Juicy global headlines are made when major works of art are sold at auction for record sums. And though the press and reading public are primarily fascinated with the money being exchanged (for its sheer shock value), the significance is more important. You see, the arresting sums paid by these competitive collectors actually reflect the value ascribed to art, the significance of select art-historical names and the overall health of the broader art economy.
It’s beguiling to think that while most artists will struggle from sale to sale, collectors have paid more for a single canvas or sculpture than the entire endowment of some of the world’s leading universities and museums. Yet, the answer as to why certain works sell for astronomical prices continues to elude common reasoning. The reality is that passions as well as more rational motives are often the driving force and the collectors who flock to auction houses often exist in a world quite apart from general trends or concerns.
As it stands today, the art market remains relatively cautious having been shaken by the global recession. Nevertheless, masterpiece auction prices have held firm, probably due to the fact that so few works are ever put on the block. Even so, from time to time an invaluable piece might be moved for reasons of necessity. One such example happened in May when Picasso’s 1932 ‘Nude, Green Leaves and Bust’ broke records, after being put on auction with the highest pre-sale estimate in history: “on request only” of 70 to 90 million USD, a clear indication that auction prices can soar well above global recessions.
151.2m USD – No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock
Sold in 2006
The handsome quintessential American abstract artist’s colourful 8x4 feet (244x122 cm) signature drip painting, which was sold by Hollywood entertainment magnate David Geffen, was one of Pollock’s largest works. Geffen was believed to have sold the powerful yellow and brown painting to fund a bid for the Los Angeles Times newspaper. The buyer’s identity remains unconfirmed but whoever they are, the painting, which previously hung in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, is one of the 20th century’s unquestionable masterpieces.
135.8m USD - Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustave Klimt
Sold in 2006
The charming lady, who Vienna’s most important artist painted in a gold gown against a gold background, was wearing an appropriate colour to underscore her significance in history. Super-collector Ronald Lauder bought the 1907 oil-and-gold-on-canvas portrait for New York’s Neue Galerie, where it is now on public view. The sitter, a wealthy industrialist’s wife, was the only model that Klimt painted twice. The second painting presents her against a floral Japanese screen and remains in a private collection - for now.
106.4m USD - Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Picasso
Sold in 2010
When the late Los Angeles philanthropist Frances Brody and her husband bought Picasso’s painting of his muse and mistress Marie-Therese in 1951, they paid 19,800 USD. The abstracted nude was considered merely decorative when first displayed in a New York gallery. But in May this year, the sensual oil painting shattered all previous auction records after only nine minutes on the block at Christies New York with its erotic allure and signature style.
104.3m USD – Walking Man I by Alberto Giacometti
Sold in 2010
The six-foot-tall (1.82m) bronze by early 20th century Swiss sculptor Giacometti, known for his radically elongated human forms, sold at Sotheby’s Auction House in a February sale in London to a still unidentified telephone bidder. The auction winner outbid ten eager competitors, as they pushed the price far past its 19-28m USD estimate. The result was three times the record price for a Giacometti. Some critics were surprised that a sculpture in an edition of six (with four artist’s proofs) would garner more than unique work from other mediums. Yet the extremely slender form of ‘Walking Man I’ embodies the aesthetic of modernism. Its iconic status alone would explain how it walked off with the world’s current auction record for a sculpture.
104.1m USD – Boy with a pipe (Young Apprentice) by Picasso
Sold in 2004
Picasso painted his portrait of a local boy holding a pipe, wearing a garland of flowers and seated against a floral background when he was only twenty-four years old. The work was first purchased for 30,000 USD 50 years after Picasso painted it in Montmartre, France. Picasso’s precocious talent was evident in the graceful masterpiece, which exemplified a tipping point in the master’s creative development - before he moved from his Rose Period to the legendary Blue Period.
82.5m USD – Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh
Sold in 1990
The Japanese businessman who purchased Van Gogh’s portrait of his last physician created an auction record that was unchallenged for over a decade. The emotional, expressionistic portrait of the kindly young doctor originally sold for 300 Francs in 1897 to Van Gogh’s sister-in-law. It was later exhibited in a museum in Frankfurt until it was smuggled from Germany during WWII. The work’s intimate and fortunate relationship to both the artist’s and Europe’s troubled histories contributed to its historic significance and unprecedented value.
44.9m USD – Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino by J.M.W. Turner
Sold in July, 2010
Joseph Mallord William Turner’s striking, fresh depiction of 19th century Rome shattered all pre-auction estimates and set a new record for the British artist’s work when sold by Southeby’s last month. Painted following Turner’s two visits to Rome in 1839, the piece brings together a number of different studies the artist completed when visiting the city. The price was driven up by fierce competition from a number of rival bidders spurred on by fact that work had only once appeared on the market, in 1878 when the 5th Earl of Rosebury purchased it for his private collection.
