Among the other top-лотов evening sale of postwar and contemporary art Christie's November 15 — works of Jean Dubuffet and Gerhard Richter

total revenue trades totaled $277 million with the auction house Commission and $239,5 million excluding the Buyer's Premium. It is closer to the lower limit of the total estimate of $to 216.6–306,6 million, which is calculated without commissions. A similar auction at Christie's in November 2015 was $331,8 million In the last auction was sold for 54 of 61 (88 %). Selling 17 lots were guaranteed by the auction house or absentee bids by third parties.

And most notable, of course, was the sale of the work of Willem de Kooning. Abstraction "untitled XXV" 1977 last changed hands in 2006-м: then she went for $27.1 million But since then the artist's market has grown strongly, thanks to the de Kooning retrospective at MOMA — most visited exhibition new-Йорка in 2012 — and loud private sales (if you believe the insiders, in February 2016 in a private transaction billionaire Ken Griffin, bought the work of "Mixing" for $300 million). So the current auction estimate "untitled XXV" in the neighborhood of $40 million was no surprise. But this estimate was easily overcome. The final price including Commission — $66.3 million — twice the previous auction record of Willem de Kooning is $32 million, set at Christie's in 2013.

the Second top-лот — exhibited at a public auction last 50 years the work of the French artist Jean Dubuffet Les Grandes Artères — "Pipeline" depicting the streets of Paris early 1960-х years, with their bright signs, cars and passers-by. During this five-foot canvas was traded to the $24.8 million including Commission (estimate: $15-20 million). This result is similar to the previous record for a work of Dubuffet, set in may 2015.

Now any respectable auction of contemporary art is not complete without works by Gerhard Richter, Christie's auction on 15 November was no exception. "Abstract painting (809-2)" was the third most expensive lot of the auction with a result, more than $22 million (lot estimate $18-25 million). The thing comes from the collection of rock-музыканта Eric Clapton. By the way, Clapton in 2012-2013 already sold two other "Abstract paintings" from the same series Richter, at number 809, a total of $55.2 million And "Abstract painting (809-4)" at Sotheby's auction in 2012 in London was sold for £21.3 million ($34.2 million) — at the time it was a record for works by living artists.

Another record evening sale of postwar and contemporary art Christie's November 15, belong to the living artist John Currin, whose work was "Easy" was sold for $12 million Despite its name, the painting with two naked barely overcame the lower limit for the estimate of $12-18 million, and if not to take into account the BP Commission that did not even reach the evaluation. Nevertheless,to John Curran, who is now about 55 years old, this is certainly a breakthrough in his career. His previous record of 2008 was $5.5 million (paid for, by the way, for the same work "Easily and simply").

the Material was prepared by Maria Onuchina, AI

Sources: artnet.com, artinvestment.ru