One can’t assist but speculate number of nattily decent citizens sitting countless nights at International auction houses viz. Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips de Pury in coming next two weeks. A good percentage could be of serious bidders and others would be voyeurs eager to observe an implosion of $$$$ art market. It’s now being years that collectors and media have been waiting for the day when prices would finally top. But this time auction houses are hopeful that time will take a toll and things will play out well as they did three months ago in London, when, in spite of global economic nausea, a Francis Bacon triptych painting fetched $51.6 million.
Some highlights of the upcoming auctions:
Artist: Francis Bacon
Artwork: “Three Studies for Self-Portrait,’’ Triptych 1976
Auction House: Christie’s
Ballpark Figure: $25 million and $35 million
Artist: Jeff Koons
Artwork: “New Hoover convertibles, New Shelton Wet/Drys 5-Gallon, Double Deckerâ€
Auction House: Christie’s
Sales: Christie’s post-war and contemporary sales
Ballpark Figure: $10 million
Date: 13 May
Artist: Monet
Artwork: “Le Pont du Cheminde Fer Argenteuil,” 1873
Auction House: Christie’s
Ballpark Figure:$35 million
Date: 6 May
Artist: Edvard Munch
Artwork: “Girls on a Bridge,” a 1902 oil canvas painting
Auction House: Sothey’s New York Impressionist and Modern Art – Part I auction
Ballpark Figure: $28 million
Date: 7 May
Artist: Alberto Giacometti
Artwork: “Grande Femme Debout II,†1959-60
Auction House: Christie’s
Ballpark Figure: $18 million
Date: 13 May
Artist: Henri Matisse, French painter
Artwork: “Portrait au mateau bleu”
Auction House: Christie’s Spring Impressionist and Modern sales
Ballpark Figure: $17 million
Date: 6 May
Artist: Pierre Patel the Elder
Artwork: ‘A landscape at Evening with Travelers’ and a Hunter Near Classical Ruins’ painted around 1640
Auction House: Sotheby’s London
Ballpark Figure: $800,000-$1.2 million
Date: 9 July
Via NYT