Femme à la montre by Pablo Picasso
2023 was another incredible year for the art market. In an interesting turn, Sotheby’s took the top spot this year with $8 billion in sales, around the same as 2022. Christie’s, however, saw a slight decrease, down from last year’s $8.4 billion to about $6.2 billion. Also, Bonhams saw a record year with $1.4 billion, an approximate 14% increase from 2023 and a high in the company’s history.
Last year, Christie’s hosted some of the largest sales featuring the vast majority of the most valuable lots. However, this year those sales and lots were a little more evenly spread out between both Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Sotheby’s ended up with the top two lots of the year, one selling at their New York location and the other at their London saleroom. Femme à la montre (Woman with a Watch) by Pablo Picasso sold as part of the Emily Fisher Landau collection on November 8th at Sotheby’s; it brought $121 million hammer, making it the second most valuable Picasso painting of all time. Then, at the June 27th Modern & Contemporary sale in London, there was Gustav Klimt’s Dame mit Fächer (Woman with a Fan). The painting is one of the last complete works created by Klimt, having been found on his easel when he passed away in 1918. It eventually sold for £74 million (or $94.36M), becoming the most valuable painting ever sold in Europe. Christie’s 20th Century Evening sale on November 9th contributed several works to the list, including Le bassin aux nymphéas, one of Monet’s Water Lily paintings that sold for $64 million. At the number four spot, the most recent work in this year’s top lot list, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s gargantuan painting El Gran Espectaculo sold at the 21st Century Evening sale on May 15th for $58 million. Then, number five was another work by Klimt. Insel im Attersee sold on May 16th at the Modern Evening sale at Sotheby’s New York — the impressionist-inspired view of an Austrian lake sold for $46 million.
Christie’s 20th Century Evening sale on November 9th not only included the Monet but also Francis Bacon’s Figure in Movement in the number six spot of the year, Richard Diebenkorn’s Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad in the number seven spot, Mark Rothko’s Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange) in the number eight spot, and Pablo Picasso’s Femme endormie in the number ten spot (for those wondering about the number nine spot, that went to Wassily Kandinsky's Murnau mit Kirche II, which sold at Sotheby's London at their March 1st Modern & Contemporary Sale for £33 million, or about $39.6 million). The Christie's sale made $554.58 million, making it the biggest sale of the year. This was around half the amount made by last year‘s Paul Allen collection, which also sold at Christie’s New York. Regardless, the 20th Century Evening sale came out well above the rest. The Emily Fisher Landau Collection at Sotheby’s New York was a little further behind, bringing in $351.6 million. The Landau collection featured the Picasso portrait mentioned above, Femme à la montre, making up slightly over a third of the sale’s total. Some of the collection’s other stars included multimillion-dollar works by twentieth-century masters like Ed Ruscha and Jasper Johns. In this year’s third place spot, another one of Christie’s 20th Century Evening sales on May 11th made $276.1 million with works by Picasso and Rousseau (even if I preferred the O’Keeffe and the Chagall). And finally, in the fourth and fifth place positions were a pair of Sotheby’s sales, with one in New York on May 16th and the other in London on June 27th. In New York, the Modern Evening sale featured Klimt’s Insel im Attersee, an oddly placed Rubens portrait, and a bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti. In the end, the sale brought in $256.3 million. The other auction, a Modern & Contemporary sale in London, made headlines with the other Klimt painting, Dame mit Fächer, which accounted for 46.2% of the sale’s total. The other works didn’t even come close to the Klimt, including an untitled work by Cy Twombly and a relatively small painting by Lucian Freud. The London sale eventually made £160.2 million (or $204.3 million).
Dame mit Fächer by Gustav Klimt
But, of course, 2023 wasn’t without its surprises. In terms of actual paintings, the most surprising lot crossed the block in May, during the Master Paintings sale at Sotheby’s New York. Of course, I’m talking about Portrait of a Small Poodle by Jacques Barthélemy Delamarre. I originally described it as “a rather unimpressive painting of a small dog.” What probably got some people's attention is that Sotheby’s specialists alleged that the painting was likely a portrait of Pompon, the pet poodle of Queen Marie Antoinette. Everyone here at the gallery became increasingly baffled the longer it went on, focusing on something else for five minutes and then returning to see that a few more bids had come in. In my assessment of the sale, I wrote, “When the $50K bid came in, I was surprised. When it reached $100K, I was astounded. And when it got its final bid of $220K (or $279.4K w/p), I was almost upset.” The pup’s portrait sold for around 44 times its high estimate. Other shocking results from this year included Hermann Lismann’s Selbsporträt, which sold at the Bonhams’ New Bond Street October 19th Expressionism sale for 28 times its £1.5K high estimate at £42K, as well as Mujeres en el baño: sorpresa by Antonio Ruíz, which sold at Sotheby’s New York’s Modern Day sale on May 17th for $420K, or 21 times its $20K high estimate. But those were only paintings. Probably the biggest surprise of the year at any major auction house was not a painting or a print but a note written on a scrap of paper. Written and torn from his sketchbook when he was 23, Modigliani provided some insight into his creative process. He wrote, “What I am searching for is not the real nor the unreal, but the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctiveness of the race.” The note was auctioned at Sotheby’s Paris on October 23rd as part of an Impressionist & Modern Art sale alongside another twenty-one sketches by the artist. Estimated to sell for no more than €500, the bit of writing sold for an astounding €120K, or 240 times its original estimate.
