Most Expensive Work for Art Sold by Iving Arti
All markets fluctuate and the art trade is no exception, but over the last v years, some of the virtually of import, famous, and expensive pieces of Mod Fine art take been sold at sale for awe-inspiring prices. This article covers the tiptop 11 auction results since 2015, exploring each masterpiece and revealing how it became then valuable.
What is Modern Art?
Modern Art is a circuitous and multi-faceted category, encompassing a huge variety of styles, from Cubism to Expressionism , Surrealism to Dadaism .
Scholars and art historians may argue over the minutiae of the genre, just Modern Art is widely agreed to refer to art created from the mid-late 19 th century, when the effects of the industrial revolution began to be felt more than greatly, through much of the twenty th century, with a blurred line between Modernistic and Contemporary artists.
Each of the top ten examined here were created during the 20 th century, and some of the artists are still live today.
eleven. Nymphéas en fleur (H2o Lilies) by Claude Monet, 1914
Realized Toll: USD 84,687,500
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 84,687,500
Venue & Appointment: Christie'south, New York, 08 May 2018, lot 10
Known Seller: Manor of Peggy and David Rockefeller
Almost the Artwork
Claude Monet may not be the first painter to spring to mind when you think of Modern Fine art, but his seminal work in Impressionism (he even gave the motion its name !) makes Monet i of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. The Parisian painter is best known for his magnificent Water Lilies , a series of 250 oil paintings depicting the flowers that grew around his abode at Giverny .
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The Water Lilies provide an especially intimate look into Monet'due south life and works every bit he kept them in his studio, selling merely i, and leaving them to his family after he died; it was not for several decades that the canvases began to appear in galleries across Europe, where they were appreciated for the daring color, shadowy depths and sense of movement that characterizes the serial.
Not only hauntingly beautiful merely as well incredibly important to the history of art, Monet's Water Lilies routinely fetch huge sums, at sale and in individual sales alike. In fact, one of the larger canvases, simply entitled Nymphéas en fleur , was bought in 2018 for over $84 one thousand thousand at Christie'due south in 2018.
10. Suprematist Composition by Kazimir Malevich, 1916
Realized Price: USD 85,812,500
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Cost: USD 85,812,500
Venue & Date: Christie's, New York, 15 May 2018, lot 12A
Known Seller: Nahmad Family
Known Buyer: British art dealer Brett Gorvy
About the Artwork
Russo-Shine artist, Kazimir Malevich, shocked the globe in 1915 with an exhibition of daring abstract paintings, their bold colors and geometric forms dissimilar annihilation yet seen in the world of Modernistic Art. These pieces represented the birth of the Suprematist movement , which Malevich defined every bit ' the primacy of pure feeling in creative art.'
The greatest masterpiece from these early years is his Suprematist Limerick , which brings together movement and stillness, the formal and the sporadic, busy colors, and striking blank spaces. Malevich certainly considered it his crowning glory, including the painting in virtually all his future exhibitions.
Passing through the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Suprematist Composition eventually returned into the hands of Malevich'due south descendants in 2008. They sold it nigh immediately to the legendary Nahmad family unit , by whom information technology was listed at Christie'due south a decade later. Purchased for an incredible $85 1000000 by British art dealer, Brett Gorvy, the painting holds the record for the most expensive slice of Russian art ever sold.
nine. Buffalo II by Robert Rauschenberg, 1964
Realized Toll: USD 88,805,000
Estimate: USD l,000,000-lxx,000,000
Realized Price: USD 88,805,000
Venue & Appointment: Christie's, New York, 15 May 2019, lot 5B
Nearly the Artwork
During the early 1950s, Texas-born creative person Robert Rauschenberg traveled beyond Europe and North Africa , experiencing a wide range of cultures and experimenting with different art forms. In Morocco, for instance, he created collages out of piles of discarded trash, before taking them back to Italy where many were exhibited and sold at the country's most important galleries.
Such formative experiments came to fruition a decade later in the form of his influential silkscreen pieces . Combining images from contemporary civilisation, natural figures, and brushstrokes, these masterpieces introduced a new way of capturing and conveying the anarchy of modernistic life.
Sale of Rauschenberg'south Buffalo Two at Christie'south, New York, 2019
Rauschenberg's nigh famous, and certainly near expensive, piece of art is Buffalo Two , which he first exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1964. The huge canvas stands over 8 anxiety in height and displays a plethora of ostensibly disparate images, including a hollow cuboid, a ascension sun, and a large photograph of John F. Kennedy. Not only does Buffalo II capture the zeitgeist of the American 60s, but it likewise bridges the gap between two artistic movements: Abstract Expressionism and Popular Art .
For this reason, it is considered of neat artistic value and was purchased for the monumental sum of $88 million at Christie's in 2019. Information technology is rumored that the winning bid came from Walmart-heiress and patron of the arts, Alice Walton.
viii. Portrait of an Artist (Puddle with Two Figures) by David Hockney, 1972
Realized Price: USD xc,312,500
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Toll: USD ninety,321,500
Venue & Engagement: Christie's, New York, 15 Nov 2018, lot 9C
Known Seller: British businessman, Joe Lewis
Virtually the Artwork
A recurrent theme in David Hockney 'southward paintings from the 1960s and 1970s is the swimming pool, which represents the thrilling plough his life took after moving from his native England to sunny California.
