costly masterpieces top segment of the art market back in the auction hall has in the past in 2010: they again began to sell for tens of millions of dollars ( read more about the best work of 2010 is available here ). Happy New Year 2011 also shows excellent results: already have a new record in London, New York and Beijing. Artprice website has published dozens of the most expensive works sold in the first half of this year at a public auction.

№	Author	Title	result, million	Trades
1	Qi Baishi	eagle on a pine tree	57,2 *	China Guardian Auctions Co., Beijing, May 22, 2011
2 < /p>	Pablo Picasso	Reading (1932)	36,27	Sotheby's, London, February 8, 2011
3	Egon Schiele	home with a colorful linen. Suburban II	35,68	Sotheby's, London, June 22, 2011
4	Andy Warhol	Self-Portrait (1963 - 1964)	34,25	Christie's, New York, May 11, 2011
5	Francis Bacon	Tree Sketch a portrait of Freud Lusiena	32,96	Sotheby's, London, February 10, 2011
6	Mark Rothko	Untitled № 17 (1961)	30	Christie's, New York, May 11, 2011
7 < /p>	Lawrence Alma-Tadema	Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra	26	Sotheby's, New York, May 5, 2011
8 < /p>	Pablo Picasso	Woman in blue	25,87	Christie's, London, June 21, 2011
9	Francis Bacon	sketch for a portrait < /p> (1953)	25,54	Christie's, London, June 28, 2011
< p> 10	Andy Warhol	Portrait (1986)	24,5	Christie's, New York, May 11, 2011

< strong> Regulars rating: Picasso and Warhol

Pablo Picasso (Pablo Picasso), the most frequent winner of all possible rankings of world art, this one takes only second place with a small (65 5 x 51) with its "Reading", portraying the artist's mistress Marie-Therese Walter. at auction at Sotheby's February 8 well advertised item went under the hammer for 22.5 million pounds (36, $ 2 million), excluding commissions buyer . Another work of the greatest Cubist located on the 8th place of this rating: painting "Woman in Blue", which was sold to a new owner for 17.9 million pounds (25.8 million dollars) estimeyte 8.4 million pounds, was the top-lot auction of Impressionist and Modern Christie's June 21 . The heroine of this work, written in 1939, has become a beloved Picasso - Dora Maar (Dora Maar).

Pablo Picasso Reading. 1932 Source: sothebys.com

Andy Warhol Self-portrait. 1963-1964 Source: christies.com

Two self-portraits of Andy Warhol (Andy Warhol) occupy the fourth and tenth place in the ranking of most expensive first half. And both works went under the hammer at a New York auction of contemporary and postwar art Christie's May 11, 2011 < /a>.

first self-portrait 1963-1964 period with a score of 34.25 million dollars (estimate of 20-30 million dollars) was fourth in the list of most expensive Warhol, sold for public auction. Composed of four images of the artist self-portrait in blue tones come from the collection of family Barron.

Portrait, 1986, executed in bright red colors, had the highest estimate in the bid referred to Christie's - 30-40 million, but gave him a new owner for 24.5 million dollars to 5.5 million below prior estimates. The work belongs to a series of six self-portraits in different colors, five of which are now owned by museums.

New records

Laurels winner of this ranking went to Chinese artist Qi Baishi (Qi Baishi), whose work "The eagle on a pine tree" at the Beijing bid China Guardian May 22 was sold for 57.2 million dollars . Updated personal record by this author: before this the most expensive work of Qi Baishi was a picture of "Flowers and Insects" (44.7 million dollars, Poly International Auction Co. Ltd, Beijing, November 22, 2009). In 2010, Qi Baishi finished second in the , wedged between Pablo Picasso (1st place) and Andy Warhol (3rd place). Proceeds from the sale of his works were 339.2 million dollars. In the current year in the bank Qi Baishi for more than 30 auction results over a million dollars.

Chi Baixa eagle on a pine tree. 1946 Source: artinfo.com

Egon Schiele home with colorful linens. Suburban II. 1914 Source: sothebys.com < /td>

Egon Schiele (Egon Schiele) took the third place of this rating due to record sales at Sotheby's painting "The House with a colorful linen . Suburban II »over 22 million pounds (35.6 million). Work in 1914 is one of the few urban landscape by Austrian artist still in private ownership. Since November 2006, none of the works by Schiele did not reach the hammer price exceeding $ 20 million: so many have paid for the landscape, "Lonely House" November 8, 2006 at Christie's. Only three urban landscape by Schiele appeared at a public auction in the last ten years (2001-2011).

great results

Scenic triptych in which Francis Bacon (Francis Bacon) depicted his friend Lyusiena Freud (" The Three sketch a portrait of Freud Lyusiena ") far exceeded the provisional estimate of 7.9 million pounds and went under the hammer for 20.5 million pounds (32, $ 9 million) on Sotheby's auction works from private collections (presumably George Kostalitsa) on February 10 in London .

Four months later, the gloomy "Sketch for a Portrait" hand of Francis Bacon, surpassing the estimate of 7 million pounds, got a buyer for 16 million pounds (25.5 million). It was the London auction Christie's June 28, 2011 . This is the eighth result in the top ten most expensive paintings of Bacon, if you count in pounds (tenth - if you count in dollars).

FRANCIS BACON Three sketch a portrait of Freud Lyusiena. 1964 Source: artinfo.com

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra 41 BC. 1885 Source: sothebys.com < /td>

Cloth Mark Rothko (Mark Rothko) «Untitled № 17" - in sixth place in the top ten most expensive half. The result of $ 30 million is more than eclipsed estimate 18-22 million, largely due to the recent attribution of the paintings Rothko.

The only work of the XIX century in the ranking was painted by British artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema ( Lawrence Alma-Tadema). This painting "Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra" sold for $ 26 million at Sotheby's in New York on May 5, 2011. This result is more than 23 million low estimate of work. Interest in the artist's paintings partially forgotten Victorian Alma-Tadema erupted last year when auction for the painting "The acquisition of Moses "with an estimate of $ 3-5 million in the end paid 32 million dollars (Sotheby's, New York, 4 November 2010 ). Previous hammer price "of the Finding of Moses", by the way, while also a record, was $ 2.5 million (Christie's, New York, 1995), which means that for 15 years work has risen by 11 times.

< p class = "mat1"> * - prices listed in this article may differ from other materials on the value of AI Buyers Premium.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI

Sources : artinvestment.ru