Six months after the record was set for the most expensive painting in auction history at the biggest-ever sale of art, eyes are trained on New York’s upcoming auctions for signs of whether the boom will continue or the bubble will burst.
With some $1.5 billion worth of impressionist, modern and contemporary art hitting the block at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in the coming two weeks, the stakes are high for the two arch rivals as they strive to tap a market characterised by insatiable demand and deep pockets.
“The auctions are getting bigger and prices are getting bigger. But it makes sense, what they’re growing to,” said Alex Rotter, Sotheby’s co-head of worldwide contemporary art, adding that “it’s a market driven by quality”.
While few expect any individual work to top the $142 million fetched by a Francis Bacon triptych in November, both houses are featuring works by the British painter as consignors seek to capitalise on soaring prices for blue chip artists’ best work.
Other expected highlights include works by Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, who set a record for work by a living artist in last autumn, as well as masterpieces by Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet.
Sales of contemporary art alone, which has seen prices soar in the past decade, are expected to total nearly $1 billion.
In the most recent test of the market, the February sales in London met or exceeded expectations and set records. Officials have said a growing class of the super-rich in emerging economies, especially China, Russia and the Middle East, have helped drive the market in recent years. But they now note that, at least at its top echelons, art has gone global.
Rotter said that prices commanded by masterpieces of late had encouraged some collectors to sell. At the same time, the growing pool of collectors is keeping demand strong.
The global art market totalled $65.9 billion last year, an increase of eight per cent and the highest level since 2007, according to a report by the European Fine Art Foundation.
Officials from both houses said they strove to offer top quality works fresh to the market for their big evening sales.
“You don’t have to have the greatest Bacon or the greatest Warhol,” said Rotter, referring to top-tier artists. The idea rather is to offer any artist’s best work.
Rival Christie’s landed the highest-priced work this season, another Bacon triptych, Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards estimated at about $75 million. An untitled Mark Rothko painting and Warhol’s Race Riot should each fetch about $50 million.
Christie’s also scored several major collections this season, led by that of Seagram founder Edgar Bronfman and of the so-called “reluctant heiress” Huguette Clark, which includes one of Monet’s seminal water lilies, described by Christie’s Lampley as the ultimate trophy piece and “the Holy Grail for collectors”.