Portrait of an Creative person (Pool with Two Figures) is perhaps his almost recognizable work from this menstruum, and yet information technology is non set in us, simply in Southern France, and does non show Hockney himself, merely another creative person: Peter Schlesinger, his sometime lover and muse. The simplified nevertheless vividly evocative style that characterizes Hockney'due south paintings is exemplified in this painting, which shuns the earth of politics and global movements for an intimate retrospective expect at 1's own experiences and relationships.
It has certainly touched the hearts (non to mention the wallets!) of the world's most notable art dealers and collectors, including James Astor, David Geffen and Joe Lewis, who owned the painting at various points in its history. In 2018, Portrait of an Artist set the auction tape for a painting by a living creative person, selling for a staggering $ninety.iii million at Christie's. Once over again, the buyer was bearding.
7. Rabbit by Jeff Koons, 1986
Realized Toll: USD 91,075,000
Estimate: USD fifty,000,000-seventy,000,000
Realized Toll: USD 91,075,000
Venue & Engagement: Christie'due south, New York, 15 May 2019, lot 15B
Known Seller: Estate of Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr.
Known Buyer: Robert Mnuchin for Steven A. Cohen
About the Artwork
An icon of 20th-century art, Jeff Koons ' 3ft tall metallic rabbit sculpture blurs the boundary between piece of work and play. Although its balloon-like contours and animalistic class naturally evoke memories of childhood, the absurd steel is ultimately solid and unyielding. It has even been suggested by the artist himself that the carrot held in the bunny's hand conveys a subtle, sexual dimension to the artwork.
There were actually three casts of Rabbit made in 1986, one of which won the championship of about expensive piece of art by a living artist, when it was sold at Christie's in 2019 for the staggering sum of $91 million.
6. Chop Suey by Edward Hopper, 1929
Realized Price: USD 91,875,000
Gauge: USD lxx,000,000-100,000,000
Realized Price: USD 91,875,000
Venue & Date: Christie'south, New York, 13 Nov 2018, lot 12B
Known Seller: Estate of Barney A. Ebsworth
About the Artwork
Earlier in the 20th century, American painter Edward Hopper offered a new take on Realism , focusing on quiet moments and avoiding the bold hyper-detailed way of many of his contemporaries. With his broad brushstrokes, muted pallet and employ of low-cal and shadow, Hopper created images that were more like memories or dreams, than immediate views of photographs.
Chop Suey is often considered his greatest accomplishment, not to the lowest degree considering of the sensual imagery that complements the painting's visual impact. The woman speaking in the background, the teapot and cigarette smoke, the sign outside the window: all of these contribute towards the powerfully evocative mood of the slice. There has likewise been great debate about who the figures in the painting represent. Is the adult female in the foreground facing her doppelgänger? Are the couple in the background supposed to be Hopper and his married woman?
These questions have undoubtedly contributed to the widespread interest that Chop Suey attracted immediately after it was revealed, and which continues to draw admirers today. In fact, the painting set a record equally Hopper's about expensive piece of work, when it was sold at Christie's in 2018 for only under $92 one thousand thousand.
5. Untitled by Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982
Realized Toll: USD 110,487,500
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Cost: USD 110,487,500
Venue & Date: Sotheby's, New York, eighteen May 2017, lot 24
Known Seller: Spiegel Family
Known Buyer: Japanese art collector, Yusaku Maezawa
About the Artwork
Equally a male child, Jean-Michel Basquiat spent months in the hospital recovering from a motorcar accident, and to continue him occupied, his mother brought him a copy of Greyness'due south Beefcake. This medical book would go along to influence her son in his hereafter career as an artist; he referred to it constantly when depicting human anatomy , from diverse bones to skulls.
The head is one of the nigh recognizable images that appears over again and again in Basquiat's oeuvre, frequently bridging the gap between life and decease. This is exemplified by Untitled , in which vibrant colors and wild brushstrokes contrast against the sunken, subdued image of the skull. Inspired by the most respected professional person textbook, but painted in the style of an urban graffiti artist, nothing better represents Basquiat's novel approach to art.
Auction of Basquiat'southward Untitled at Christie's, New York , 2017, via Fiscal Times
In 2018, Untitled was presented every bit the sole slice in a Basquiat exhibition , the success of which demonstrates the allure of both creative person and artwork. As if more than proof were needed, the painting sold at Sotheby's two months later for an unbelievable $110 one thousand thousand.
