A Look at Upcoming Top Lots

Carol Vogel of the NY Times takes a look at some of the top lots coming up over the next two weeks in NY at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips.  Top lots include of course "The Scream" and also works by Rothko, Warhol (Elvis, see image), Bacon, Cezanne and Picasso.   The Scream, although not listed with an estimate on the Sotheby's site is said to carry a pre sale estimate of $80 million, which many consider low.  Some beleive it will set a new auction record for art at auction with a sale in the $150-$200 million range.

 It will be interesting to see how these sales and top lots play out.

The NY Times reports

What’s bringing these paintings, drawings and sculptures to auction now? One reason is sheer serendipity, as several estates from seasoned collectors have come up for grabs this spring. The second is more opportunistic. Owners are hoping to cash in on the penchant of new, extraordinarily wealthy collectors from Russia, Asia and the Middle East for paying record prices for whatever strikes their fancy. “There are two markets, the regular market for the average collector and the super-market for global icons” that is fueled by the new rich, said Tobias Meyer, who runs Sotheby’s contemporary art department worldwide. “This last group is smart and gravitates toward the very top.”

Brett Gorvy, Mr. Meyer’s counterpart at Christie’s, says these buyers’ “tastes are conservative but they want quality, technical virtuosity, beauty and color.”

Estimates are high for some of the best works this season, although Sotheby’s figure of $80 million for “The Scream” is conservative by Ladbrokes’s standards. After that are several paintings estimated to fall in the $30 million to $50 million range: a Roy Lichtenstein comic book image and a 1976 painting by Francis Bacon, as well as the red Rothko and the Warhol “Elvis.”

Click HERE to see some of the top lots, descriptions and pre sale estimates and HERE for the full article.