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Christie’s Art Auction Expected to Yield $440 Million
A contemporary art sale held by auction house Christie’s is anticipated to raise more than $440 million when it takes place in New York this week.
Last Spring Christie’s scored a landmark postwar sales total of $386 million - including $87 million for a Rothko painting – but the upcoming auction is expected to top even that impressive figure.
The 74-lot evening sale will feature some hugely sought-after pieces, including an Andy Warhol “Statue of Liberty” canvas estimated to fetch around $35 million, Jeff Koons’s balloon-tulips (est. $25 million), plus six Alexander Calders, four Gerhard Richters, and three Franz Klines.
Present at the event as sellers will also be several high-profile collectors, including TV producer Douglas S. Cramer who will be selling works by Ellsworth Kelly and Jasper Johns, and hedge-funder Steven A. Cohen who will be offering a 1983 Richter abstraction, “Prag 1883.”
One of the world’s biggest and most prestigious auction houses, Christie’s has already reaped $928 million from its sale of contemporary art so far this year.
The auction will take place on November 14-15.