4. Fillette à la corbeille fleurie past Pablo Picasso, 1905
Realized Toll: USD 115,000,000
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 115,000,000
Venue & Date: Christie'southward, New York, 08 May 2018, lot fifteen
Known Seller: Estate of Peggy and David Rockefeller
About the Artwork
The young girl in the images is completely naked apart from hair ribbons and a fine necklace and holds a basket of flowers. Her nudity, cold stare, and bad-mannered position call the reader to question what she is really selling. Whether flower-seller or prostitute, the figure brings together the ostensibly opposing forces of innocence and immorality, forcing the reader to question their own assumptions and standards.
Fillette à la corbeille fleurie was painted at a key turning point in the life of Pablo Picasso, as he transitioned from an impoverished maverick to a renowned and well-respected artist over the course of simply two years. Although it falls into the work created during his Rose Catamenia , the painting is far more cool and somber than much of his gimmicky output. The haunting feeling conjured up past the epitome entranced the Stein siblings , who purchased Fillette from the Parisian gallery to which the artist had sold it for only 75 francs! 113 years later, it was sold over again, this time for the higher price of $115 meg!
3. Nu couché (Sur le côté gauche) by Amedeo Modigliani, 1917
Realized Price: USD 157,159,000
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 157,159,000
Venue & Date: Sotheby'southward, New York, 14 May 2018, lot 18
About the Artwork
In 1917, Amedeo Modigliani was offered xv francs a day to pigment a series of nudes, five of which he handed over to his models, who lay draped in fabric, reclined on beds or rested on chairs for hours on end, while the artist created some of the finest nudes e'er fabricated.
Gone are the allegorical and physical veils with which naked women were semi-bearded in the art of the previous centuries . Instead, Modigliani depicts women languishing unashamedly in their nudity, undoubtedly inspired by his Italian heritage and the Renaissance artwork he was exposed to during his youth in Rome, Florence, and Venice.
Nu couché (Sur le côté gauche) is particularly remarkable due to its size – at about ane and a half meters wide, it is the largest painting ever created by Modigliani – and its indelible lucidity. The pose and stare of the reclining figure are at one time inviting and forbidding, creating allure and elusiveness in equal measure. Just over 100 years afterward the masterpiece was fabricated, it was sold at Sotheby's for $157 1000000, demonstrating the timeless nature of allure, intrigue, and beauty.
2. Nu couché by Amedeo Modigliani, 1917-18
Realized Price: USD 170,405,000
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 170,405,000
Venue & Date: Christie's, New York, 9 November 2015, lot 8A
Known Buyer: Chinese art collector, Liu Yiqian
Virtually the Artwork
So important are Modigliani's nudes to the history of fine art, that they take both second and third identify for the most expensive pieces of Modern Fine art bought at auction in the last five years. Some other reclining nude from 1917, Nu couché is among the creative person's most widely acclaimed paintings. It is a far more straight and explicit take on the nude genre, and once over again demonstrates the glory and sexuality of the man course.
Like the former slice, Nu couché was exhibited at Modigliani's first (and final!) testify, which was close down by the police because the artist had dared to depict female body hair . Over the course of the subsequent century, the stigma of Modigliani'due south nudes transformed into a not bad respect for his ingenuity and artistry. With this appreciation has come great fiscal value: Nu couché sold at Christie's in 2015 for a huge $170 1000000. Likewise as the masterpiece itself, buyer Liu Yiqian also received $1.vii meg in rewards, having put the transaction through his American Express credit carte!
ane. Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O') by Pablo Picasso, 1955
Realized Toll: USD 179,365,000
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 179,365,000
Venue & Date: Christie'south, New York, 11 May 2015, lot 8A
Known Seller: Libby Howie for anonymous Saudi Arabian collector
Known Heir-apparent: Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani , member of the Qatari Royal Family
About the Artwork
The height spot for Mod Art contempo sale records is taken past the 20th century's virtually iconic artist, Pablo Picasso . Inspired by Eugene Delacroix 'due south 1834 painting The Women of Algiers in their Flat , his Les Femmes d'Alger comprises fifteen paintings labeled 'A' through to 'O' and completed from 1954 to 1955. Although each unlike version is highly prized, and many are held in highly prominent collections, both public and individual, Version O is past far the most famous.
The painting embodies Picasso'due south Cubism at its finest, breaking downwards the shapes and spaces of Delacroix's work and employing hit colors to raise the effect of the new, geometric arroyo. It was one of five versions retained by Victor and Emerge Ganz , influential fine art collectors and the first owners of Les Femmes d'Alger , and sold at sale in their manor sale of 1997, where it was purchased for $31.9 million.
Less than 20 years subsequently, it appeared at Christie's a second fourth dimension, where it accomplished a record price for any painting sold at sale, reaching almost $180 one thousand thousand. The buyer was the sometime Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, whose speedily increasing fine art collection was crowned by this incredible masterpiece.
Modern Art Auctions in Summary
These eleven masterpieces are not only the virtually expensive Modern Art sale sales of the last 5 years, only also represent some of the virtually important and influential artists of the by and previous century. Their work offers invaluable insight into how the visual arts accept adult, with creators innovating on the example of their predecessors, as well as using their platforms to express social, political, and artistic opinions.
Source: https://www.thecollector.com/modern-art-auction-results/
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