Led by record-breaking Magritte, Ruscha and Basquiat masterpieces, Christie’s NY 20th/21st Century Art week achieves $689 million

Christie’s fall Marquee Week in New York — part of a four-city series offering a global journey through exceptional art — ran from 19-22 November with a final total of $689 million across eight 20th and 21st Century Art sales.

In total, sales were 87 per cent sold by lot, 92 per cent sold by value, and 123 per cent sold hammer and premium against low estimate. Headlining was MICA: THE COLLECTION OF MICA ERTEGUN, which sold 100 per cent by lot and 100 per cent by value for both Part I and Part II and was led by René Magritte’s seminal L’empire des lumières (1954) which sold for a record-breaking $121.2 million — the highest price paid for a work of art at auction globally in 2024 — and established a new benchmark for the Surrealist movement.

Throughout the course of the week, a staggering 18 records were set. In addition to the top lot Magritte, additional artist records were set by Ed Ruscha, Roni Horn, Sarah Sze, Ana Mendieta, Susan Rothenberg, Firelei Báez, Hilary Pecis, Sasha Gordon, Amédée Ozenfant, Denzil Forrester, Christian Schad and William Eggleston. Keith Haring set a record for a sculpture by the artist. Records for works on paper were achieved for works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as a stunning gouache by Magritte.

Welcoming more than two million viewers across Christie’s global platforms throughout the week, the auctions attracted excitement and competitive bidding from clients around the world — in the saleroom at Rockefeller Center, on the telephone and via Christie’s LIVE.

Bonnie Brennan, President, Christie’s Americas, remarked, ‘This season we are so proud to have achieved exceptional results throughout our New York marquee week of sales — with two extraordinary nights of evening sales and very strong day sales, demonstrating the appetite for objects of high quality across price bands. We were delighted by the amount of participation coming from collectors in the room, on the phones and online. The week’s success sends a clear signal that the market for artworks of great caliber and provenance is strong across mediums and eras.’

MICA: THE COLLECTION OF MICA ERTEGUN Part I

With auctioneer Adrien Meyer, Global Head of Private Sales and Co-Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art, leading a standing-room-only saleroom, MICA: THE COLLECTION OF MICA ERTEGUN Part I achieved $183,915,000, selling 100 per cent by lot, 100 per cent by value, and 132 per cent hammer and premium against low estimate. The grouping of 19 remarkable works of art come from the world-class collection of the designer, philanthropist and collector Mica Ertegun, who epitomised style and sophistication for a generation and beyond.

The pinnacle of Mica Ertegun’s collection, L’empire des lumières by Magritte, sold to applause when it set a record for both the artist and a Surrealist work of art, garnering $121,160,000 after a nearly 10-minute bidding war. Magritte explored nocturnal landscapes bathed in daylight across 17 unique paintings throughout his career. The 1954 example from Mrs. Ertegun’s collection reflects the artist’s technical mastery and penchant for making the familiar uncanny. It is considered Magritte’s finest work from the series and the first time he introduced a body of water into the mysterious street scene.

Another top performer in Mrs. Ertegun’s collection was David Hockney, whose Still Life on a Glass Table (1971) sold for $19,040,000 and Three Chairs with a Section of a Picasso Mural (1970) sold for $9,035,000. Within the artist’s most poignant paintings produced after the end of his romance with Peter Schlesinger, Still Life on a Glass Table is a radiant tribute to the beauty, pain and fragility of love. Its nine objects — many associated with Schlesinger — are rendered with crystalline intimacy, producing a dynamic work well deserving of its inclusion in major retrospectives, including at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1988) and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2017).

Mrs. Ertegun was amongst the first to collect Surrealism in depth, as her legendary works by Magritte and Joan Miró attest. Earlier in the evening, Magritte’s La Mémoire (1945) and La cour d’amour (1960) sold for $3,680,000 and $10,530,000 respectively, while Peinture (Amour) (1925) by Miró fetched $4,890,000.

The packed James Christie room was electric, and full of activity: La Source: Femme au broc (1927) set a new world record for the French painter Amédée Ozenfant, selling for $1,008,000, while high estimates were shattered, including Jean Helion’s Bande Verte and Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure in bronze.

A significant portion of the seller’s sale proceeds is intended to benefit philanthropic initiatives. During her lifetime, Mrs. Ertegun was a generous supporter of The Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities at Oxford University, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the World Monument Fund and other important cultural initiatives.

