The helpful folks at Sotheby’s sent along these interesting facts about tonight’s sale:
UNCONFIRMED SALE TOTAL: £75,778,500
Within the Pre-Sale Estimate: £65.6/93.9 million
Participation from 38 countries, among the broadest participation in a London Contemporary Sale
More than 1-in-10 registered bidders came from new markets
Francis Bacon
Three Studies of Isabel Rawsthorne, 1966, £11,282,500
Head III, £10,442,500, in excess of the high estimate (est. £5/7m)
- Included in the artist’s first commercial show in 1949 where it was sold for £150
- Sought after by at least six bidders
Lucio Fontana
Le Chiese di Venezia, £4,450,500
- Among the top five prices ever paid for a work by the artist at auction
- Highest price ever paid for a work from the artist’s Venezia series
Pierre Soulages
Peinture, 21 novembre 1959, £4,338,500, above high estimate (£2/3m)
- Record for the artist at auction
- Record for any living French artist at auction
David Hockney
Double East Yorkshire, 1998, £3,442,500, over the high estimate (£2/3 million)
- A Small Sunbather, 1967 sold for £1,154,500, double the high estimate £300/500,000
Bridget Riley
Stretch, 1964, sold for £1,594,500 (est. £1/1.5 million)
Andreas Gursky
- Stock Exchanges – Totaled £5.5 million (est, £2.5/3.4m)
Chicago Board of Trade III, £2,154,500, more than double the high estimate (£600/800,000)
- Three times the previous auction record for a Stock Exchange photograph
- Sought after by at least 8 bidders
Sigmar Polke
- Four works by the artist brought £2,614,000
Nackte, 1988, £1,538,500, double the price achieved for the work in 2007 (£748,000
Thomas Struth
Pantheon, Rome, £818,500 (est. £400/600,000)
- More than five times the price achieved for the work in 2000
Hurvin Anderson
Beach Scene, £302,500, double the high estimate (£100/150,000)
