Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

The “Contemporary Art” House organised by Sotheby’s New York next April 2nd was interestingly announced. The auction will put together 468 lots by high quality artists spacing from seventies art right up to contemporary masters. Certainly out of the most interesting works that Sotheby’s will put on sale Jatek, by Victor Vasarely stands out. It is an oil painting executed by the artist in 1984 and will be presented to the public at an estimate of 150-200 million dollars. It is an extraordinary piece that underlines the poetry of Op Art (Optical Art), an abstract art movement that emerged in the fifties in which it mainly wanted to provoke optical illusions typical of movement through appropriately accosting particular abstract subjects or by exploiting colours.

Besides this Victor Vasarely painting, the New York auction house will offer an ample selection of works by the witty Andy Warhol: Tennesee Williams (estimated at 150-200 million dollars), Eva Mudocci - After Munch (estimated at 150-200 million dollars), Self Portrait“(estimated at 100-150 million dollars). Other than this artists advertising works which transformed art consumerism, let’s mention 9 lithographs that go back to the times when Warhol was part of the of the graphic art world. Some of his beautiful works, which show the artist as a graphic designer, are valued from between 8,000 and 15,000 dollars. In fact, in the first years of his career, Andy Warhol started to collaborate with glossy magazines such as “Vogue”, “Glamour” and “New Yorker”. These works show the start of his artistic journey that led him to coin in his own words, the term “pop”, the reality of his images.

Among the worthy pieces we should emphasise Untitled by Keith Haring, that was initially valued at 60-80 million dollars. A simple heart invaded by stylised dolls underlines how the American artist in only one decade gave life to a true social and mass-mediological phenomena now in a rightful “high” standing in the history of contemporary art. Let’s also remember Instinc by Sam Francis, a Californian artist who is evident in the panorama of Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting. Of the authors that were part of this artistic scene, Sotheby’s charms us with Untitled (Spoleto) by Willem de Kooning (estimated at 70-90 million dollars) and The Cat and The Canary by Mark Rothko, an unusual watercolour on paper that demonstrates the first figurative period of the American painter. On the 2nd April, Sotheby’s “Contemporary Art” show will stun us with coloured pieces that defines art up till the millennium. Among these emerges I am its Secrets by Shirin Neshat, that starts at a value of 10-15 million dollars, but also VB-35 by the Italian Vanessa Beecroft (8-12 million dollars), Link of the Moon (estimated at 12-18 million dollars) by Mariko Mori, a Japanese artist who enjoys completing journeys in the field of magic and the unknown Cremaster 3 (valued at 30-40 million dollars) by Matthew Barney, Untitled (estimated at 30-40 million dollars) by the English artist Banksy and Untitled (estimated at 20-30 million dollars) by Chris Ofili, an artist who has become an emblematic representative because of his ability and fortune in our epoch.