20th Century Evening Sale

Auctioneers David Kleiweg de Zwaan, Senior Specialist, Impressionist and Modern Art, and Meyer, led the 20th Century Evening Sale, which achieved $302,007,600, selling 77 per cent by lot, 88 per cent by value, and 114 per cent hammer and premium against low estimate.

Ed Ruscha’s Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half  (1964) was the top lot of the 20th Century Evening Sale and achieved the second-highest price of the evening: it sold for $68,260,000, a new auction record for the artist, after an animated five-minute bidding war. The large-scale masterpiece starred this year in the artist’s touring retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

The auction opened with a rare edition of Marcel Duchamp’s In Advance of a Broken Arm (1964), which sold for $3,075,000. The boundary-breaking readymade hails from the collection of the family of conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth.

Femme qui marche (II), one of Alberto Giacometti’s earliest explorations of the standing female nude, fetched $26,630,000. Unlike the artist’s later representations, whose vigorously modelled surfaces pulsate with energy, Femme qui marche (II) exudes a calm and graceful monumentality. The work was originally cast at Giacometti’s request for his family doctor and has subsequently resided in the same family collection for more than 40 years.

Selling for $17,085,000 and $9,380,000 respectively, two 1955 paintings by Joan Mitchell were amongst the sale’s philanthropic offerings. The ‘Rockefeller Mitchells’ hail from The Rockefeller University collection and their sale will help fund the New York institution’s scientific research and mission. Another standout was Willem de Kooning’s 1982 Untitled, which sold for $13,290,000, exceeding its high estimate.

Complementing the record-setting L’empire des lumières was a 1956 gouache on paper from the same series, which achieved $18,810,000, more than double the record for a work on paper by the artist, following five minutes of intense bidding. It was part of a strong showing for works on paper that also included Roy Lichtenstein’s George Washington (1962), which also set a record for the medium for the artist, achieving $7,068,000. Additionally, Picasso’s work on paper Femme et jeune garçon nus (1969) smashed its high estimate, selling for $2,712,000.

Christian Schad’s (1894-1982) oil painting Anna Gabbioneta more than doubled the artist’s existing auction record, realising $3,196,000 and more than tripling its high estimate. Susan Rothenberg’s United States II also achieved a new auction record for the artist, fetching $1,986,000.

MICA: THE COLLECTION OF MICA ERTEGUN Part II

Christie’s marquee week continued on 20 November with three day sales, starting with MICA: THE COLLECTION OF MICA ERTEGUN Part II, which totalled $5,015,430, selling 100 per cent by lot and 100 per cent by value, and 146 per cent hammer and premium against low estimate. The sale’s top lot, Pablo Picasso’s work on paper Trois personnages debout (1969), sold for $567,000, while his Corrida (1957) more than tripled its low estimate, selling for $516,600, and a sculpture by Jean Dubuffet went for $504,000. This brings the total for MICA: THE COLLECTION OF MICA ERTEGUN to $188,930,430 and counting. The collection continues with Mica Ertegun’s jewellery in Magnificent Jewels on 10 December followed by her Decorative Art on 13 December and Online Sales in New York and Paris from 4 December to 17 and 18 December respectively.

Impressionist and Modern Day Sales

The Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper sale followed, totalling $7,384,230 and selling 90 per cent by lot and 89 per cent by value, and 141 per cent hammer and premium against low estimate. Marc Chagall’s Ecuyère au bouquet sur un cheval (c. 1955) fetched the sale’s highest price when it sold for $1,008,000. The multimedia painting on paper offers a romantic vision of a nude equestrienne that reflects Chagall’s lifelong fascination with circus performers as well as the artist’s experiments in different media during the 1950s. Edgar Degas’ pastel Danseuse tirant son maillot (La Précaution) (1882-1885) fetched the second highest price, selling for $478,800.

That afternoon, the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale achieved $18,353,880 and selling 76 per cent by lot and 79 per cent by value, and 103 per cent hammer and premium against low estimate. Auguste Rodin’s bronze Baiser, grand modèle brought in Wednesday’s highest price, selling for $3,438,000. The pair of embracing lovers is one of Rodin’s most important and iconic sculptures. The marble version was commissioned by the French state in 1888 and now resides at the Musée Rodin, Paris. Other standouts included Chagall’s Fin de journée ou Le cheval rouge (1945) and Henri Le Sidaner’s La table sur la cour (1926), which both surpassed $1 million. Alexej von Jawlensky's Mystischer Kopf: Blauer Mund (1917), sold for $945,000, and demand remained high for the Surrealist Leonora Carrington, whose enigmatic She Walks (1975) garnered $819,000, more than double the low estimate.

