Despite some concerns of a flagging market, November’s art week had a relatively strong start – with several marquee pieces selling for above their estimated values.
All eyes were on contemporary artist Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian” – a banana duct-taped to the wall, exactly 160 centimeters from the floor – which was valued at between $1 and $1.5 million. The contemporary piece exceeded its estimated value, selling to Chinese crypto guru Justin Sun for $6.2 million in crypto currency.
In another hotly anticipated sale, Claude Monet’s “Nymphéas” sold for $65.5 million with fees after 17 minutes and 34 bids, during Sotheby’s “A Legacy Beauty” auction. The Monet was part of the late Sydell Miller’s expensive art collection – which also includes works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Wassily Kandinsky.
These November sales come in the wake of an otherwise slow period in the art market. The dual pressures of American political volatility and Chinese economic decline have slowed art sales in recent years: In 2022, the combined value of the top-10 art pieces sold at the bellwether May auctions was $760 million. Last year, it was $403 million, according to Bloomberg.
At Sotheby’s, the situation was so dire that some executives questioned whether the auction house would be able to continue paying employees on time. Their alarm was not entirely unfounded: In the spring, some staffers received promissory notes in place of incentive pay, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Some analysts predicted that the market would rebound this month, with the results of the presidential elections giving collectors a better sense of the economic climate for the next four years.
“The types of people buying expensive art next week are keenly alert to how macro trends influence their wealth,” Doug Woodham, a New York-based art adviser and former Christie’s executive, told the New York Times, in advance of the November auctions.
“Their wealth since the election has gone up, and [Trump’s] policies are likely to benefit them.” Woodham cautioned, however, that “there’s a chance these economic policies will lead to inflation and higher interest rates.”
Continue reading to learn more about the most expensive paintings ever sold, as of April 2024.