But of course, with all the successes and surprises, this year wasn’t without its disappointments. Many sales didn’t do that well this year, with five in particular having more than half of their lots bought in. Two of these sales share the top spot at 59% unsold: the March 10th Modern Art Online sale at Bonhams New York, where 16 of the 27 lots went unsold; then, later at the 19th Century & Old Master Sale at Sotheby's London July 6th, 71 of the 121 lots were bought in. Then there were the year’s most disappointing lots, those highly valued works that wound up getting bought in. Interestingly, the top three came from the same sale; the 20th Century Evening sale at Christie’s New York on May 11th, the number three sale of the year. They were Pull by Philip Guston (est $6 million to $8 million), The Moon and the Loop by Alexander Calder (est. $8 million to $12 million), and Femme assise au chapeau de paille by Pablo Picasso (est. $20 million to $30 million).
2023 was an interesting year for the market. The selling prices of this year’s top lots and the totals for this year’s biggest sales were well below those of 2022. Some saw last year’s astronomical prices as an omen that the market would retract this year. This seems to have resulted from Covid continuing to wreak havoc on the economy, the EU increasing sales taxes, and inflation increases. With Christie’s in particular, their reputation seems to have suffered slightly with them pulling out of their previous forays into AI- and blockchain-based art. Furthermore, the market in 2022 may have set expectations a little too high for 2023. Therefore, it's likely that galleries and auction houses may be a little more cautious in the upcoming year.
Art Market 2023: The Year In Review
Femme à la montre by Pablo Picasso
2023 was another incredible year for the art market. In an interesting turn, Sotheby’s took the top spot this year with $8 billion in sales, around the same as 2022. Christie’s, however, saw a slight decrease, down from last year’s $8.4 billion to about $6.2 billion. Also, Bonhams saw a record year with $1.4 billion, an approximate 14% increase from 2023 and a high in the company’s history.
Last year, Christie’s hosted some of the largest sales featuring the vast majority of the most valuable lots. However, this year those sales and lots were a little more evenly spread out between both Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Sotheby’s ended up with the top two lots of the year, one selling at their New York location and the other at their London saleroom. Femme à la montre (Woman with a Watch) by Pablo Picasso sold as part of the Emily Fisher Landau collection on November 8th at Sotheby’s; it brought $121 million hammer, making it the second most valuable Picasso painting of all time. Then, at the June 27th Modern & Contemporary sale in London, there was Gustav Klimt’s Dame mit Fächer (Woman with a Fan). The painting is one of the last complete works created by Klimt, having been found on his easel when he passed away in 1918. It eventually sold for £74 million (or $94.36M), becoming the most valuable painting ever sold in Europe. Christie’s 20th Century Evening sale on November 9th contributed several works to the list, including Le bassin aux nymphéas, one of Monet’s Water Lily paintings that sold for $64 million. At the number four spot, the most recent work in this year’s top lot list, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s gargantuan painting El Gran Espectaculo sold at the 21st Century Evening sale on May 15th for $58 million. Then, number five was another work by Klimt. Insel im Attersee sold on May 16th at the Modern Evening sale at Sotheby’s New York — the impressionist-inspired view of an Austrian lake sold for $46 million.
