Christie’s New York Fall Marquee Sales Total: $2.17 Billion

Led by the most valuable collection of all time – Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection. Overall sales set 50 artist records – saw bids from 51 countries.

Christie’s concluded a historic two weeks of sales that achieved $2,170,537,204 over seven live auctions and one online. The extraordinary run of sales began with Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, a landmark philanthropic event that achieved the highest total in auction history, and the sales ended with Picasso Ceramics online.

The auctions saw global engagement. A total of 51 countries participated with strong bidding from the saleroom, phones, and online. The live auctions set 50 new artist records and achieved successful results for a number of esteemed collections in the 20th and 21st Century Evening and Day Sales. The Roger Sant Collection brought $51,386,400 and works from The Collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann realized $34,048,204, bringing the full total for the Ammann Collection to $359,159,292, the ninth-highest collection total in auction history.

During the course of the two-week period, more than 6.3 million viewers worldwide live-streamed the auctions, tuning in to the excitement of Christie’s Rockefeller Center saleroom.

Marc Porter, Chairman of Christie’s Americas, remarked, “Once again, Christie’s showed that we are the auction house for historic collections with the record-breaking Paull G. Allen sale and that we are the leader when it comes to the innovative presentation of the greatest works of our time, with our 20/21 sales. This was a season that established record prices for a wide range of artists beginning with the Impressionist movement to the contemporary masters of today. It was a moment we will never forget, and we are thrilled to have shared it with tens of thousands of visitors to Rockefeller Center, and millions of viewers online.”

Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection

November 9, Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, Part I was a momentous sale with unprecedented results: 100% sold for $1,506,386,000, and artist records for 20 out of the 60 lots sold. It was the first auction in history to total more than $1 billion, and the first to have five lots sell for more than $100 million each. All of these lots were record-breaking works by Impressionist masters, including the top lot of the sale, Georges Seurat’s Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) which sold for $149,240,000.

November 10, Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, Part II made $115,863,500, bringing the collection total to $1,622,249,500. The top lot of the sale was Oldenburg and Van Bruggen’s monumental sculpture Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, which established a new artist record, realizing $8,405,000. The sale set an additional six artist records.

20/21 Evening Sales

November 17, 20th Century Evening Sale and 21st Century Evening Sale live at Rockefeller Center realized a total of $422,036,700 and set eight new artist records, half for female artists, and more than half for artists of colour.

The 20th Century Evening Sale achieved $307,945,300. Mark Rothko’s Untitled and Amedeo Modigliani’s Beatrice Hastings led the sale, each bringing $17,565,000. Additional highlights included strong results for works by notable female artists. A painting by Joan Mitchell from The Roger Sant Collection sold for $14,130,000, and a rare self-portrait by Frida Kahlo sold for $8,634,000. The 21st Century Evening Sale totalled $114,091,400, led by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Sugar Ray Robinson, at $32,679,000.

20/21 Day Sales

November 18, the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale achieved $78,025,524, 115% sold against the low estimate. The top lot of the sale was Joan Mitchell’s Conte Bleu which sold for $3,420,000 and works by 14 artists established record prices.

November 19, the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale and the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale achieved a total of $46,766,652. The Works on Paper Sale totalled $14,814,012, selling 123% hammer against the low estimate and the Day sale totalled $31,952,640 selling 103% against the low estimate.

Coucher de soleil by Claude Monet led the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale, selling for $3,300,000—more than double its low estimate—and establishing a new record for a work on paper by the artist. The top lot of the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale was another Monet, Deux femmes en barque, which achieved $2,820,000.

November 21, the Picasso Ceramics online auction achieved $1,458,828, selling 100% by lot and 171% against the low estimate. Personnages et têtes was the top lot of the sale, realizing $138,600. This sale marked the 21^st time in a row that New York’s Picasso Ceramics sale has been 100% sold.

Philanthropic Initiatives: 

• Groundswell Fund
• Pioneer Works
• Right of Return USA
• Storm King
• The Dina And Raphael Recanati Family Foundation
• The Sant Foundation
• The Jewish Museum, New York
• The Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation

50 Records:

Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, Part I

1. Georges Seurat
2. Paul Cézanne
3. Vincent Van Gogh
4. Paul Gauguin
5. Gustav Klimt
6. Lucian Freud
7. Jasper Johns
8. Paul Signac
9. Max Ernst
10. Andrew Wyeth
11. Diego Rivera
12. Sam Francis
13. Edward Steichen
14. Henri-Edmond Cross
15. Jan Brueghel The Younger
16. Barbara Hepworth
17. Thomas Hart Benton
18. Henri Le Sidaner
19. John Singer Sargent– WORK ON PAPER
20. Paul Klee– WORK ON PAPER

Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, Part II

21. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen
22. Joseph Kosuth – WORK ON PAPER
23. Jacques Lipchitz
24. Nancy Rubins
25. Mildred Thompson
26. Alden Mason
27. Guillermo Kuitca

20^th Century Evening Sale

28. Eva Gonzales
29. Paul Serusier
30. Emile Bernard

21^st Century Evening Sale

31. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
32. Rashid Johnson
33. Noah Davis
34. Njideka Akunyili Crosby
35. Minjung Kim

Post-War And Contemporary Art Day Sale

36. Jenna Gribbon
37. Adam Pendleton
38. Futura 2000
39. Dondi
40. A-One
41. Angeles Agrela
42. Frida Orupabo
43. Mosie Romney
44. Jesse Krimes
45. Russell Craig
46. Sally Saul
47. Frederic Anderson
48. Alpha Centauri Kid
49. Cecily Brown – WORK ON PAPER
50. Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale Claude Monet – WORK ON PAPER

Christies

editor

Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had auction sales in the first half of 2019 that totalled £2.2 billion / $2.8 billion. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and international expertise. Christie’s offers around 350 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectables, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery.