The Art Newspaper notes the increasingly complex internal workings of the guarantor system at Christie’s this week, including a growing number of behind the scenes deals and third-party guarantees or investors that help push works to ever higher prices.  “It is becoming more complex and confusing, and that’s not what you want to have in an art market where prices are at this level,” says economist Olav Velthuis. “With the market expanding and prices rising so high, you want more transparency—but this is resulting in the opposite.” (more…)

Andy Warhol, One Dollar Bill (1962), via Sotheby’s

The results are in for Sotheby’s Evening Sale tonight, drawing the first half of the 2015 market year to a close with a mixed sale that saw impressive strength in unexpected places and a number of major letdowns at the higher end of the sale, ultimately closing on a final tally of £130,376,500, well shy of the £203 million mark the auction house had trumpeted earlier this month, with 9 of the 58 lots going unsold. (more…)

Francis Bacon, Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer (1967), via Christie’s

Another auction come and gone for Christie’s tonight in London, and another set of strong results, as the auction house capped a 76 lot sale to the tune of £95,646,500, meeting expectations, and setting several records for non-blue chip artists along the way, with 10 lots going unsold, including a string of Gerhard Richter works that may signal a downturn in the artist’s market popularity. (more…)

Claude Monet, Iris Mauves (1914-1917), via Christie’s

The London summer auctions are underway, after Christie’s opening sale this evening at its King Street location, a steady if somewhat relaxed sale that seemed a markedly subdued affair compared to the fireworks the auction house saw last month in New York.  Capping the 52-lot sale with a final tally of £71,461,000, the evening was still a strong entry in the auction house’s recent outings.  Despite lackluster bidding, the sale achieved a remarkably strong sell-through rate, with only 8 works going unsold.  The auction house seemed content to let a number of works go just below estimate, continuing a commitment to a sales-first strategy outgoing president Steven Murphy had outlined late last year. (more…)

Sotheby’s is looking to break the record for the most expensive art auction in London this week, with an Impressionist and modern sale expected to top £203 million.  “The forthcoming sale offers a rich range of highly desirable works, including those that rank among the finest by Manet, Degas, Klimt, Malevich, Gauguin and Miro,” says Helena Newman, global go-chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art department. (more…)

CNBC is reporting that the mystery buyer of the record-setting Picasso canvas this month is still at large, refuting the New York Post’s reporting that former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani had purchased the work for a record-setting $179 million. (more…)

The Telegraph looks at the record-breaking sales last week at Christie’s in the context of the auction house’s penchant for pre-sale guarantees, noting that over $250 million of the Looking Forward to the Past sale’s monumental $706 million final tally was guaranteed.  They are effectively buying market share,” says one unnamed art advisor. (more…)

Piet Mondrian, Composition No. III Red, Blue, Yellow, and Black (1929), via Art Observed

The auction week has come and gone, and Christie’s has closed out a major week for both its Impressionist/Modern and Contemporary Departments, as the combined sales of its three Evening events this week have collectively brought in well over a billion dollars in sales.  This Evening, the Impressionist and Modern Evening sale added an exclamation point to the proceedings, bringing in a final tally of $202,608,000 that saw a major new record for Piet Mondrian. (more…)

Lucian Freud, Benefits Supervisor Resting (1994), via Art Observed

Christie’s has concluded the first days of Frieze week in style tonight, continuing its impressive performance over the course of the Contemporary Auction week with a strong sale tallying $658,532,000.  Selling 72 of the 85 lots offered, the sale saw several major records fall during the course of the evening, signaling the intense enthusiasm for the contemporary market both in the U.S. and abroad. (more…)

Christopher Wool, Riot (1990), via Sotheby’s

Another night come and gone in New York, and another impressive evening auction in the books as Sotheby’s concludes its Contemporary and Post-War Evening Sale this Tuesday night with a final tally of $379,676,000, failing to top Christie’s impressive auction from one night prior despite some impressive sales records of its own.  The 65-lot sale saw 8 of the works go unsold, for a final sell-through rate of 87.7%, a hard figure considering last evening’s single unsold lot out of 35. (more…)

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1905), via Sotheby’s

As the art world prepares to jet en masse to Italy this week for the opening of the Biennale Previews, the auction houses are also preparing for their biggest stage of the spring season, with two weeks of major evening sales in both the Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary categories set to take place in New York. (more…)

Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (1983), via Sotheby’s

The Contemporary Evening sale at Sotheby’s has concluded, following a sale of works that was fairly by the book in comparison with past auctions, with the exception of a massive new auction record for artist Gerhard Richter just one day after his 83rd birthday.  Despite a lack of exceptionally competitive bidding, the 77-lot sale still brought in impressive returns, finishing at a tally of £123,515,250. (more…)

Francis Bacon, Two Studies for Self-Portrait (1977), via Sotheby’s

Concluding a three week series of auctions, the Contemporary Evening Sales are set to take place in London in the coming evenings, offering a perspective on the strength of the market as 2015’s art season gets underway.

