Over two-thirds of the works offered at tonight’s sale had never been seen at auction including Cy Twombly’s Untitled (Rome), Alberto Burri’s Rosso Plastica, Lucian Freud’s Head on a Green Sofa and Frank Auerbach’s Morning – Mornington Place
This was the 12th consecutive Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Sotheby’s worldwide with a sell-through rate over 80% o Sell through rate by lot – 82.5% o 91.5% of sold lots achieved prices at or above their pre-sale estimates. A new auction record was set for a painting by Cy Twombly when Untitled (Rome) from 1964 sold significantly above estimate to a round of applause for £12.2 million / $20 million (est. £5-7million). o That is the second highest price ever paid for any work by the artist after his Poems to the Sea, which set a new benchmark in our New York salesroom in November ($21.7 million) o Never before offered at auction, this painting was acquired by the consignor in the 1970s.
Andy Warhol’s red canvas Mao (1973) was sought after by three bidders before selling for £7.6 million / $12.5 million (est. £5.5-7.5m) – almost 20 times the sum it sold for when last at auction (at Sotheby’s London June 2000 £421,500 / $632,218). Considered by Lucian Freud to be among the best works he ever produced and painted at a pivotal moment in his career, Head on a Green Sofa (1960-61) sold for £3 million / $4.9 million (est. £2.5-3.5 million). Demonstrating the enduring appeal for London School works, a rediscovered masterpiece by Frank Auerbach (1971-72) appearing at auction for the first time Morning – Mornington Place fetched £1.8 million / $2.9 million double its top estimate (est. £600,000-800,000). In addition to the Richter, other German works brought strong prices this evening: o Sigmar Polke’s Rokoko from 1994 exceeded expectations selling for £2,546,500 / $4,186,955 (est. £1-1.5m) o Martin Kippenberger’s Egg Woman brought £1,818,500 / $2,989,978 (est. £1.2-1.8m) o Thomas Struth’s Self-Portrait surpassed the high estimate to bring £482,500 / $793,326 (£300,000-400,000)
Notes to Editors Sotheby’s has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sotheby’s became the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction house in China (2012). Today, Sotheby’s presents auctions in eight different salesrooms, including New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris, and Sotheby’s BidNow program allows visitors to view all auctions live online and place bids in real-time from anywhere in the world. Sotheby’s offers collectors the resources of Sotheby’s Financial Services, the world’s only full-service art financing company, as well as private sale opportunities in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery arm of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art department, as well as Sotheby’s Diamonds and Sotheby’s Wine. Sotheby’s has a global network of 90 offices in 40 countries and is the oldest company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (BID).
