Thinking Big, a special auction of major contemporary sculpture and installation offered from the Saatchi Gallery, took place this evening at Christie’s and realized £3,086,350 / $4,935,074 / €3,635,720. A unique auction concept, this sale offered 50 works with no reserves and no estimates. Proceeds from the auction will support the Saatchi Gallery’s continuing policy for free entry to all exhibitions and free education programme for schools.
To accommodate the monumental scale and scope of the work, Thinking Big is on public view at The Sorting Office on New Oxford Street, a vast former postal depot in central London. The public exhibition continues until Sunday 20 October.
The top price of the auction was paid for To Meet My Past, a four poster bed by Tracey Emin, which sold for £481,875 / $770,518 / €567,649 – a world record price for the artist at auction. The sale represented artists from around the globe and attracted bidding and buying from 5 continents, including both private collectors and institutions. In total, 23 artist records were established representing 46% of the auction, and the top 3 prices were paid for works by female artists (Tracey Emin, Rebecca Warren and Berlinde de Bruyckere). Creating this new platform has lifted many artists and their markets to a more global forum.