The most important auctions of the year, held a few days ago in New York by the sector's two leading houses, Christie's and Sotheby's, have smashed several records in the art world, including the one for the most expensive artwork.
Las mujeres de Alger, Versión O (1955) by Pablo Picasso now holds that title. The painting by the Málaga-born artist was sold to an anonymous buyer for 179.36 million dollars, reaching the highest price ever paid for an artwork at a public auction. So it dethrones the triptych Tres estudios de Lucian Freud (1969) by Francis Bacon, which until now held the record with the 142.4 million dollars it fetched in 2013.
Close behind comes El hombre que señala (1947) by Giacometti, sold for 141.28 million dollars, which makes it the most expensive sculpture ever auctioned. These outlandish figures were reached on 11 May at Christie's Looking Forward to the Past sale, considered by some as “the auction of the century” and which helped the house become the first to pass 1 billion in sales in three days.
It was twelve minutes into the sale when Jussi Pylkkanen, the English firm's global president, let the hammer fall and sealed the new record for Las mujeres de Alger, Versión O. This is the second time Christie's has sold this Picasso. The first was in 1997, as part of the Ganz collection, for 31.9 million dollars. The artwork also breaks the artist's personal best, set at 106.5 million dollars in 2010 by Desnudo, hojas verdes y busto (1932).
Las mujeres de Argel, Version O, a metre and a half tall, shows four bare-chested female figures in a mix of abstract and realist art. The painting belongs to a Cubist series created between 1954 and 1955, and pays homage to Eugène Delacroix and, above all, to his friend Henri Matisse, who had died shortly before.
As for El hombre que señala, 177.5 centimetres tall and made of bronze, it is a sculptural rendering of the philosophy of existentialism and part of a group of six pieces, of which it is the only one the artist painted by hand. Like Picasso, Giacometti outdoes himself and beats his own record, the one set in 2010 with El hombre que camina I (1961), auctioned for 104.3 million dollars.
Millions were also handed over for other essential artworks, of which we highlight: the canvas Nº10 (1950) by Mark Rothko, sold for 82 million dollars, La Mona Lisa coloreada (1963) by Warhol and El supervisor de los beneficios del descanso (1995) by Lucian Freud, both for 56.16, or Parlamento de Londres, puesta de sol (1900-1901) by Monet for 40.48.
For its part, Sotheby's opened New York's big auction week on 5 May with an Impressionist and modern art sale, where Van Gogh and Monet were the winners. The Dutchman led the sales with his landscape La avenida de los Alyscamps (1888) at 66.3 million dollars, making it his third most expensive painting. Five Monets sold for 115 million dollars, among them Nymphéas (1905) for 54 million, El palacio ducal (1908) for 23.1 and Estanque de nenúfares (1913) for 20.4.
Rothko, Picasso and Giacometti scored again, though at prices well below the ones mentioned above. There was 46.4 million for Sin título: Amarillo y azul (1954) by the Latvian; 29.9 million dollars for Mujer con un moño en el sofá (1948) by the Spaniard and 16.1 million for Mujer de Venecia VI (1956) and 12.7 for Busto de Diego (Aménophis, hacia 1956) by the Swiss.
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Lourdes Ariza
May 21, 2015Log in to leave your comment. Log in