The auctions begin on Tuesday, February 10th, with Sotheby’s Evening sale.  The 77-lot sale is carrying a presale estimate of £89.7 million to £127.1 million, led by a large-scale Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild from 1986, which is estimated to sell for £14 million to £20 million.  Also topping the list is a rare Francis Bacon double self-portrait, executed in 1977 and carrying a £13 million to £18 million presale estimate.  The painting, executed  just weeks after the suicide of his partner George Dyer, is already commanding impressive buzz, and may turn out to be the night’s most coveted lot.  A Lucio Fontana “slit” work also sits at the top of the sale offerings, estimated at £5 million to £7 million.   (more…)

A Paul Gauguin painting from 1892 has reportedly been sold for close to $300 million, setting a new record for the most expensive work of art.  Rudolf Staechelin, a retired Sotheby’s executive, confirmed the sale with the New York Times, but the Qatari buyer’s identity has not been disclosed, nor has the official price.  “The real question is why only now?” Mr. Staechelin said of the Gauguin sale. “It’s mainly because we got a good offer. The market is very high and who knows what it will be in 10 years.” (more…)

Claude Monet, Le Grand Canal (1908), via Sotheby’s

The Impressionist and Modern Auction week has begun in London, as Sotheby’s closes its doors on a strong set of evening sales.  It was the first sale since the auction house announced its increase in rates for 2015, but buyers seemed undeterred by the price increases, bring the final sales tally for the 54 lot sale to an impressive £170,274,000. (more…)

The Detroit Free Press reports on the $100 million sale of Paul Cézanne’s La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue du bosquet du Château Noir by the The Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in 2013, which would make it one of the 15 most expensive works ever sold.  “This was really a once-in-a-lifetime offer,” says Ford House president Kathleen Mullins. “The family thought it was a way to guarantee the estate would be taken care of the way Eleanor would have wanted.” (more…)

The record for the most expensive work of art by a female artist fell in unexpected fashion at Sotheby’s in New York last night, as a Georgia O’Keefe painting Jimson Weed/White Flower No 1 from 1932 sold for more than three times its estimate for $44 million.  The work was included in a sale of American Art last night, and beats the previous $11.9 million auction record for a female (held by Joan Mitchell).  (more…)

Frank Stella, Concentric Square (1966), via Phillips

The Phillips Contemporary Evening Sale concluded Thursday evening, capping off the fall auction season with a staid, relatively stable performance.  While the sale lacked some of the flair and fireworks of the proceeding evening at Christie’s, a number of notable sales defined the evening, as the auction house achieved a final tally of $52 million, with 8 of the 47 lots on offer failing to sell. (more…)

Andy Warhol, Triple Elvis [Ferus Type] (1963), via Christie’s

The market has a new world auction record after Christie’s monumental sale last night in New York, an $852.9 million benchmark that saw 92% of the works find buyers, and 69 of the 75 works on sale exceed $1 million in its final sales total.  Capitalizing on a remarkably strong selection of works and an eager buying pool, the auction saw a number of impressive figures reached, as well as several artist records fall. (more…)

Mark Rothko, No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange) (1951), via Sotheby’s

Following a strong sale of works from the Mellon Collection last night, many were expecting Sotheby’s to continue with an exceptional start to the auction week, and given the strong offering the auction house had on view this past week at its York Avenue exhibition space, it was conceivable that it would bring forth a competitive sale.  However, a number of major passes and underwhelming bids during the sale left the auction house with what could best be classified as a moderate success with $343 million tally, as a number of records were set, while other works failed to live up to initial estimates. (more…)

Andy Warhol, Triple Elvis [Ferus Type] (1963), via Christie’s

The second week of fall auctions in New York is set to kick off this week, as a series of three sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips that will look to test the ongoing strength of the Contemporary and Post-War Markets.  With major works on sale at all three auction houses, the initial estimates are impressive.

Mark Rothko, No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange) (1951), via Sotheby’s (more…)

The Tate Modern has announced the attendance figures from the just-closed Matisse Cut-Outs show, which tallied over 500 million visitors during its run, making it the most highly attended exhibition in museum history.  “The fact that the works have not been brought together for 40 years captured people’s imaginations,” said Director Nicholas Serota. (more…)

Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer, via Sotheby’s

The sales have closed at Sotheby’s and another week of Contemporary Art Sales are underway in London.  The evening’s sales performed well above estimate, bringing in a final sales tally of $159 million for 51 of the 59 available lots. (more…)

Francis Bacon, Study for Head of Lucian Freud, at Christie’s

Following the Impressionist and Modern sales in London last week, the British arms of the major auction houses will open their doors once again for a series of Contemporary sales this week, bringing the spring art season to a close with one last set of high-profile sales evenings.

Peter Doig, Country-Rock (Wing-Mirror) via Sotheby’s  (more…)