21st Century Evening Sale

Led by auctioneer Georgina Hilton, Thursday’s 21st Century Evening Sale on 21 November brought together globally celebrated artists alongside emerging talent of today.

The auction totalled $106,527,200, selling 100 per cent by lot, 100 by value and 142 per cent hammer and premium against low estimate, setting a staggering 11 records throughout the night, many of them by women artists and artists of colour. The sale saw great performances across works from a wide range of artists and genres, including sculpture, works on paper and photographs.

The most notable record-breaker was Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled, which achieved the highest price of the night when it sold for $22,950,000. Won in the room after a bidding match with the phones, it set a world record for a work on paper by the artist. Measuring over 60 inches, it represents the largest head of a figure done by Basquiat and was completed in 1982.

Alongside the Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois also set a record for a work on paper, and Keith Haring set a record for a sculpture by the artist. Sasha Gordon, Denzil Forrester, Ana Mendieta, Roni Horn, Hilary Pecis, Sarah Sze, William Eggleston and Firelei Báez each set new artist records. Lot 1 by the latter achieved $567,000, setting a record for the Dominican-born New York-based artist who interweaves imagery from a wide range of African diasporic histories and was recently the subject of a major solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

David Hockney’s Four Empty Vases (1996) achieved the night’s second highest price at $8,575,000. Hockney’s expressive style is expertly rendered in this work, hinting at the exciting new directions the artist would explore in subsequent years.

Large Vase of Flowers, a 1991 polychromed wood sculpture by Jeff Koons, commanded $8,230,000. Consisting of 140 exquisitely carved flowers, the work has been held in the same private collection for more than 30 years.

It was a fantastic evening for women artists, anchored by Yayoi Kusama’s monumental Pumpkin (2022), which fetched $6,826,000, and Cecily Brown’s The Butcher and the Policeman (2013), which sold for $5,979,000. Kusama’s iconic pumpkins are associated with the artist’s childhood growing up surrounded by fields of the squash at her family’s home in Japan. Brown’s painting exemplifies the fusion of abstraction and figuration for which the artist has become lauded. Her mid-career retrospective is now on view at the Dallas Museum and will travel to the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia next year.

Louise Bourgeois’ Les Fleurs (2009) set a record price for a work on paper by the artist, selling for $2,591,000. In addition, paintings by Sasha Gordon, Hilary Pecis and Sarah Sze and sculptures by Ana Mendieta and Roni Horn set artist records. Horn’s solid cast glass work Untitled ("The yes without the no.") (2009-2010) commanded $1,804,500, while Mendieta’s carved silhouette in wood, Untitled (1985), sold for $756,000.

Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale

The week’s final live sale, the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale, on Friday 22 November achieved $64.2 million and was 86 per cent sold by value, 83 per cent sold by lot, and 120 per cent sold hammer and premium against low estimate. Andy Warhol’s Flowers (1964) was the sale’s top lot, selling for $2,470,000. The painting is a particularly vibrant and engaging example from the artist’s iconic series, encapsulating his energetic shift from Pop to abstraction.

Following close behind the Warhol were Thomas Hart Benton’s Current River, Missouri Ozarks (1961) and David Hockney’s Green Pool with Diving Board and Shadow (Paper Pool 3) (1978), which went for $2,349,000 and $2,228,000 respectively. Two intimate-scale objects from Alexander Calder excelled, both soaring past their estimates: A standing mobile from circa 1947 achieved $1,071,000, while his sinuous silver wire Bracelet went for $88,200.

The day saw lively bidding for many contemporary artists. A 2018 painting by Salman Toor more than tripled its low estimate when it sold for $642,600. Empath (2021) by Sasha Gordon, who made her debut at auction in Thursday’s 21st Century Evening Sale, nearly quadrupled its low estimate when it sold for $119,700. Following a run of successful gallery shows in London by the artist, Joseph Yaeger’s enigmatic painting The he spies on the I (2020) achieved $176,400, also more than four times its low estimate.

Picasso Ceramics Online

Closing on 22 November, the Picasso Ceramics online sale totalled $1.7 million, selling 100 per cent by lot, 100 per cent by value and 254 per cent sold hammer and premium against low estimate. The top lot of the sale was Pablo Picasso’s Profil de Jacqueline, which nearly doubled its low estimate, selling for $277,200.