Christie’s Brings in $489 M. from Riggio and Modern Art Evening Sales

On Monday evening, Christie’s kicked off its spring marquee auctions with again to again auctions that introduced in a mixed $489 million with charges.

The Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works sale, composed of 39 works from the late Barnes & Noble founder and his spouse, leaned heavy on Surrealism, modernism, and Minimalism. Nearly all of that assortment offered amid uncertainty, however not with out confidence—thanks partly to a home assure throughout the board. The 35 a lot of the twentieth Century sale that adopted leaned museum-grade, with a handful of top-tier works anchoring the night, together with main canvases by Monet, Rothko, and Warhol.

Whereas the evening’s whole with purchaser’s premium of $489 million was increased than the $446 million pre-sale low estimate, the hammer whole was properly under at $409 million, indicating that the public sale home didn’t meet expectations. (It did, nevertheless, beat out last year’s 20th century evening sale, which introduced in a complete of $413 million, on 64 tons and three withdrawals and squeak by the total of $486 million for the home’s night gross sales final November.)

General, the evening supplied a telling snapshot of the place the high-end market stands right now: regular, nonetheless stratified, and leaning exhausting on confirmed names.

“It was a valiant effort to get some numbers that look good. I believe that crew labored exhausting,” artwork advisor Dane Jensen advised ARTnews. “It was a tricky effort. Not a catastrophe, however you possibly can inform the market’s tight.”

“The estimates weren’t the type that encourage fireworks however the sale was stable,” artwork advisor Hugo Nathan advised ARTnews. “There’s nothing spectacular to say however the sale was stable. We’re in unsure instances. I believe individuals made choices very late within the day.”

Beneath, a have a look at what offered, what didn’t, which tons proved essentially the most magnetic, and which ought to have stayed in storage till subsequent yr.

Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works

Complete: $272 million

The night’s opening act was additionally its most curated. The Riggio assortment, lengthy recognized amongst insiders however not often seen in public, was notable for its constant high quality and vary—from geometric precision to surrealist aptitude. The sale doubled as a public farewell to one in all New York’s nice amassing {couples}. Louise Riggio, who’s downsizing from their storied residence.

The sale’s hammer whole attain $228 million for the 38 tons, or $272 million together with purchaser’s premiums, on a low estimate of $252 million. Out of the 39 tons, there have been 23 with third party-guarantees and all had minimal value ensures.

Piet Mondrian’s Composition With Massive Purple Airplane, Bluish Grey, Yellow, Black and Blue (1922), which as soon as hung within the vestibule of the Riggios’ Park Avenue residence, carried an estimate within the area of $50 million, however hammered at $41 million, or $47.56 million with purchaser’s charges. This was under the artist’s 2022 record of $51 million, but it surely was undoubtedly the sale’s headline act.

René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières was the second-highest lot, rapidly hammering to a purchaser on the telephone with Christie’s International President Alex Rotter for $30 million, or $34.9 million with charges. 

Notably, L’empire des lumières beforehand appeared at public sale in November 2017, after which in November 2023, each instances at Christie’s New York. On the latter public sale, the Surrealist portray additionally offered for the very same quantity with the client’s premium.

“It didn’t go down, however did we anticipate it to go up? Probably not,” artwork advisor Megan Fox Kelly advised ARTnews of the Magritte.

Magritte’s Les droits de l’homme (1947–48) and Alberto Giacometti’s Femme de Venise I each got here with $15 million-$20 million expectations and spoke to the Riggio’s Surrealist leanings. Les droits de l’homme hammered at $13.5 million or $15.94 million with charges, whereas Femme de Venise I did barely higher at $15 million or $17.66 million with charges.

Picasso, Richter, Hepworth, and Agnes Martin rounded out the highlights in what felt like a assured—if cautious—play for modernist muscle.

A notable work that offered poorly was Stan Douglas’ print A Luta Continua, 1974. Regardless of a minimal value assure, the work hammered at $10,000 or $12,600 with charges, on a low estimate of $60,000. 

Julio Gonzalez’s Forme sévère was additionally withdrawn. It had an estimate of $8 million to $12 million.

twentieth Century Night Sale

Complete: $217 million

If the Riggio sale was all about elegant restraint, the twentieth Century sale that adopted was about throwing heavyweight names into the ring. By comparability, the sale generated a hammer whole of $181.1 million or $217 million together with charges, towards a low estimate of $194 million, with two notable withdrawn tons by the identical artist. There have been additionally 15 works with third-party ensures.

