Overview
- Sotheby’s closed Thursday with $304.6 million across three Modern auctions, as Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) sold for $55 million to set records for Kahlo, a Latin American artist, and any work by a woman, and a Vincent van Gogh still life made $62.7 million.
- Earlier in the week, Sotheby’s Leonard Lauder and Now & Contemporary sales realized $706 million, led by Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer at $236.4 million, the highest price for a modern artwork and the second-highest at auction overall.
- Christie’s opened with $690 million across its two-part 20th/21st-century evening sale and later tallied $123.6 million in its 21st-century sale, which set new auction records for Firelei Báez, Olga de Amaral, and Joan Brown.
- Financial backstops were pervasive, with 75% of lots at Christie’s Wednesday sale guaranteed, as houses used tighter estimates and calibrated reserves to sustain bidding depth.
- Phillips added $67.3 million with a 94% sell-through, led by a $16 million Francis Bacon, reinforcing a week defined by trophy works even as advisers cautioned that the mid- and lower-market remain constrained.