What Is the Highest Price Paid for a Piece of Modern Art
All markets fluctuate and the art trade is no exception, but over the concluding v years, some of the most important, famous, and expensive pieces of Modern Fine art have been sold at sale for monumental prices. This article covers the acme 11 auction results since 2015, exploring each masterpiece and revealing how information technology became so valuable.
What is Modernistic Art?
Modern Art is a complex and multi-faceted category, encompassing a huge variety of styles, from Cubism to Expressionism , Surrealism to Dadaism .
Scholars and art historians may argue over the minutiae of the genre, but Modern Art is widely agreed to refer to art created from the mid-late 19 thursday century, when the effects of the industrial revolution began to be felt more than profoundly, through much of the 20 th century, with a blurred line between Modernistic and Contemporary artists.
Each of the acme ten examined here were created during the xx th century, and some of the artists are still alive today.
11. Nymphéas en fleur (Water Lilies) by Claude Monet, 1914
Realized Price: USD 84,687,500
Approximate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 84,687,500
Venue & Appointment: Christie'due south, New York, 08 May 2018, lot x
Known Seller: Manor of Peggy and David Rockefeller
Virtually the Artwork
Claude Monet may not be the first painter to jump to mind when you lot call back of Mod Art, just his seminal work in Impressionism (he even gave the motion its name !) makes Monet one of the nearly influential artists of the twentieth century. The Parisian painter is all-time known for his magnificent Water Lilies , a serial of 250 oil paintings depicting the flowers that grew around his home at Giverny .
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The Water Lilies provide an particularly intimate expect into Monet's life and works as he kept them in his studio, selling simply ane, and leaving them to his family after he died; information technology was not for several decades that the canvases began to appear in galleries beyond Europe, where they were appreciated for the daring colour, shadowy depths and sense of move that characterizes the series.
Non only hauntingly cute but as well incredibly important to the history of art, Monet'southward Water Lilies routinely fetch huge sums, at auction and in private sales alike. In fact, 1 of the larger canvases, simply entitled Nymphéas en fleur , was bought in 2018 for over $84 1000000 at Christie's in 2018.
10. Suprematist Composition by Kazimir Malevich, 1916
Realized Price: USD 85,812,500
Guess: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 85,812,500
Venue & Date: Christie's, New York, fifteen May 2018, lot 12A
Known Seller: Nahmad Family
Known Buyer: British art dealer Brett Gorvy
Nigh the Artwork
Russo-Polish artist, Kazimir Malevich, shocked the globe in 1915 with an exhibition of daring abstract paintings, their bold colors and geometric forms unlike annihilation yet seen in the globe of Modern Art. These pieces represented the birth of the Suprematist movement , which Malevich defined every bit ' the primacy of pure feeling in creative fine art.'
The greatest masterpiece from these early years is his Suprematist Limerick , which brings together movement and stillness, the formal and the desultory, busy colors, and hit blank spaces. Malevich certainly considered it his crowning glory, including the painting in near all his future exhibitions.
Passing through the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Suprematist Limerick eventually returned into the hands of Malevich'due south descendants in 2008. They sold it almost immediately to the legendary Nahmad family unit , by whom it was listed at Christie'south a decade afterwards. Purchased for an incredible $85 1000000 by British art dealer, Brett Gorvy, the painting holds the record for the almost expensive piece of Russian art ever sold.
9. Buffalo II by Robert Rauschenberg, 1964
Realized Cost: USD 88,805,000
Approximate: USD 50,000,000-70,000,000
Realized Toll: USD 88,805,000
Venue & Date: Christie's, New York, 15 May 2019, lot 5B
About the Artwork
During the early 1950s, Texas-born artist Robert Rauschenberg traveled across Europe and Due north Africa , experiencing a wide range of cultures and experimenting with different art forms. In Morocco, for instance, he created collages out of piles of discarded trash, before taking them back to Italy where many were exhibited and sold at the state's most important galleries.
Such formative experiments came to fruition a decade later in the form of his influential silkscreen pieces . Combining images from gimmicky culture, natural figures, and brushstrokes, these masterpieces introduced a new way of capturing and conveying the anarchy of modern life.
Auction of Rauschenberg's Buffalo Two at Christie'south, New York, 2019
Rauschenberg's most famous, and certainly nearly expensive, piece of art is Buffalo Ii , which he first exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1964. The huge canvas stands over viii feet in meridian and displays a plethora of ostensibly disparate images, including a hollow cuboid, a ascent sun, and a large photograph of John F. Kennedy. Not only does Buffalo II capture the zeitgeist of the American 60s, merely it besides bridges the gap between 2 artistic movements: Abstruse Expressionism and Pop Art .
For this reason, it is considered of great artistic value and was purchased for the monumental sum of $88 million at Christie's in 2019. It is rumored that the winning bid came from Walmart-heiress and patron of the arts, Alice Walton.
viii. Portrait of an Artist (Puddle with Two Figures) by David Hockney, 1972
Realized Toll: USD xc,312,500
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 90,321,500
Venue & Date: Christie'southward, New York, 15 November 2018, lot 9C
Known Seller: British businessman, Joe Lewis
Almost the Artwork
A recurrent theme in David Hockney 's paintings from the 1960s and 1970s is the swimming pool, which represents the thrilling turn his life took after moving from his native England to sunny California.
