Top Art Prices for 2009

It is time to start seeing year in review articles. Scott Reyburn and Katya Kazakina of Bloomberg have an interesting article reviewing the top prices of art at auction during the past year.  The top lot was the recent sale of a Raphael chalk drawing for $47.5 million.  This was followed by a Matisse for $46.5 million (see image, from the Yves St Laurent sale), and an Andy Warhol for $43.8 million.

It is interesting to see the top sales represent three different sectors in the art market. Also very nice to see is the decorative arts getting mention for the sale of the Art Deco Dragon Chair for approximately $28 million from the Yves St Laurent sale.  The article also chronicles auction sales highlights as well as other interesting art related news and sales from various months of 2009. 

The Bloomberg article states

Collectors responded to the financial crisis by selecting the best 20th-century classics, Old Masters, wine and jewelry at international auctions. They shunned investment in some contemporary art as prices dropped by half and sales fell 75 percent. Private transactions increased as sellers at public auctions were no longer guaranteed minimum prices in 2009.

Here are some of the key moments of the year:

Feb. 5: Sotheby’s London sale tallied 17.9 million pounds (then $26.15 million), the lowest at its Part I contemporary auctions in the city since 2005. On Feb. 11, Christie’s International failed to sell Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko works that it expected would fetch as much as 5 million pounds and 3.5 million pounds.

Feb. 23-25: Christie’s raised 342.5 million euros (then $435.8 million) from the collection of the late fashion designer Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge. The total was the highest at auction of a private art collection, and defied economic gloom, said dealers. It would have been higher had Cai Mingchao, the Chinese winning bidder on two Qing dynasty bronzes, not refused to pay his bill of 31.4 million euros.

The Matisse 1911 cowslips still life “Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose” made 35.9 million euros, paid in the room by the New York-based dealer Franck Giraud. Records were set for other modern artists Brancusi (29.2 million euros) and Mondrian (21.6 million euros), while the Eileen Gray airchair made 21.9 million euros, a record for any piece of 20th-century design and more than 10 times its low estimate.

April 30: An aluminum “Lockheed Lounge” chair by Marc Newson sold at Phillips de Pury & Co. in London for 1.1 million pounds, an auction record for contemporary design. Pieces by Zaha Hadid and Ron Arad failed to sell.

To read the full artilce, click HERE.