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Giorgio Morandi, online auction record for the painting "Still Life" of 1951

Giorgio Morandi, online auction record for the painting "Still Life" of 1951

The "Impressionist & Modern Art Day" online auction which reached a total of $9,9 million, saw competition from over 30 countries, with 29% of all buyers who were not yet customers.

The sale was led by Giorgio Morandi's Still Life from 1951, which realized $1,6 million, the highest price for any lot sold in an online sale at Sotheby's. The previous record was held by Friedrich von Hayek's Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, which sold for $1,51 million in 2019.

In the past week, Sotheby's Online Day Sales of Contemporary Art (closed 14 May) and Impressionist & Modern Art combined reached $23,6 million, during what traditionally would have been a major moment in the international art market calendar. Their results represent our two highest online auction totals and have propelled our online sales to more than $110 million to date in 2020, more than 1,5 times the full-year results in 2019.

Scott Niichel, Co-Head of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby's in New York, Head of Day Sales, commented: “The depth of the deals we've seen over the past two weeks, particularly on some of the best lots, is a testament to the strength of market demand when great material is presented. It has been gratifying to see strong interest in all of the many genres we feature in our category, including excellent results for the impressionists Pissarro, Degas and Renoir, the modernists Morandi, Lempicka and Léger, as well as Latin American artists Rivera, Tamayo and even Ivan Tovar – whose painting La Menace set a new auction record for the artist. It is clear our customers are responding well to our extensive online sales calendar and we are proud to have the leading platform to support the marketplace.”

George Morandi 1951

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