Twombly “Leda and the Swan”
Many may have thought that yesterday’s stock market’s drop of over 370 points would have a chilling effect on the art market; however, last night’s sale of Postwar and Contemporary art at Christie’s proved that those with money still believe in this market. The first 41 lots offered all found buyers and it wasn’t until a Steven Parrino appeared that they had their first of just 3 failures (the other 2 were by Ruby and Picasso — still not sure why you would offer a Picasso in this sale) … and those 3 lots turned out to be just tiny blips on the evening’s BIG screen.
By the end of the night we saw 71 lots offered, of which 68 found buyers (96%), and a total take of $448.1M … pretty impressive given what is going on in the world today. The top sellers were Twombly’s Leda and the Swan at $47M ($52.9M with commissions, est. $35-55M) and Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer which hammered down at $46M ($51.8M … they were expecting about $50M).
Tonight we may have another action packed sale with a Basquiat that is expected to sell for $60M! Below are links to a couple of news reports about last night’s auction action.
Source: Christie’s Sale Soars as Collectors Sink Fortunes Into Art