la Peur made £4,114,500.

Jay Vincze , head of the Impressionist and Modern Art department at Christie’s, London, said:  “We are very pleased with the strong results of this evening’s sales of Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist art which exceeded the top pre-sale estimate and welcomed registered bidders from 34 countries across 5 continents. The broad range of styles and periods of the works offered – many of which came to the market for the first time in generations – contributed to the extraordinary depth of bidding we witnessed.  Pan Asian buyers continue to compete for the best works across 20^th century avant-garde art, notably extending this season to Surrealist masters such as Magritte, Ernst and Dominguez. This is a strong start to the overall week of five sales for the category at Christie’s in London, which presents new and established collectors with opportunities across price levels.”

UPDATE:  The Impressionist/Modern day sale at Christie’s on February 5 brought in another £13,344,825. Christie’s February auction of Impressionist/Modern/Surreal art brought in £170.8 million with global participation. A total of 36 works sold for over £1 million.

Claude Monet – Le Grand Canal sold for £23.67 million.

Claude Monet’s 1908 view of Venice entitled Le Grand Canal sold for £23.67 million at an historic record breaking series of sales at Sotheby’s in London tonight. It was one of five Monet’s which together sold for a total of £55.74 million during one hour at this evening’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art. Another Monet, Les Peupliers à Giverny from 1887 made £10.79 million.  The Venice work has been displayed for the past eight years at the National Gallery in London.  Les Peupliers à Giverny came from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and was sold to benefit the Acquisitions Fund.

Henri Matisse’s  Odalisque au fauteuil noir sold for £15.83 million.  There was a new auction record for a work on paper by Georges Seurat. Étude pour une baignade, Asnières sold for £7.7 million.  It relates to one of Seurat’s greatest paintings, Une baignade, Asnières from 1883-1884, which hangs in the National Gallery, London.

Henry Wyndham selling the top lot at the auction.

By the end of the evening the total of £186.4 million for the Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist art evening sales was the highest total for any auction ever held in London.  There were participants from 35 countries across six continents with collectors from Asia and Russia asserting themselves as a continuing force in the market.

The day sales on February 4 added another £25.6 million with participation from 52 countries. This brought Sotheby’s February auctions of Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist art to a grand total of £212 million.

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for January 3,  8 and 28, 2015).

A selection of artworks formerly in the private collection of playwright, composer, director, actor and singer Sir Noël Coward come up at Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art sale on March 19 at South Kensington. Paintings by Coward include portraits and scenes of Jamaica, his Caribbean home. In addition there is paintings he acquired as gifts from friends such as the actress Elizabeth Taylor, the actor David Niven, and the composer, actor and entertainer Ivor Novello. It comprises works by revered British artists such as Christopher Wood, John Nash, Edward Seago and Derek Hill. Estimates range from £300 up to £100,000.

Christopher Wood (1901-1930)
Fishing Village, Cornwall (£70,000-100,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2015.

Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973) View from Firefly Hill, Jamaica, painted in 1955 (£10,000-15,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2015