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A Billion-Dollar Week by the Numbers
Nearly 700 artworks across six auctions realized nearly $1.1 billion in sales this week — Sotheby’s second consecutive marquee auction series to reach this milestone.
A cross six exhilarating auctions in five days this May, Sotheby’s reached a milestone it has only reached a few times before: it sold over one billion dollars’ worth of art. Between 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Macklowe Collection’s finale and the extensive 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:New York Sales, this one week realized $1.09 billion US dollars in sales — the second co𝓀nsecutive marquee week to pass this threshold and the third highest 🍬week in Sotheby’s 278-year history.
Monday 16 May saw The Macklowe Collection return to the block for its second and final auction, where it achieved $246.1 million. Following its $676.1 million performance in November, the unparalleled collection realized a combined total of $922.2 million and 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:became the most valuable ever sold aဣt auction.
On Tuesday evening, The New York Sales began. Presented in partnership with CELINE, five auctions exhibited an outstanding array of work spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from Impressionism to⭕ today𝓀.
Pablo Picasso’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Femme nue couchée and Claude Monet’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute led the 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Modern Evening Auction to reach $408.4 million, becoming Sotheby’s third most valuable auction ever and the second most valuable multiple-owner sale. All top ten lots from the fifty-eight-lot auction broke $10 million⛦.
Two days later on Thursday, the second New York edition of Sotheby’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:NOW Evening Auction saw frenzied bidding on artworks by the most in-demand artists of the day — with women artists offering the lion’s share of t🦩he art on offer. At the end of one energetic hour, nine auction records were set among the twenty-three works comprising the $72.9 million sale.
After a short break, auctioneer Oliver Barker took the rostrum from Michael Macaulay for the 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Contemporary Evening Auction. Led by Francis Bacon’s triumphant finale to his “Pope” paintings ($46.3 million), the auction rea⛄lized $210.5 million and tipped the week’s tally across the billion-dollar mar𒅌k.
Two exciting daytime auctions rounded out the week. Wednesday’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Modern Day Auction achieved $72.8 million across 268 lots, while Friday’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Contemporary Day Auction totaled $79.1 million across 277 lots. The average lot value across this week’s evening au🎐ctions was 🔯$7.2 million.
At least thirty-six artists saw new auction records established throughout the week, including Virgiꦜl Abloh, Milton Avery, Georg Baselitz, Leonora Carrington, Jared French, Adrian Ghenie, Simone Leigh, Maximilien Luce, Robert Motherwell, Jennifer Packer, Christina Quarles, Sean Scully, Avery Singer, Anna Weyant and Matthew Wong.
The five most valuable artworks of the week were Picasso’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Femme nue couchée ($67.5 million), Monet’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute ($56.6 million), Mark Rothko’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Untitled ($48 million), Bacon’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Study of Red Pope 1962, 2nd Version 1971 ($46.3 million) and Paul Cézanne’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Clairière (The Glade) ($41.7 million). Across the auctions, two works sold for over $50 million, nine works for over $20 million, twenty-three works sold for over $10 million, and one hundred works sold fo🍸r over $1 million.
Global interest drove bids from fifty countries across six continents. Nearly a quarter of The Macklowe Collection’s bid value came from bidders in Asia, and a quarter of the lots in the NOW Evening Auction saw bids from the same. Almost half of bidders aged under forty across the week’s auctions were from Asia, and several incredible artworks — including Monet’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Les Arceaux De Roses, Giverny, Andy Warhol’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Self Portrait, Cy Twombly’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Untitled and Adrian Ghenie’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Degenerate Art — sold to collectors in Asia. All of which follows the success of Sotheby’s Hong Kong auctions at the beginning of the ♛month, which achieved $496 million US.
Meanwhile, the six live-streamed auctions saw 3.6 million views (including on laitexier.com, and ), plus an additional 2.2 million views🎐 on .
Such a stunning series of records and statistics presents strong signs for the global art market, following Sotheby’s record year of $7.3 billion US in sales in 2021. Year-to-date, the auction house is now up 50 percent in modern and contemporary art sales over 2021; global sales have topped $1.65 billion, compared to 🐼$1.06 billion this time last year. At the end of a week like this on🌺e, it’s fair to say Sotheby’s unprecedented array of extraordinary artworks was met by a confident market and high demand.
Head bel🌠ow the fold for in-dept🔯h coverage of the week’s auctions.
The Week at a Glance
- $246.1M
- $408.4M
- $72.8M
- $72.9M
- $210.5M
- $79.1
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The Macklowe CollectionWith an average lot value of $8.2 million, 30 artworks from The Macklowe Collection realized $246.1 million in Monday night’s sale. Of these, 2 works sold for over $70 million, 4 sold for over $50 million, 14 sold for over $20 million and 20 sold for over $10 million -
The Modern Evening AuctionAt $408.4 million, Tuesday night’s Modern Evening Auction was the third largest sale in Sotheby’s history. Each of the top 10 lots sold above $10 million, and new auction records were established for Milton Avery, Maximilien Luce, Leonora Carrington, Jared French and Robert Motherwell (for a work on paper).