Christie’s 20th Century Evening sale on November 9th not only included the Monet but also Francis Bacon’s Figure in Movement in the number six spot of the year, Richard Diebenkorn’s Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad in the number seven spot, Mark Rothko’s Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange) in the number eight spot, and Pablo Picasso’s Femme endormie in the number ten spot (for those wondering about the number nine spot, that went to Wassily Kandinsky's Murnau mit Kirche II, which sold at Sotheby's London at their March 1st Modern & Contemporary Sale for £33 million, or about $39.6 million). The Christie's sale made $554.58 million, making it the biggest sale of the year. This was around half the amount made by last year‘s Paul Allen collection, which also sold at Christie’s New York. Regardless, the 20th Century Evening sale came out well above the rest. The Emily Fisher Landau Collection at Sotheby’s New York was a little further behind, bringing in $351.6 million. The Landau collection featured the Picasso portrait mentioned above, Femme à la montre, making up slightly over a third of the sale’s total. Some of the collection’s other stars included multimillion-dollar works by twentieth-century masters like Ed Ruscha and Jasper Johns. In this year’s third place spot, another one of Christie’s 20th Century Evening sales on May 11th made $276.1 million with works by Picasso and Rousseau (even if I preferred the O’Keeffe and the Chagall). And finally, in the fourth and fifth place positions were a pair of Sotheby’s sales, with one in New York on May 16th and the other in London on June 27th. In New York, the Modern Evening sale featured Klimt’s Insel im Attersee, an oddly placed Rubens portrait, and a bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti. In the end, the sale brought in $256.3 million. The other auction, a Modern & Contemporary sale in London, made headlines with the other Klimt painting, Dame mit Fächer, which accounted for 46.2% of the sale’s total. The other works didn’t even come close to the Klimt, including an untitled work by Cy Twombly and a relatively small painting by Lucian Freud. The London sale eventually made £160.2 million (or $204.3 million).
Dame mit Fächer by Gustav Klimt
But, of course, 2023 wasn’t without its surprises. In terms of actual paintings, the most surprising lot crossed the block in May, during the Master Paintings sale at Sotheby’s New York. Of course, I’m talking about Portrait of a Small Poodle by Jacques Barthélemy Delamarre. I originally described it as “a rather unimpressive painting of a small dog.” What probably got some people's attention is that Sotheby’s specialists alleged that the painting was likely a portrait of Pompon, the pet poodle of Queen Marie Antoinette. Everyone here at the gallery became increasingly baffled the longer it went on, focusing on something else for five minutes and then returning to see that a few more bids had come in. In my assessment of the sale, I wrote, “When the $50K bid came in, I was surprised. When it reached $100K, I was astounded. And when it got its final bid of $220K (or $279.4K w/p), I was almost upset.” The pup’s portrait sold for around 44 times its high estimate. Other shocking results from this year included Hermann Lismann’s Selbsporträt, which sold at the Bonhams’ New Bond Street October 19th Expressionism sale for 28 times its £1.5K high estimate at £42K, as well as Mujeres en el baño: sorpresa by Antonio Ruíz, which sold at Sotheby’s New York’s Modern Day sale on May 17th for $420K, or 21 times its $20K high estimate. But those were only paintings. Probably the biggest surprise of the year at any major auction house was not a painting or a print but a note written on a scrap of paper. Written and torn from his sketchbook when he was 23, Modigliani provided some insight into his creative process. He wrote, “What I am searching for is not the real nor the unreal, but the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctiveness of the race.” The note was auctioned at Sotheby’s Paris on October 23rd as part of an Impressionist & Modern Art sale alongside another twenty-one sketches by the artist. Estimated to sell for no more than €500, the bit of writing sold for an astounding €120K, or 240 times its original estimate.
But of course, with all the successes and surprises, this year wasn’t without its disappointments. Many sales didn’t do that well this year, with five in particular having more than half of their lots bought in. Two of these sales share the top spot at 59% unsold: the March 10th Modern Art Online sale at Bonhams New York, where 16 of the 27 lots went unsold; then, later at the 19th Century & Old Master Sale at Sotheby's London July 6th, 71 of the 121 lots were bought in. Then there were the year’s most disappointing lots, those highly valued works that wound up getting bought in. Interestingly, the top three came from the same sale; the 20th Century Evening sale at Christie’s New York on May 11th, the number three sale of the year. They were Pull by Philip Guston (est $6 million to $8 million), The Moon and the Loop by Alexander Calder (est. $8 million to $12 million), and Femme assise au chapeau de paille by Pablo Picasso (est. $20 million to $30 million).
2023 was an interesting year for the market. The selling prices of this year’s top lots and the totals for this year’s biggest sales were well below those of 2022. Some saw last year’s astronomical prices as an omen that the market would retract this year. This seems to have resulted from Covid continuing to wreak havoc on the economy, the EU increasing sales taxes, and inflation increases. With Christie’s in particular, their reputation seems to have suffered slightly with them pulling out of their previous forays into AI- and blockchain-based art. Furthermore, the market in 2022 may have set expectations a little too high for 2023. Therefore, it's likely that galleries and auction houses may be a little more cautious in the upcoming year.