Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction

The Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction realised a total of £40,344,500 / $64,309,133 /€50,228,903 selling 89% by lot and 94% value against a pre-sale estimate of £32.1 million – £47.1 million. Record prices at auction were established for 5 artists (such Joe Bradley, Rachel Whiteread, Toby Ziegler and Louis Eisner).

Francis Outred, International Director and Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe: One of the most packed auction rooms I have ever seen witnessed a landmark October auction series, which, for the first time, approaches the importance of our February and June auctions. We saw a record for an Evening Auction in October and a record for the Italian Sale. Achieving a total of £114million over three auctions, this October series doubled our previous record of £57.4million last year and was a testament to the power of Frieze week. Our record Italian Sale, which set a new record for Alighiero Boetti, shows the increasing strength of Italian art, a field in which Christie’s has seen a decade of dominance. In the spirit of Frieze week, the exciting younger generation of painters made a strong debut at our Evening Auction, with record prices for artists such as Joe Bradley, Toby Ziegler, Brent Wadden and Louis Eisner. Strikingly, works by Gerhard Richter made 4 of the top 10 prices at Christie’s tonight, which shows Richter’s continued influence on younger artists and his enduring relevance to painting today.