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The Modern Day AuctionWednesday’s Modern Day Auction sold 268 lots with an average value just under $272,000 to achieve $72.8 million. The results were led by works by Pablo Picasso ($2.7 million), Robert Motherwell ($2.5 million) and Georgia O’Keeffe ($2.5 million). Seven new auction records were set. -
The NOW Evening AuctionIn just one energetic hour on Thursday, this 23-lot, $72.9 million auction saw nine new artist records set. Collectively, work by women artists accounted for $28 million and work by artists of color realized $35.1 million, nearly half of the auction’s total sales.
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The Contemporary Evening AuctionThursday’s second event, the Contemporary Evening Auction tipped the weeklong sales series over $1 billion. The top six lots from the auction — works by Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Georg Baselitz and David Hockney — each broke $10 million.
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The Contemporary Day AuctionThe final auction of the week took place on Friday, where 248 works of contemporary art were sold for a total of $79.1 million. The day saw 14 records set for different artists’ work at auction.
Consisting of sixty-five works of art, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Macklowe Collection became the most valuable single-owner sale ever, comfortably breaking a record set in 2018. Thirty masterworks sold on Monday evening for $246.1 million (with November’s auction, 168开奖官方开奖🃏网站查询:the collection totaled🍷 $922.2 million), led by an important 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:1960 painting by Mark Rothko that sold for $48 million.
The entire collection’s average lot price was an impressive $14.2 million, buoyed this week by Gerhard Richter’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Seestück [Seascape] ($30.2 million), Andy Warhol’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Self Portrait ($18.7 million), Willem de Kooning’s Untitled ($17.8 million) and Cy Twombly’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Synopsis of a Battle ($15.3 million).
All the lots sold on Monday, making it The Macklowe Coll♉ection’s second white-glove auction — and the first of two this week.
Top 10 Lots from The Macklowe Collection
![View 1 of Lot 5: Seestück [Seascape]](http://laitexier.com.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/631027d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x1373+0+0/resize/330x227!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com%2Fe5%2F47%2F86913d40430e9866ed5e0e504371%2F1203n10382-3yggn-02.jpg)
Tuesday’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Modern Evening Auction acquired $408.4 million, thanks to global demand for Impressionist, Abstract Expressionist and Surrealist art; a third of the works at ⛎auction came to the blo𝕴ck for the first time in twenty years or more.
The auction was headlined by Pablo Picasso’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Femme nue couchée and Claude Monet’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Le Gran💙d Canal 💮et Santa Maria della Salute, and the top ten lots all broke $10 million — including Willem de Kooning’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Leaves in Weehawken, a beautiful work on paper that doubled its high estimate. Six additional works by Picasso sold, with the artist’s total from the night topping $106 million. Two other Monets sold, including 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Les Arceaux De Roses, Giverny to a collect♓or in Asia, bringing the🎀 artist’s nightly total to $86.2 million.
The fifty-eight-lot sale established five new auction records: Milton Avery’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Letter ($6.1 million), Maximilien Luce’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Baigneuses à Saint-Tropez ($4.5 million), Leonora Carrington’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Garden of Paracelsus ($3.3 million) and Jared French’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Double ($1.1 million) all set new artist records. Robert Motherwell’s 168开奖官方开奖网👍站查询:Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 59 ($1.2 m🃏illion) also set a record 🎉for a work on paper by the artist.
Victor Brauner’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Indicateur de l’espace ($945,000) became the artist’s second most valuable work to come to market, and Paul Cézanne’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Clairière (The Glade) ($41.7 million) — one of three pa🅰intings sold by the Toledo Museum of Art — achieved the artist’s third🎀 highest sale.
Top 10 Lots from the Modern Evening Auction
Wednesday’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Modern Day Auction was a sale with extraordinary depth; 79 percent of the 339 lots sold to achieve a total of $72.8 million. Two of the top ten works were by Pablo Picasso and two were by Georgia O’Keeffe — all of which realized over $1 million — while an arresting painting from Robert Motherwell’s “168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Spanish Elegy” series sold for $2.5 million.
Auction records were set for 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Tilsa Tsuchiya ($882,000), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Miguel Covarrubias ($756,000), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Hedda Sterne ($504,000), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Alejandro Obregón ($252,000), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询: Joaquín Torres-García ($189,000, for a wooden construction), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Michael (Corinne) West ($176,400) and 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Rosa Rolanda ($56,700).
