Evening Sales
Our team from New York and London were on the ground for last week's preview exhibitions and evening sales. Here’s the full Artsignal report.
Basquiat, Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown). Image courtesy of Sotheby's.
Sotheby's
Sotheby's opened the sales on May 14 with two back-to-back evening auctions totaling $433.1 million aggregate. The Mnuchin single-owner sale was led by a Rothko titled Brown and Blacks in Reds (1957), which sold for $85.8 million aggregate. The Now and Contemporary Evening sale followed, led by Basquiat's Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) (1983), which sold for $52.7 million, becoming the fifth most expensive Basquiat ever sold at auction.
Sotheby's Modern Evening auction on May 19 brought in $304 million aggregate. The standout lot was Henri Matisse's La Chaise lorraine (c. 1919), which topped the sale at $48.4 million after ten minutes of bidding against an estimate of $25 million. Picasso's Arlequin (Buste) followed at $42.6 million. And a Van Gogh work on paper sold for $29.4 million. The total was the house’s highest Modern Evening auction result since November 2022.
Christie's
Christie's delivered the week's defining moment on Monday, May 18, with back-to-back evening sales totaling $1.1 billion in a single night.
The first, a white-glove sale of 16 works from the collection of the late S.I. Newhouse, brought in $630.8 million with fees. The top lot was Jackson Pollock's Number 7A (1948), from the Newhouse collection, which at $181.2 million aggregate became the fourth most expensive painting ever sold at auction. Another season highlight was the Newhouse Brancusi sculpture, Danaïde, which sold for $107.6 million aggregate, far surpassing his previous auction record of $71.2 million.
The Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale followed the single-owner, totaling $490.3 million, with a sell-through rate of 94%. Agnes Gund’s Mark Rothko, No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) (1964), sold for $98.4 million, setting a new auction record for the artist.
Pollock, Number 7A, 1948. Image courtesy of Christie's.
Alice Neel's Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia) sold for $5.69 million, 373% above its low estimate; one of the most dramatic individual performances of the week. And a Modigliani portrait estimated at $30 million was withdrawn at the last moment.
Christie's continued on Wednesday, May 20, with two further evening sales. The Collection of Henry S. McNeil, Jr. sold 100% by lot, with a Donald Judd stack from 1969 leading the sale at $12.8 million. The single-owner was followed by the 21st Century Evening sale, headlined by eight Richters from the private collection of gallerist Marian Goodman. The group realized $78.8 million, led by Kerze, the first Richter candle to come to auction in 15 years, which sold for $35.1 million. Together the two Wednesday sales totaled $162.7 million.
Phillips
Phillips sold $115.2 million with fees on May 19. A solid performance against a pre-sale high estimate of $122 million. The top lot, Andy Warhol's Sixteen Jackies (1964), fell short of its $15 million low estimate, hammering at $13.5 million. However, Andy Warhol's Four Coloured Marilyns (Reversal Series) set a new record for the series at $5.63 million aggregate. And a previously unsold Pollock from around 1948 returned with a reduced estimate of $5 million to $7 million, and sold for $9.1 million with fees.
Bonhams
Bonhams inaugurated its new U.S. flagship at 111 West 57th Street, the restored Steinway Hall, with its 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale on May 20. The sale achieved $22 million aggregate, with a 93% sell-through rate. The top lot was Yoshitomo Nara's monumental ...Words Mean Nothing at All (2012), which fetched $5.02 million aggregate, setting a new auction record for the artist.
The Broader Picture
Artsignal’s data confirmed that this was the strongest May result in New York since 2022 peaks. The market seems to have found its footing after three years of contraction. Christie's led on value with a 92% sell-through rate and 57% of its lots selling above their high estimates; the highest above-estimate performance of any house this season.
The production year data tells its own story: across Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips and Bonhams, works from 1940 to 1969 accounted for 41.5% of all sold value, confirming that the postwar period remains the undisputed engine of the top-tier market.
Concentration at the top was stark: works selling above $10 million accounted for the overwhelming majority of total value, while the mid-market continued to trade at a more measured pace.
The auction market never stops, and neither do we. Our team will be reporting across the market as the hammer falls.