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  • Press release
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  • New York
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  • For immediate release
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  • 15 November 2017

RESULTS: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale - November 15, 2017

TOTAL: $785,942,250 / £597,220,555 / €664,706,477

Lots Offered: 58                Sold by Lot: 84%

Lots Sold: 49                 Sold by Value: 94%

Auctioneer and Global President Jussi Pylkkänen selling Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi realizing $450,312,500

The top lots of the sale were Leonardo da Vinci’s, Salvator Mundi, which realized $450,312,500 breaking the world auction record for any work sold at auction and Andy Warhol’s Sixty Last Suppers, which sold for $60,875,000.

*14 World Auction Records for Adam Pendelton, Philippe Parreno, Kerry James Marshall, Vija Celmins, Lee Krasner, Hans Hofmann, William Baziotes, Isamu Noguchi and more

*Second highest total ever for a various owner Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Christie’s

Major collections achieved strong results and exceeded pre-sale estimates

The Collection of Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass continued with a strong running total of $161,149,750 exceeding the collection estimate of $120 million. The collection will continue to be offered in the day sales tomorrow.

The Defining Gesture: Modern Masters from the Eppler Family Collection achieved a running total of $71,381,000. The collection was led by Franz Kline’s monumental Light Mechanic, which realized $20,000,000. The collection will continue tomorrow in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sales.

Please find the top ten, artist records, and price lists attached.  For further sale insights from Christie's CEO Guillaume Cerutti, Head of Department, New York, Sara Friedlander and Co-Chairmen Loic Gouzer and Alex Rotter, please visit the Facebook Live stream of our Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale and post-sale Press Conference. 

For images please visit our dropbox for Leonardo da Vinci Press Kit please visit this link

Quote from Loic Gouzer, Co-Chairman Post-War and Contemporary Art: We toured Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi around the world, and at every stop crowds of people were drawn to this painting, wanting to stand in front of the picture and experience it in person. Salvator Mundi evokes joy, ecstasy, anger, awe -- it just touches every emotion. Even for me, it is very difficult to pinpoint what it is that makes this painting so poignant, you cannot comprehend the mystery of Leonardo. That is the magic of his work.  Bidders from all around the world recognized this elusive and mesmerizing quality, and competed passionately to acquire this work in what was surely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Below please find a link to download the HD broadcast quality video of lot 9 Da Vinci for Press.  This is unedited footage of the full bidding.

Link: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/Z5KGC3diD1

YouTube Video: The World is Watching

For more details:  Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi makes auction history

For further information on Christie’s 20th Century Week please visit our website

Running total for Christie’s 20th Century Week thus far: $1,317,946,875

About Christie’s

Founded in 1766, Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business. Renowned and trusted for its expert live and online auctions, as well as its bespoke private sales, Christie’s offers a full portfolio of global services to its clients, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education. Christie’s has a physical presence in 46 countries, throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, with flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva. It also is the only international auction house authorized to hold sales in mainland China (Shanghai).

Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from $200 to over $100 million. Christie’s has sold 8 of the 10 most important single-owner collections in history, including the Paul G. Allen Collection—the most valuable collection ever offered at auction (November 2022). In recent years, Christie’s has achieved the world record price for an artwork at auction (Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, 2017), for a 20th century artwork (Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, 2022) and for a work by a living artist (Jeff Koons’ Rabbit, 2019). 

Christie’s Private Sales offers a seamless service for buying and selling art, jewellery and watches outside of the auction calendar, working exclusively with Christie’s specialists at a client’s individual pace.

Recent innovations at Christie’s include the groundbreaking sale of the first NFT for a digital work of art ever offered at a major auction house (Beeple’s Everydays, March 2021), with the unprecedented acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of payment. As an industry leader in digital innovation, Christie’s also continues to pioneer new technologies that are redefining the business of art, including use of hologram technology to tour life-size 3D objects around the world, and the creation of viewing and bidding experiences that integrate augmented reality, global livestreaming, buy-now channels, and hybrid sales formats. 

Christie’s is dedicated to advancing responsible culture throughout its business and communities worldwide, including achieving sustainability by reducing our carbon emissions by 50% and pledging to be net zero by 2030, and actively using its platform in the art world to amplify under-represented voices and support positive change.

Browse, bid, discover, and join us for the best of art and luxury at: www.christies.com or by downloading Christie’s apps. The COVID-related re-opening status of our global locations is available here.

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