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| Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild (809-4) |
Overall the sale totaled $70.79 million including buyers premiums, against pre sale total estimates of $45.78 million to $63.38 million. The sale offered 53 lots with 47 selling for a 88.7% sell through rate, and the sale totaled 95% by value. Seven of the top ten selling lots hammered above the high estimate.
Sotheby's reported on the sale
Source: Sotheby'sTonight, in Sotheby's Evening Auction of Contemporary Art, Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes Bild (809-4) from the collection of Eric Clapton sold for the remarkable sum of £21,321,250 $34,190,756 /€26,436,220, establishing the record price at auction for the artist, the highest price of the auctions this week in London, and a new benchmark price for the work of any living artist'. Combined, the Evening Auctions of Contemporary Art and 20th Century Italian Art brought a total of £60 / $95.6 / €75 million, far surpassing pre-sale expectations of £43-59 million and setting a new record for an October Series of Evening Sales during Frieze Week**. In total, 8 lots sold for over £1 million, 16 lots sold for over $1 million, and five artist records were set.
Discussing the results of tonight's sales of Contemporary Art and 20th Century Italian Art, Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby's Chairman of Contemporary Art Europe, commented: "For tonight's sales we brought together high-calibre works closely aligned with the artistic desires of today's distinctly international collectors, many of whom were in London for Frieze and the inaugural Frieze Masters. The combination of the classical slant of our Contemporary Sale, with the selection of 20th Century Italian Art that has remained off the market for upwards of 40 years, elicited an enthusiastic response from determined bidders."
Commenting on the record price achieved for Gerhard Richter's abstract masterwork, Alex Branczik, Senior Director and Head of the Evening Sale, said: "The combination of outstanding provenance and gold-standard quality in this sublime work by this blue-chip artist made for an historic auction moment. Gerhard Richter's international appeal as one of the hottest Contemporary artists was once again confirmed this evening. The price of $34.1 million smashed the previous record for Richter by nearly $13 million and brings the highest-ever auction price for a work by a living artist."
Contemporary Art Evening Auction:
The Contemporary Art Evening Sale brought £44,146,350 / $70,793,087 / €54,737,064 - the highest total for an October Sale of Contemporary Art at Sotheby's (est. £28.1-38.9 million). The sale also achieved sell-through rates of 88.7% sold by lot (47 of the 53 lots offered sold) and 95% sold by value, and three artist records were established for Gerhard Richter, lsa Genzen and Gonkar Gyatso.
This evening's top-selling lot was Gerhard Richter's abstract masterwork Abstraktes Bild (809-4), which achieved the well-above-expectations sum of £21,321,250 / $34,190,756 /€26,436,220 (est. £9-12 million). This abstract oil< on canvas masterwork from 1994 came from the collection of Eric Clapton** and sold to an anonymous buyer after three telephone bidders competed for the work for over 5 minutes, until it finally sold to a round of applause for the new record sum. It was produced as part of a concise series of four works numbered 809 in Richter's catalogue raisonne. A further work by Richter in tonight's sale was Abstraktes Bild (840-2) of 1997, which fetched £1,954,250/ $3,119,403 /€4,411,916 (est. £1-1.5 million).
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