Top 10 Lots from the Modern Day Auction
In its second New York edition, the 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:NOW Evening Auction — featuri🔯ng the most innovative and cutting-edge artists working today — reserved its coveted first ten lots for artworks made by women. In fact, it was the first auction of its kind at Sot♏heby’s where works made by women were the majority.
ꦿAcross the tℱhrilling $72.9 million auction, works by women artists achieved $28 million, and works by artists of color realized $35.1 million — or nearly half of the auction’s total sale value.
From the very first lot (Anna Weyant’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Falling Woman), the energetic night was propelled by frenz🙈ied bidding in the room, on the phone and online, al𒉰l expertly presided over by auctioneer Michael Macaulay. The first six lots all broke — in some cases, shattered — existing auction records.
Three more were set over the hour, making nine artist records across the twenty-three lot sale: Adrian Ghenie’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Degenerate Art ($9.3 million), Matthew Wong’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Night Watcher ($5.9 million), Avery Singer’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Happening ($5.3 million), Christina Quarles’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Night Fell Upon Us Up On Us ($4.5 million), Jennifer Packer’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Fire Next Time ($2.3 million), Simone Leigh’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Birmingham ($2.2 million), Weyant’s Falling Woman ($1.6 million), Lucy Bull’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Special Guest ($907K, in her auction debut), and Virgil Abloh’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Unique “Efflorescence” Desk ($151K for a dedicated work of art).
The top lot was Kerry James Marshall’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Beauty Examined ($13.5 million), a poignant examinatio𓂃n of the racial and gendered paradigms of beauty, which appeared in the artist’s celebrated mid-career retrospective, “Mastry.”
With every lot sold, the NOW Evening Auction be൩came this week’s second white-glove sale, and the second consecutive season this auction achieved the exciting mark.
The watershed auction was a reflection of market trends and growing demand. In 2021, statistics from 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Sotheby’s Mei Moses Index revealed that prices for work by women artists grew 32 percent over five years, compared to 29𒆙 percent for work by men. Narrowing the focus to contemporary art over the same period illuminates an even more important trend: Work by contemporary women artists increased in value 66 percent, versus 17 percent for 🌳contemporary male artists over the same period.
Top 10 Lots from the NOW Evening Auction
When principle auctioneer Oliver Barker took the rostrum for Thursday night’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Contemporary Evening Auction, the week’s sale total had reache🉐d $800 million. By the end of the $210.5 million auction, the billion-dollar threshold had been reached.
The auction was driven by major figures of contemporary art, with Francis Bacon’s triumphant finale to his “Pope” paintings realizing $46.3 million. Also leading the sale were Cy Twombly’s Untitled ($38 million), Andy Warhol’s Elvis ($21.6 million), Ed Ruscha’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Cold Beer Beautiful Girls ($18.8 million) and Georg Baselitz’s Dresd🍃ner Frauen – Besuch aus Prag [Women of Dresden – 🐬Visit from Prague] ($11.2 million, a new artist record).
Additionally, the evening’s final lot, Sean Scully’s Song ($2 millioꦇn), earned the artist a new auction record.
Top 10 Lots from the Contemporary Evening Auction
![View 1 of Lot 110: Dresdner Frauen – Besuch aus Prag [Women of Dresden – Visit from Prague]](http://laitexier.com.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9b20d5e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1346x2000+0+0/resize/253x376!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com%2F08%2F13%2F3e497cdd40489bdb6fd9b52323d7%2F087n10951-47jjc-t1-01.jpg)
![View 1 of Lot 111: Falle [Trap]](http://laitexier.com.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/79b563d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1630x2000+0+0/resize/306x376!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com%2F8e%2F5d%2Fabf058aa45c6930ddba962a9c92e%2F035n10951-47jjb-t1-02.jpg)
The billion-dollar week closed out with Friday’s 277-lot 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Contemporary Day Auction, 89.5 percent of which sold for a total of $79.1 million. Work by women artists continued to present a strong showing, with the top four lots coming from Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell and selling over $2 million, well above their high estimates. Al🅺l top ten lots sold above $1 million.
Fourteen auction records were set, including eight by women artists: 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Lynda Benglis ($1.1 million), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Steven Parrino ($567,000), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Kara Walker ($529,300), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Genesis Tramaine ($441,000), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Erik Parker ($378,000), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Craig Kauffman ($327,600), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Antonio Santin ($277,200), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Ambera Wellmann ($189,000), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Ivy Haldeman ($176,400), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Chloe Wise ($144,900), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Marcellina Akpojotor ($73,080), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Pedro Friedeberg ($69,300), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Gillian Wearing ($63,000) and 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Aaron Johnson ($60,480).
When the final gavel struck for a collection of three꧃ miniatu🍃re balloon animals by Jeff Koons, Sotheby’s t𒀰otal sales for the week closed at $1🌳,089,812,692.
