Sotheby's first contemporary art sale of the year held on February 10, 2015 held in London yielded £123,515,250 ($188.2 million) with 87% of lots sold, its highest ever for contemporary art in Britain.
An impressive large-scale abstract painting by Gerhard Richter from 1986 bought in May 1999 for $607,000 and estimated at £14–20 million fetched a new record £30.4 million ($46.3 million) for a living European artist.
Back on the market too soon, another Richter, a 1970 photo painting titled Wolken (Clouds) which had been acquired two and a half years ago for $5.7 million sold at the low estimate for £4.1 million ($6.2 million)
A large 2010 painting, Studio Hallway, by Los Angeles–based Jonas Wood went surprisingly well beyond its £70,000–90,000 estimate to sell for £365,000 ($556,150
Estimated at £13-18 million, the cover lot, a small diptych, Two Studies for Self-Portrait by Francis Bacon went only for £14.7 million.
A circular aluminum plaque, Epiphany, conceived in 1964 and realized in 1989 by British Pop artist Richard Hamilton sold for a record £557,000 ($848,701) against a £150,000–200,000 estimate.
Cy Twombly's 1960 canvas Crime of Passion from the collection of rock star Eric Clapton (bought for £ 5.8 million two and hald years ago) sold below the estimate for £4.1 million ($6.2 million) Another Twombly painting, Untitled (Rome) (1964) remained unsold with a £1.7– 2.2 million estimate while "Rome" (1969) an oil drawing on paper by the same artist for one of his Blackboard-style paintings, sold above estimate for a record £3.8 million ($5,858,626).
Estimated at £ 100,000-150,000, James Rosenquist's small painting Beach Call (1979) culminated at £641,000 ($976,692).
Warhol's Four Multi-Coloured Marilyns(Reversals series) painted silkscreen from 1979–86 sold within estimate for £3.3 million (€4.4 million) while a white Fontana with multiple cuts from the Hoglund collection soared to a record £8.4 million ($12.8 million).
Two kinetic sculptures by Jean Tinguely sold respectively for £485,000 ($738,994) and £329,000 ($501,297).
A large Blue monochromes by Yves Klein made in 1959 and bought in 2006 for £960,000 went for £6.1 million ($9,271,714) while a smaller one from 1960 sold for £2.1 million.
A 1965 Hero style pencil drawing by Georg Baselitz fetched £437,000 ($665,857), and the similar Hirte, from 1966,sold for £485,000 ($738,994).
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