Seven Records Broken at 20th and 21st Century Art Auctions in Christie’s London Branch

The most lucrative work of the season at auction was La reconnaissance infinie by René Magritte, which during the Art of the Surreal Evening Sale brought in £10,315,000. At the same event, a trio of rare works by Paul Delvaux from a private collection, which appeared at auction for the first time in 30 years, was also wildly successful. After an exciting period of bidding, it finally sold for £12,910,000.

The 20th/21st century evening art auction was led by Michael Andrews, whose painting School IV: Barracuda under Skipjack Tuna, in a new auction record for this artist, sold for £6,060,000, i.e. one million more than the pre-auction estimate. Pieces by Tamara de Lempicka, Amedeo Modigliani, and Francis Bacon all went for over £6,000,000.

Seven auction records fell during two auction evenings. In all, 94% of all auctioned lots were sold and the sales price of 43% of the works surpassed the highest estimates.