Art Market Review · year 2018

Art auctions 2018 Review: from the $157 million Modigliani to the first work of art created using artificial intelligence to come to auction, we present our personal review of the 2018 Art Auctions season, its superstars, successes, bargains and disappointments.

by G. Fernández – theartwolf.com

The Superstars of the Year

Amedeo Modigliani: Nu Couché (sur le côté gauche)
Painted in 1917
Sold for $157.2 million at Sotheby’s New York, May 2018
By far the most expensive painting sold this year, its sale was, paradoxically, a bit of a disappointment, as many expected the work to surpass the previous record for Modigliani ($170 million).

Pablo Picasso: Fillette a la corbeille fleurie
Painted in 1905
Sold for $115 million at Christie’s New York, May 2018
The main star among the many stars of the historic “Rockefeller Auction” at Christie’s. A new record for a Blue-period Picasso.

Edward Hopper: Chop Suey
Painted in 1929
Sold for $91.9 million at Christie’s New York, November 2018
One of Hopper’s most famous compositions, considered by many to be the most important work by the artist still in private hands. That’s debatable, but anyways this is a highly important work.

David Hockney: Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)
Painted in 1972
Sold for $90.3 million at Christie’s New York, November 2018
The final price set a new world auction record for a living artist.

Kazimir Malevich: Suprematist Composition
Painted in 1918
Sold for $85.8 million at Christie’s New York, May 2018
A highly important suprematist work, that had been sold in 2008 for $60 million to the Nahmad family. The almost $86 million set a world auction record for a Russian work of art.

Claude Monet: Nympheas en fleur
Painted in 1914-17
Sold for $84.7 million at Christie’s New York, May 2018
Another important work sold at the Rockefeller sale (like the Picasso mentioned above)

Henri Matisse: Odalisque couchée aux magnolias
Painted in 1923
Sold for $80.75 million at Christie’s New York, May 2018
One more from the Rockefeller sale. This work set a new auction record for the artist.

Constantin Brancusi: La jeune fille sophistiquée (Portrait of Nancy Cunard)
Conceived 1928
Sold for $71 million at Christie’s New York, May 2018
This highly important sculpture came to auction from the Collection of Elizabeth Stafford, who acquired it directly from Brancusi in 1955.

The Successes

Obvious collective (signed 𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝑮 𝒎𝒂𝒙 𝑫 𝔼𝒙 [𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑫 (𝒙))] + 𝔼𝒛 [𝒍𝒐𝒈(𝟏 − 𝑫(𝑮(𝒛)))]): “Portrait of Edmond de Belamy, from La Famille de Belamy“
“Painted” (sort of) in 2018
Sold for $432,500 at Christie’s new York, October 2018
Pre-sale estimate of $7,000 to $10,000
The first-ever work original work of art created using artificial intelligence to come to auction.

Armand Sequin: “Les delices de la vie“
Painted in 1903
Sold for $7,737,500 at Christie’s New York, May 2018
Pre-sale estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000
Coming from the Rockefeller collection, the colorful work set a new world auction record for the artist.

The Bargains

Camille Pissarro: Le Boulevard Montmartre, brume du matin
Painted in 1897
Sold for GBP 3,490,000 / $4,445,000 at Sotheby’s London, June 2018
This is, simply put, a sensational Impressionist painting, from the same series (and same year) than the painting sold at Sotheby’s for almost GBP 20 million in 2014

Willem de Kooning: Event in a barn
Painted in 1947
Unsold at Christie’s New York, November 2018 (pre-sale estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000)
A marvelous early abstraction by De Kooning. Colorful, organic and fascinating, it is far better than most of his late abstractions, which usually sell for 8 digits when they come to auction.

Attributed to Albrecht Dürer: Portrait of a man against a green background
Painted in 1947
Sold for GBP 1,150,000 / $1,465,000 at Sotheby’s London, July 2018
The attribution to Dürer is -as you can guess- contested by some critics, but it does not seem implausible. Also, it should be noted that there is no painting by Dürer in private hands (except for “Virgin and Child before an Archway” from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation, but there is highly improbable that that painting will ever come to the market)

Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez and Pietro Matire Neri: “Portrait of Monsignor Cristoforo Segni, Maggiordomo to Pope Innocent X”, and Titian and workshop: “Saint Margaret”
Painted c.1650 (Velázquez) and in the 1560s (Titian)
Sold for $4,066,0000 and $2,175,000 at Sotheby’s New York, February 2018
It is unusual to find two bargains at the same auction, but that was the case for Sotheby’s auction of old masters in New York. The portrait of the Maggiordomo of Pope Innocent X is an unusual collaboration between Velázquez and Neri, while “Saint Margaret”, albeit with evident intervention of the workshop, still shows Titian’s bravura. Two important old masters paintings that could have been bought for less than $10 million.

The Disappointments

Vincent van Gogh: ‘Coin de jardin avec papillons’
Painted in 1887
Unsold at Christie’s New York, November 2018
Pre-sale estimate in the region of $40 million
Christie’s had high hopes for this painting, defining it as “the moment the artist crossed the divide into contemporary art”. However, it seems that collectors are more attracted to later Van Goghs (1889 and 1890), and the painting was not sold.

Marsden Hartley: ‘Pre-War Pageant‘
Painted in 1913
Unsold at Sotheby’s New York, November 2018
Pre-sale estimate in the region of $30 million
Albeit is is an important work, the estimate was probably a bit too optimistic.