Portrait of an Artist (Pool with 2 Figures) is mayhap his most recognizable work from this period, and notwithstanding it is not set in the States, but in Southern France, and does not show Hockney himself, but another creative person: Peter Schlesinger, his former lover and muse. The simplified yet vividly evocative style that characterizes Hockney'southward paintings is exemplified in this painting, which shuns the earth of politics and global movements for an intimate retrospective look at 1's own experiences and relationships.
Information technology has certainly touched the hearts (not to mention the wallets!) of the globe'due south about notable fine art dealers and collectors, including James Astor, David Geffen and Joe Lewis, who owned the painting at various points in its history. In 2018, Portrait of an Artist set the auction tape for a painting by a living artist, selling for a staggering $90.3 1000000 at Christie'southward. One time again, the heir-apparent was anonymous.
7. Rabbit past Jeff Koons, 1986
Realized Price: USD 91,075,000
Estimate: USD 50,000,000-70,000,000
Realized Price: USD 91,075,000
Venue & Date: Christie'south, New York, fifteen May 2019, lot 15B
Known Seller: Manor of Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr.
Known Heir-apparent: Robert Mnuchin for Steven A. Cohen
Most the Artwork
An icon of 20th-century art, Jeff Koons ' 3ft tall metal rabbit sculpture blurs the boundary between piece of work and play. Although its airship-like contours and animalistic form naturally evoke memories of babyhood, the cool steel is ultimately solid and unyielding. Information technology has even been suggested by the creative person himself that the carrot held in the bunny'due south hand conveys a subtle, sexual dimension to the artwork.
There were really three casts of Rabbit made in 1986, 1 of which won the title of most expensive piece of art by a living artist, when information technology was sold at Christie's in 2019 for the staggering sum of $91 million.
6. Chop Suey past Edward Hopper, 1929
Realized Toll: USD 91,875,000
Estimate: USD seventy,000,000-100,000,000
Realized Price: USD 91,875,000
Venue & Date: Christie's, New York, 13 Nov 2018, lot 12B
Known Seller: Estate of Barney A. Ebsworth
About the Artwork
Earlier in the 20th century, American painter Edward Hopper offered a new take on Realism , focusing on quiet moments and avoiding the assuming hyper-detailed style of many of his contemporaries. With his broad brushstrokes, muted pallet and utilize of light and shadow, Hopper created images that were more than like memories or dreams, than immediate views of photographs.
Chop Suey is often considered his greatest achievement, not to the lowest degree because of the sensual imagery that complements the painting's visual touch. The woman speaking in the background, the teapot and cigarette smoke, the sign exterior the window: all of these contribute towards the powerfully evocative mood of the piece. In that location has also been great contend about who the figures in the painting correspond. Is the adult female in the foreground facing her doppelgänger? Are the couple in the background supposed to be Hopper and his wife?
These questions have undoubtedly contributed to the widespread involvement that Chop Suey attracted immediately later on it was revealed, and which continues to draw admirers today. In fact, the painting gear up a record every bit Hopper's most expensive work, when it was sold at Christie'due south in 2018 for just under $92 million.
5. Untitled by Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982
Realized Price: USD 110,487,500
Approximate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 110,487,500
Venue & Date: Sotheby's, New York, 18 May 2017, lot 24
Known Seller: Spiegel Family
Known Buyer: Japanese art collector, Yusaku Maezawa
About the Artwork
Equally a boy, Jean-Michel Basquiat spent months in the hospital recovering from a auto accident, and to proceed him occupied, his female parent brought him a copy of Gray'south Anatomy. This medical book would go on to influence her son in his future career every bit an artist; he referred to it constantly when depicting homo anatomy , from diverse bones to skulls.
The caput is one of the near recognizable images that appears again and again in Basquiat's oeuvre, frequently bridging the gap between life and death. This is exemplified by Untitled , in which vibrant colors and wild brushstrokes contrast confronting the sunken, subdued prototype of the skull. Inspired by the most respected professional textbook, but painted in the style of an urban graffiti artist, nothing better represents Basquiat'southward novel approach to art.
Sale of Basquiat'south Untitled at Christie'south, New York , 2017, via Financial Times
In 2018, Untitled was presented equally the sole piece in a Basquiat exhibition , the success of which demonstrates the allure of both creative person and artwork. As if more proof were needed, the painting sold at Sotheby'southward two months later for an unbelievable $110 million.
4. Fillette à la corbeille fleurie by Pablo Picasso, 1905
Realized Toll: USD 115,000,000
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 115,000,000
Venue & Date: Christie'south, New York, 08 May 2018, lot 15
Known Seller: Estate of Peggy and David Rockefeller
About the Artwork
The young daughter in the images is completely naked autonomously from hair ribbons and a fine necklace and holds a basket of flowers. Her nudity, cold stare, and awkward position call the reader to question what she is really selling. Whether flower-seller or prostitute, the effigy brings together the ostensibly opposing forces of innocence and immorality, forcing the reader to question their own assumptions and standards.
