Christie's sale of postwar and contemporary art held on Wednesday 12,
November 2014 realized 852.9 million US—way above the 600 million estimate 15
artist records set.
Of 80 lots offered (two were withdrawn), 75 (or 94 percent)
were sold. By value the auction realized 97 percent.
As expected, the stars of the evening were Warhol's silkscreen portraits
of icons Elvis and Marlon Brando which accounted for 151.5 million USD of
that total. The Elvis portrait was hammered at 73 million USD ($81.9
million with premium) while the Brando portrait went for 62 million (69.6 million USD with premium).
Since the late 1970s, the works Triple Elvis (Ferus Type) (1963) and Four
Marlons (1966) had been hanging in a casino in Aachen, Germany, owned
by WestSpiel, a German government–controlled company which bought them from the
Swiss dealer Thomas Amman, respectively for 85,000 USD and 100,000 USD.
Bought for 2,3 million USD at
Christie's London in 2009, Peter Doig's 1994 oil Pine House (Rooms for
Rent), which was estimated to sell for around 15 million, fetched 18
million USD.
A Cy Twombly chalkboard painting, Untitled (1970) set a new auction record for
the artist selling at 69.6 million USD, well above its high estimate of 55
million.
Ed Ruscha's 1963 oil painting Smash sold for a record 30 million USD in
favour of Larry Gagosian who also bought for 22,6 million USD Martin Kippenberger's Untitled (1988) a self-portrait that
was estimated to sell for 15–20 million.
Sold in May 2008
at Christie's New York for 8,8 million USD, Roy Lichtenstein's Reflections on the Prom (1990),
an oil and Magna on canvas, sold for 21.4 million USD against an estimate of 15
million but the artist's earlier oil and graphite on canvas Keds (1961)
remained unsold.
Francis Bacon's Seated Figure (1960) sold for 44.9 million USD just
above its low estimate of 40 million while Warhol's Self-Portrait (1986),
one of his "Fright Wigs," with a estimate of 25—35 million was suprisingly
withdrawn from the sale.
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