Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black, and Blue by Piet Mondrian
The May Marquee sales at the major New York auction houses have concluded, with Christie’s coming out on top in nearly every sense.
Christie’s hosted six sales during the week: two modern, two Impressionist, and two contemporary. It all started with the Riggio collection. Leonard Riggio was the chairman of the bookstore chain Barnes & Noble, acquiring the business in 1971. He is credited with transforming Barnes & Noble from a single store on Fifth Avenue to a prolific chain with hundreds of locations. He passed away in August 2024, and his widow, Louise, made headlines in February when she consigned their art collection to Christie’s. The relatively small auction of thirty-eight lots comprised a significant piece of Christie’s revenue that week. It also featured the most expensive lot sold during the Marquee sales, Piet Mondrian’s 1922 painting Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black, and Blue. The work is very typical of the artist’s “revolutionary mature aesthetic” and his exploration of neo-plasticism. This style is characterized by his use of straight lines and primary colors to create “an idealized pictorial form of pure equilibrium that would reintegrate a fundamental sense of beauty into life.” While it fell short of its $50 million pre-sale estimate, it sold for $41 million (or $47.56 million w/p), making it the third most expensive Mondrian painting ever sold at auction.
Of the twelve lots that sold for over $10 million at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s, four came from the Riggio collection, including Alberto Giacometti’s Femme de Venise I ($15 million hammer) and one of René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières paintings ($30 million hammer). With the Mondrian painting selling for under estimate and a Julio Gonzalez sculpture failing to sell, the Riggio collection fell slightly short of expectations. It brought in $228.6 million against a pre-sale total estimate of $245.5 million. Of course, Christie was able to make up this difference with fees and premiums, bringing the total up to $271.9 million. The Riggio collection made up 39.8% of the combined total hammer prices of all six May Marquee sales hosted at Christie’s New York that week. Adding the $181.2 million from the 20th Century evening sale immediately following the Riggio collection increases that percentage to 71.3%.
Grande tête mince by Alberto Giacometti
For Sotheby’s, the Modern Evening sale on May 13th was somewhat disappointing given the failure of the Alberto Giacometti sculpture Grande tête mince, which specialists expected would sell for $70 million. This brought the sales total from its $230.2 million total minimum estimate down to $151.7 million. The most valuable lot to cross the block at Sotheby’s that week would not appear until a couple of days later at their contemporary evening auction. There, an untitled 1981 work by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold for $13.7 million (or $16.4 million w/p).
The four Marquee sales Sotheby’s hosted that week were expected to bring in a total of $422.1 million. However, because of the initial shortcomings with the Giacometti debacle, Sotheby’s fell short at $355.2 million. This is not the only area where Sotheby’s fell slightly short. Christie’s specialists achieved a somewhat higher accuracy rate, with two hundred six of the five hundred sixty-four lots available across the six sales selling within their estimates, giving Christie a 36.5% accuracy rate. On the other hand, Sotheby’s ended up with 33.7% having sold two hundred two of the five hundred ninety-nine lots within their estimates. Christie’s also achieved a slightly higher sell-through rate of 87.1% compared to 84.3% at Sotheby’s. At the end of the week, with fees and premiums included, Christie’s made off with a monumental $693.1 million. In comparison, Sotheby’s made $411.2 million, an equally impressive number, especially since they hosted two fewer sales in the same amount of time. Regardless, this was an 18% decrease from last year’s May Marquee sales for Sotheby’s, while Christie’s saw a 23% increase.
The 2025 May Marquee Sales
Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black, and Blue by Piet Mondrian
The May Marquee sales at the major New York auction houses have concluded, with Christie’s coming out on top in nearly every sense.
Christie’s hosted six sales during the week: two modern, two Impressionist, and two contemporary. It all started with the Riggio collection. Leonard Riggio was the chairman of the bookstore chain Barnes & Noble, acquiring the business in 1971. He is credited with transforming Barnes & Noble from a single store on Fifth Avenue to a prolific chain with hundreds of locations. He passed away in August 2024, and his widow, Louise, made headlines in February when she consigned their art collection to Christie’s. The relatively small auction of thirty-eight lots comprised a significant piece of Christie’s revenue that week. It also featured the most expensive lot sold during the Marquee sales, Piet Mondrian’s 1922 painting Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black, and Blue. The work is very typical of the artist’s “revolutionary mature aesthetic” and his exploration of neo-plasticism. This style is characterized by his use of straight lines and primary colors to create “an idealized pictorial form of pure equilibrium that would reintegrate a fundamental sense of beauty into life.” While it fell short of its $50 million pre-sale estimate, it sold for $41 million (or $47.56 million w/p), making it the third most expensive Mondrian painting ever sold at auction.
Of the twelve lots that sold for over $10 million at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s, four came from the Riggio collection, including Alberto Giacometti’s Femme de Venise I ($15 million hammer) and one of René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières paintings ($30 million hammer). With the Mondrian painting selling for under estimate and a Julio Gonzalez sculpture failing to sell, the Riggio collection fell slightly short of expectations. It brought in $228.6 million against a pre-sale total estimate of $245.5 million. Of course, Christie was able to make up this difference with fees and premiums, bringing the total up to $271.9 million. The Riggio collection made up 39.8% of the combined total hammer prices of all six May Marquee sales hosted at Christie’s New York that week. Adding the $181.2 million from the 20th Century evening sale immediately following the Riggio collection increases that percentage to 71.3%.
Grande tête mince by Alberto Giacometti
For Sotheby’s, the Modern Evening sale on May 13th was somewhat disappointing given the failure of the Alberto Giacometti sculpture Grande tête mince, which specialists expected would sell for $70 million. This brought the sales total from its $230.2 million total minimum estimate down to $151.7 million. The most valuable lot to cross the block at Sotheby’s that week would not appear until a couple of days later at their contemporary evening auction. There, an untitled 1981 work by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold for $13.7 million (or $16.4 million w/p).
The four Marquee sales Sotheby’s hosted that week were expected to bring in a total of $422.1 million. However, because of the initial shortcomings with the Giacometti debacle, Sotheby’s fell short at $355.2 million. This is not the only area where Sotheby’s fell slightly short. Christie’s specialists achieved a somewhat higher accuracy rate, with two hundred six of the five hundred sixty-four lots available across the six sales selling within their estimates, giving Christie a 36.5% accuracy rate. On the other hand, Sotheby’s ended up with 33.7% having sold two hundred two of the five hundred ninety-nine lots within their estimates. Christie’s also achieved a slightly higher sell-through rate of 87.1% compared to 84.3% at Sotheby’s. At the end of the week, with fees and premiums included, Christie’s made off with a monumental $693.1 million. In comparison, Sotheby’s made $411.2 million, an equally impressive number, especially since they hosted two fewer sales in the same amount of time. Regardless, this was an 18% decrease from last year’s May Marquee sales for Sotheby’s, while Christie’s saw a 23% increase.