
Mark Rothko – Number 10 sold for $81.9 million
An $81 million Rothko and a record breaking Freud brought Christie’s to a benchmark in art auction history last night – the first $1 billion week for the art world. The Post-War and Contemporary art sale in New York last evening made $658,532,000. The top lot of the sale was Rothko’s No. 10, an ethereal masterpiece by the artist from 1958 which made $81,925,000. Seven collectors, including clients from the U.S., Europe and Asia, chased the painting past the $50 million dollar mark.

Lucian Freud – Benefits Supervisor Resting made a world record $56,165,000
Lucian Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Resting sold for the world auction record price of $56,165,000. The previous artist’s auction record of $33.6 million, set at Christie’s London in 2008. The square-format depiction of Freud’s model Sue Tilley, which drew in viewers to Christie’s presale exhibitions in Hong Kong, London and New York, had never been offered at auction before. Four bidders chased the work up and over the $30 million mark.
The stellar collection assembled by art world figures Ileana Sonnabend and her daughter Nina Sundell gave the sale a lively start. All nineteen works found buyers and the group totalled $60.1 million.
There were eight artist world auction records: Freud; Robert Ryman ($20,605,000); Robert Rauschenberg ($18,645,000); Giovanni Anselmo ($6,437,000); Hans Hofmann ($6,325,000); Sturtevant ($5,093,000); Rudolf Stingel ($4,757,000) and Carroll Dunham (4509,000).
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for April 22, April 17 and April 15, 2015).