In the first week of March, the top auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips celebrated London’s 20th / 21st Century Art sales, including Impressionist, Modern, Post-War, and early Contemporary Art, initiating the year with an overall somber performance. Despite overall lower results than previous editions of the London sales series, top artists such as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol continue to sell for top prices, and excellent artworks successfully defend their value.
A total of four evening sales and four-day sales offered almost 900 artworks, of which 761 sold and returned a total of £414,729,287 GBP. Christie’s, which held four of the eight sales in total, contributed £199,091,794 GBP to the result, while the two sales at Sotheby’s and the remaining two at Phillips brought in £182,972,590 GBP and £32,664,903 GBP respectively.
Seven out of the top 10 selling lots (and all of the top 5) were offered at Sotheby’s evening sale, which contrasted with the significant BI rate of 26% of this sale. Two of the top 10 sold at Christie’s evening sale, and the last one sold at Christie’s Art of the Surreal sale.
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