Out of 35 remaining choices, the highest lot was Claude Monet’s Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule which hammered at $37 million or $42.9 million with charges on an estimate of $30 million to $50 million. The successful bid was positioned by a purchaser on the telephone with Keith Gill, Christie’s London head of Impressionist and fashionable artwork. It additionally had a third-party assure.

It was adopted by Mark Rothko’s No. 4 (Two Dominants) [Orange, Plum, Black] from a collection of nine works belonging to Sid and Anne Bass from their house in Fort Price, Texas that was custom-designed by famend architect Paul Rudolph. That work got here to market with an estimate within the area of $35 million and stood out as one of many sale’s most vital postwar works. It offered for $37.785 million with charges.

The third lot within the twentieth Century sale to crack eight figures was Gerhard Richter’s Korsika (Schiu), which hammered at  $12.9 million or $15.2 million with charges (estimate $9-12 million). The portray additionally had a third-party assure. Bidding was drawn out for seven and a half minutes, usually in small increments, prompting the auctioneer (and Christie’s International Head of Non-public Gross sales) Adrien Meyer to comment, “Have we deliberate dinner for our company?”

The outcomes for these three works are in step with the most recent Art Basel UBS report, which confirmed how the highest finish of the marketplace for extremely high-priced works exceeding $10 million plummeted by 39 % in 2024, following a 27 % decline the earlier yr. These ultra-high-end works now characterize simply 18 % of the market’s worth, down from 33 % in 2022. 

“It’s not as in case you’ve acquired dozens and dozens of individuals competing for that materials,” artwork advisor Megan Fox Kelly famous to ARTnews.

Frank Stella’s Firuzabad III was an exception, bringing a shocking quantity of power into the room. The ten-foot by 15-foot portray on formed canvas offered for $2.7 million on the hammer, $3.17 million with charges, one of many few works of the evening to far exceed its excessive estimate of $2 million. It additionally got here from the Bass Home.

Gerhard Richter’s Korsika (Schiu), Frank Stella’s Itata, and Remedios Varo’s Revelación all contributed to an evening extra centered on vary than spectacle. Dorothea Tanning’s Endgame additionally offered for $2.349 million on a excessive estimate of $1.5 million, setting a brand new public sale report for the artist and highlighting ongoing curiosity in Surrealism.

Notably, Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair (1967–68), estimated round $30 million, marked a uncommon high-profile look for the artist this season. The portray, a part of his “Demise and Catastrophe” sequence, had final offered in 2019 for $19 million. With most top-tier Warhols now in long-term holdings, this work provided a uncommon probability to check collector urge for food in a Basquiat-dominated second. It was consigned from the gathering of Belgian patrons Roger Matthys and Hilda Colle. 

However the six-foot-wide portray didn’t set off any sparks. That’s as a result of it was one in all two Warhols that had been pulled mid sale.

Jensen attributed the withdrawals to the artist’s struggling market and decline in demand for “catastrophe photos.”

“I believe in this sort of political local weather, individuals most likely don’t need that form of imagery,” he stated, referring to Huge Electrical Chair. “This doesn’t really feel like what you need to spend your cash on.”

Christie’s guess on breadth—and main ensures—paid off with a stable displaying, if not the fireworks and nine-figure prices of previous seasons. Nonetheless, it was a reminder that even in a cooled market, the suitable names (and the suitable shade of crimson, in Mondrian’s case) can nonetheless draw warmth, whereas one-time giants like Warhol nowadays aren’t standing so tall.

The outcomes additionally proceed for instance an more and more fragmented art market: Issues that had been distinctive and plucked the heartstrings of patrons did properly. 

“The Richter is a good instance. That was an emotional image: the boat, the calm sea, the sundown. A picture of serenity in a chaotic time,” Nathan stated. The 2 withdrawn Warhols had been on the other aspect of the aesthetic spectrum. It’s simply not the time and, in line with Rotter, the consignors of every Warhol (it was two completely different individuals, he stated) determined that protecting them within the sale wasn’t well worth the danger.

Nonetheless, some individuals within the room had greater than artwork on their minds. Within the second row, an unidentified, however properly seated, gentleman held up his telephone to the individuals sitting round him. He was watching the Knicks sport reside. On the time, (it was nonetheless the primary quarter) the Knicks had been up 24-23 towards the Boston Celtics. On the finish of that quarter, whereas Vincent van Gogh’s In de Duinen (Within the Dunes) was up for grabs, the Celtics had taken the lead 39-28.

For these of you curious, the Knicks gained the sport 121-113, main the convention semifinals sequence towards the Celtics 3-1. The crew’s subsequent sport is on Wednesday at 7 p.m., the identical begin time as Christie’s twenty first Century Night Sale.