Last week, coinciding with the first edition of Paris + par Art Basel, the Ville Lumière hosted two important auction sales, respectively by two giants of the market: Christie's and Sotheby's.
The first decided to move some sales from Great Britain to France, thus inaugurating the Avant-Garde format, which included the special “Thinking Italian” section, traditionally linked to the art of the “Bel Paese”.
And it is within this selection of 19 masterpieces that the most interesting sales results have been recorded. First of all those inherent to the artists Alighiero Boetti and Mario Schifano.
But let's proceed in order. The whole evening sale ended with a total of € 66,690,300, well beyond expectations that were between 32 and 46 million.
Lot no. 7, the artwork "Mappa" (1979-80) by Alighiero Boetti, estimated between 2 and 3,000,000 €, was sold to a client in Qatar with an online offer of 4.7 million €, a figure that rises to 5,643,500 € with the buyer's premium: a new incredible record for the artist who died in 1994.
Clearly the other artworks by Boetti in the catalog, for example “Ononimo” (1973), were sold for a total amount of 2,262,000 euros.
Let's now pass to the member of the so-called Scuola di Piazza del Popolo, together with, among others, Tano Festa and Franco Angeli, Mario Schifano. "The drawing room" (1962), lot 21, changed hands for a much higher amount than the maximum estimate: € 1,302,000, a new record for the artist.
In the auction catalogue there was also a Lucio Fontana’s piece: the silver-colored “Spatial Concept”, lot no 13, reached the figure of 15,147,000 €.
It was also interesting the amount reached by the "Cretto" (1977) of Alberto Burri: 3,642,000 €.
Finally for the record it is important to point out that six artworks in this section were unsold.
Moving on to the international scene, the evening recorded excellent results also for artworks by Pierre Soulages, who died just today, Yves Klein and Georg Baselitz, among others.
Looking at Sotheby's, the auction entitled "Modernitès" on 25 October made a total of 21,888,120 €. Also in this case the Italian artist Mario Schifano shone thanks to “Tempo Moderno”, a large canvas made in 1962 (180 x 181 cm), which was sold for 2,334,000 €, more than double the artwork transacted by Christie's mentioned above.
In conclusion there were sensational adjudications, but also unfinished transactions, such as the failure to purchase Rodin's "Age d’airain".
The art market, as always, manages to surprise: we all are waiting for the big sales at the end of the year.
Born in Genoa, Milanese by adoption, Elisabetta Roncati decided to combine her university education in economics and management with her passion for culture with a goal: bringing people closer to the art market in a clear, easily understandable and professional way. Interested in all forms of artistic and cultural expressions, contemporary and otherwise, she has two great passions: textile art and African art. As an art consultant, she firmly believes that culture has the power to transcend the boundaries of individual nations, creating a global community of art lovers. In 2018 he founded the registered trademark Art Nomade Milan that she uses to speak about art and culture on the main social media platforms.
This site uses anonymous technical cookies to ensure navigation and third-party cookies to monitor traffic and to offer additional services such as viewing videos or messaging systems. Without third-party cookies some pages may not work properly. Third-party cookies can track your activity and will only be installed by clicking on the "Accept all cookies" button. You can change your selection at any time by clicking on the "Cookie" link on each page at the bottom left. By clicking on one of the two buttons you declare that you have read the privacy policy and to accept the conditions.