That’s followed by the Contemporary Evening Auction, which carries an overall estimate of $249.2 million to $316.6 million and includes the week’s most expensive lot, an $80 million Warhol. The 1963 silkscreen White Disaster [White Car Crash 19 Times] is 12-feet high and is part of Warhol’s Car Crash series; in 2013, a silkscreen from the series set a record when it sold for $105.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York.
Christie’s will get to put a punctuation mark on the week on Thursday night, when it combines its 20th century and 21st century auctions into a single evening. Top lots include two artworks estimated in the region of $35 million each: a de Kooning in the 20th century sale and a Basquiat from 1982. “We wanted to have a couple of high-impact lots that we were bullish on,” Rotter says, “like that de Kooning, which is going to be one of the stars of the sale.”
While these sales might not offer the masterpieces of the Allen auction (and to be fair, no sale has before, or probably will again), Rotter says that last week’s $1.5 billion result—$1.62 billion, if you include a second sale the following morning of lesser-priced works—could be a useful takeaway for everyone.
“It’s an injection of confidence,” he says. “If you buy the right stuff and buy what you love, there will be value in it forever.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.