Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction

Christie’s Post War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction achieved £95,646,500 / $ 150,069,359 / €134,287,686, with sell-through rates of 87% by lot and 88% by value. Bidders from 34 countries across three continents showed high energy for works by some of the most exciting contemporary artists alongside classics of the category. The evening established records including Chris Ofili’s ground breaking Holy Virgin Mary (£2,882,500), alongside Malcolm Morley (£1,202,500), R.H Quaytman (£578,500), Jeff Elrod (£218,500), Brent Wadden (£122,500) and The Chapman Brothers (£422,500).

The highest price achieved on the evening was £12,178,500 for Francis Bacon’s Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer. Bidding was particularly active for collection from Museum of Old and New Art, achieving £4,630,000 and The Jacobs Collection achieving £6,993,000, with demonstrable enthusiasm for artists including Jean Dubuffet, Richard Hamilton and Morris Louis. Overall the auction showed further evidence of the momentum in market that has been witnessed over a record-breaking season of sales for Christie’s across Europe and the US, with strong results not only in New York but also Amsterdam, Milan and Paris.