Fillette à la corbeille fleurie was painted at a primal turning point in the life of Pablo Picasso, every bit he transitioned from an impoverished bohemian to a renowned and well-respected artist over the course of only two years. Although information technology falls into the work created during his Rose Menstruation , the painting is far more cool and somber than much of his contemporary output. The haunting feeling conjured up past the prototype entranced the Stein siblings , who purchased Fillette from the Parisian gallery to which the artist had sold it for but 75 francs! 113 years afterwards, it was sold again, this time for the higher price of $115 meg!
3. Nu couché (Sur le côté gauche) by Amedeo Modigliani, 1917
Realized Cost: USD 157,159,000
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Cost: USD 157,159,000
Venue & Date: Sotheby's, New York, 14 May 2018, lot 18
About the Artwork
In 1917, Amedeo Modigliani was offered 15 francs a day to pigment a series of nudes, five of which he handed over to his models, who lay draped in fabric, reclined on beds or rested on chairs for hours on stop, while the artist created some of the finest nudes e'er fabricated.
Gone are the allegorical and physical veils with which naked women were semi-bearded in the art of the previous centuries . Instead, Modigliani depicts women languishing unashamedly in their nudity, undoubtedly inspired by his Italian heritage and the Renaissance artwork he was exposed to during his youth in Rome, Florence, and Venice.
Nu couché (Sur le côté gauche) is particularly remarkable due to its size – at almost one and a half meters wide, it is the largest painting ever created by Modigliani – and its enduring lucidity. The pose and stare of the reclining figure are at in one case inviting and forbidding, creating attraction and elusiveness in equal measure out. Just over 100 years after the masterpiece was made, information technology was sold at Sotheby'south for $157 1000000, demonstrating the timeless nature of allure, intrigue, and beauty.
ii. Nu couché past Amedeo Modigliani, 1917-xviii
Realized Cost: USD 170,405,000
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 170,405,000
Venue & Date: Christie'southward, New York, 9 November 2015, lot 8A
Known Buyer: Chinese art collector, Liu Yiqian
About the Artwork
And then important are Modigliani's nudes to the history of art, that they take both second and 3rd place for the most expensive pieces of Modern Art bought at auction in the last five years. Some other reclining nude from 1917, Nu couché is amid the creative person's most widely acclaimed paintings. It is a far more than direct and explicit have on the nude genre, and once again demonstrates the celebrity and sexuality of the man form.
Like the former slice, Nu couché was exhibited at Modigliani's first (and last!) prove, which was close downwards by the police because the creative person had dared to depict female body hair . Over the course of the subsequent century, the stigma of Modigliani's nudes transformed into a great respect for his ingenuity and artistry. With this appreciation has come great fiscal value: Nu couché sold at Christie'due south in 2015 for a huge $170 million. Likewise as the masterpiece itself, heir-apparent Liu Yiqian also received $1.7 1000000 in rewards, having put the transaction through his American Limited credit menu!
ane. Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O') by Pablo Picasso, 1955
Realized Cost: USD 179,365,000
Estimate: Unknown
Realized Price: USD 179,365,000
Venue & Engagement: Christie's, New York, xi May 2015, lot 8A
Known Seller: Libby Howie for bearding Saudi Arabian collector
Known Buyer: Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani , fellow member of the Qatari Majestic Family
About the Artwork
The superlative spot for Mod Fine art contempo sale records is taken by the 20th century'southward most iconic creative person, Pablo Picasso . Inspired past Eugene Delacroix 's 1834 painting The Women of Algiers in their Apartment , his Les Femmes d'Alger comprises 15 paintings labeled 'A' through to 'O' and completed from 1954 to 1955. Although each unlike version is highly prized, and many are held in highly prominent collections, both public and private, Version O is past far the most famous.
The painting embodies Picasso'southward Cubism at its finest, breaking downward the shapes and spaces of Delacroix'due south work and employing striking colors to raise the event of the new, geometric approach. It was one of five versions retained by Victor and Emerge Ganz , influential fine art collectors and the first owners of Les Femmes d'Alger , and sold at auction in their estate sale of 1997, where it was purchased for $31.9 1000000.
Less than 20 years later, it appeared at Christie'due south a 2nd fourth dimension, where it achieved a record price for any painting sold at auction, reaching almost $180 million. The buyer was the sometime Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, whose rapidly increasing fine art collection was crowned by this incredible masterpiece.
Modern Fine art Auctions in Summary
These 11 masterpieces are not but the nearly expensive Modern Fine art auction sales of the last 5 years, but also represent some of the nearly important and influential artists of the past and previous century. Their piece of work offers invaluable insight into how the visual arts accept developed, with creators innovating on the instance of their predecessors, likewise as using their platforms to limited social, political, and creative opinions.
Source: https://www.thecollector.com/modern-art-auction-results/
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