CHRISTIE’S. Londra, 14 febbraio 2012
La Evening Sale di Post-War & Contemporary Art da Christie’s ha totalizzato £80,576,100 ($126,504,477/€96,127,287 – 95% by value e 89% by lot). Il secondo totale più alto per questa categoria da Christie’s a Londra. Il top lot della vendita è stato “Portrait of Henrietta Moraes” di Francis Bacon che è stato venduto a £21.3 milioni.
Aggiungendo i totali delle opere di arte contemporanea offerte nella vendita “Living With Art: A Private European Collection” del 9/10 febbraio il totale sale a £96.6 milioni.
Francis Outred, Christie’s Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe: “I am thrilled with the outstanding results of our evening auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art, the second highest total in these rooms for the category, only surpassed by the June 2008 auction at the height of the market (£ 86.2 million). Following the exceptional success of the Henry Moore last week, the best of British was completed by the Francis Bacon, ‘Portrait of Henrietta Moraes’ which achieved over 20million pounds. Having had only two owners in its near 50 year history, the work had not been on the open market before and had not been seen in public for almost twenty years. As a result it created a fierce battle of 6 telephone bidders to achieve its over-estimate price. During the week of the opening of the extraordinary Lucian Freud exhibition at the National Portrait gallery, the ‘Boat, Connemara’ drawing, a complete discovery, went well beyond the estimate to achieve £657,250. In an Olympics year with so much profile on British art, Christie’s is proud to have set these results as a message to the world of the strength and popularity of British art”.
| Lot | Description | Estimate (£) | Purchase Price | Buyer |
| 12 | Francis Bacon (1909-1992),Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, 1963 | Estimate On Request | £21,321,250$33,474,363 €25,436,251 | Anonymous |
| 25 | Gerhard Richter (b. 1932),Abstraktes Bild, 1994 | 5,000,000 – 7,000,000 | £9,897,250$15,538,683 €11,807,419 | Anonymous |
| 32 | Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955),Agrigente, 1953 | 3,500,000 – 5,000,000 | £5,305,250$8,329,243 €6,329,163 | Anonymous |
| 5 | Christopher Wool (b. 1955),Untitled, 1990 WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR THE ARTIST AT AUCTION | 2,500,000 – 3,500,000 | £4,913,250$7,713,803 €5,861,507 | Anonymous |
| 17 | Piero Manzoni (1933-1963),Achrome, 1958-1959 | 1,800,000 – 2,500,000 | £2,729,250$4,284,923 €3,255,995 | Anonymous |
| 15 | Lucio Fontana (1899-1968),Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1967 | 900,000 – 1,200,000 | £2,057,250$3,229,883 €2,454,299 | Anonymous |
| 18 | Lucio Fontana (1899-1968),Concetto spaziale, Forma, 1958 | 1,500,000 – 2,000,000 | £1,889,250$2,966,123 €2,253,875 | Anonymous |
| 13 | Yves Klein (1928-1962),ANT 40, circa 1961 | 1,200,000 – 1,800,000 | £1,777,250$2,790,283 €2,120,259 | Anonymous |
| 33 | Francis Bacon (1909-1992),Studies of Isabel Rawsthorne, 1983 | 1,800,000 – 2,500,000 | £1,721,250$2,702,363 €2,053,451 | Anonymous |
| 49 | Piero Manzoni (1933-1963),Achrome, circa 1959 | 1,800,000 – 2,500,000 | £1,721,250$2,702,363 €2,053,451 | Anonymous |
