The mad dance of billions for works of art – This year’s auctions will break all records

The record set five years ago still stands today. Christie’s auction house auctioned for $450.3 million on November 15, 2017 the work “Salvator Mundi”, “Christ the Redeemer”, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).

No one has ever paid more for a work of art at auction. Cheers, applause and great surprise was recorded that day at the auction in New York. Auctioneer Jussi Pilkanen tried to reassure the onlookers, eventually getting a bit confused by the numbers and finally, in an almost broken voice, chanted “thank you all for your bids”. Now if the very expensive trophy was really painted by Leonardo da Vinci, there are different opinions about it.

The expensive project disappeared

The painting, which was reportedly bought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not been seen since and no other artwork has managed to break the record. Next came in the spring by the American artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) and was a portrait of the actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), which brought in about $195 million in New York and took second place after “Christ Redeemer”.

Now in New York the record may be broken because next week the autumn auctions will start again. Sotheby’s is talking about the “greatest season the art market has ever seen”. However, this refers more to the overall volume because in reality no project is predicted to break the record of “Christ the Redeemer” and “Blue Marilyn”.

The Paul Allen Collection Auction

It could still make a good turnover, for example with Warhol’s 1963 work “White Catastrophe”, estimated at $80 million. Even the “Composition No. II” by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) from 1930 is estimated at more than $50 million. Rival auction house Christie’s is offering “Untitled III” by Dutch artist Willem de Koonig (1904-1997), which could fetch up to $35 million. A sculpture by the American artist Jeff Koons is estimated at around 15 to 20 million dollars.

Christie’s has already moved on, however. Just before the start of the traditional autumn auctions, last week he went ahead with the auction of the large collection of works of art of the deceased in 2018 Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The collection contained real masterpieces by artists such as Paul Cézanne and Gustav Klimt. The proceeds, which in accordance with Allen’s wishes will be given mainly to charity, amounted to about 1.6 billion dollars.

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