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Only few days are left until the auction of Modern and Contemporary Art that will be held at Christie’s Milan. For the 26th May the Italian public, but not only, is getting ready for this extraordinary sale that will have as protagonists the most famous names of Italian 20th century art, such as Mario Schifano, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Enzo Cucchi, Tano Festa, Renato Guttuso, but also more international figures, including Tom Wesselmann, Hans Hartung and Victor Vasarely.

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On 15th May, “Contemporary Art Part I” was held at Phillips de Pury & Co. New York, a sale that concluded the New York sessions of the three main international auction houses dedicated to contemporary art, confirming once again the excellent condition of contemporary art on the market, which remains vital and continues receiving approvals and international participation. After Christie’s and Sotheby’s, which achieved record takings, even the young Phillips has realized a total of 59,001,000 dollars, with an 84% sale percentage.

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On 15th May “Photographs” was held at Christie’s London, a great occasion for collectors of the category who are passionate about works by the most famous names in the history of photography, but also more contemporary artistic figures.
An interesting sale that, despite not achieving a great stir, presented 114 lots fetching 1,402,525 pounds with a 72% sale percentage.

The Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Christie’s New York  had already been anticipated as one of the most important sales of this period. So it was and even more than expected. The evening totalled 33,641,000 dollars, the second highest total ever realized in auction history for the category with 95% of the lots sold.

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AT CHRISTIE’S THE ENGLISH ARTIST ESTABLISHES THE NEW WORLD RECORD FOR ANY LIVING ARTIST

The “Post War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale” held on 13th May at Christie’s New York passed the market test with contemporary art. During the evening the auction brought a total of 348.2 million dollars, with a 95% sale percentage, and marked new world records for Richard Prince, Sam Francis, Mark Rothko, Francis Bacon, Leon Gottlieb.

As a modern Caravaggio, the Irish artist Francis Bacon has become a true icon of the damned artist. Credit for this goes to a myth fuelled by himself and his life: contrasts with his father, journeys in the thirties, homosexuality, tragic loves, his passion for gambling and pubs. His fame increased after his death in Madrid in 1992, stoked up by the extraordinary reappearance of some of his works in Toni Shafrazi’s New York gallery  in 1999 and by a sharp rise in quotations. Everybody will remember when in May 2007, at Sotheby’s New York, the painting “Study From Innocent X” executed in 1962 sold for 52,680,000 dollars, setting the artist’s personal record. At last this record has been thrashed.

The Contemporary Art Evening Sale, which took place on 14th May at Sotheby’s New York, was a record auction from every point of view. Firstly, for its turnover: 362,037,000 dollars, well above the best estimates which expected the auction to realize between 288.1 million and 354.7 million dollars. This is the second best result ever achieved in the world for a contemporary art auction and the most important sale in the history of Sotheby’s. 73 lots of the 83 presented were sold and represented 86.8% of the works by value.