Table of contents:
- Reclining Nude by Amedeo Modigliani
- The Pointing Man, Alberto Giacometti
- Algerian Women (Version O), Pablo Picasso
- "Nurse" by Roy Lichtenstein
- No. 10, Mark Rothko
- Untitled (New York) Cy Twombly
- Cabaret Singer, Pablo Picasso
- "Bust of a Woman (Woman in a Hairnet)" by Pablo Picasso
- "The social caretaker sleeps" by Lucian Freud
- Alyscamp Alley, Vincent Van Gogh
Video: 10 most expensive masterpieces of art sold at auctions in 2015
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The season of major sales has already ended, but the auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s will sum up the results only at the beginning of 2016. Nevertheless, even today we can talk about the works of art that turned out to be the most expensive in the past year.
Reclining Nude by Amedeo Modigliani
$170 405 000 For the auction of The Artist's Muse at Christie’s, curators have collected works by artists from the late 19th century to the early 21st, depicting women who inspired them. The record holder was the painting of the Italian Amedeo Modigliani. Bidding for the painting lasted only nine minutes, the work was acquired by a collector from China. He paid $ 170.4 million, making the painting the second most expensive work in the world to be sold at public auction.
The Pointing Man, Alberto Giacometti
$141 285 000
Italian Alberto Giacometti is known for experimenting with form: to achieve drama from his sculptural portraits, he made human figures extremely thin and elongated. Created in 1947, "The Pointing Man" is executed in the signature style of Giacometti. After being sold on May 11 at Christie's in New York, it is the most expensive sculpture in the world. The previous record was also held by Giacometti and his Walking Man, which was sold in 2010 at Sotheby’s for over $ 104 million.
Algerian Women (Version O), Pablo Picasso
$179 365 000
At the Looking Forward To The Past auction, which Christie’s held in New York on May 11, Pablo Picasso's Algerian Women (Version O) set a new world record. With a score of more than $ 179 million, the painting broke the previous record set in 2013 by Francis Bacon's Three Sketches for Lucien Freud. Written in 1955, Version O is the latest and most famous of the Algerian Women series. It was put up for auction for the second time.
"Nurse" by Roy Lichtenstein
$95 365 000
"Nurse" American Roy Lichtenstein, exhibited on November 9 in New York at auction The Artist's Muse at Christie’s, became the most expensive piece sold over the past year in the segment "Post-war art". Liechtenstein came to the pop art style in the 1960s, after experimenting with Cubism and Abstract Expressionism. The Nurse, executed in the artist's recognizable comic-inspired style, was written in 1964, during Liechtenstein's most prolific period.
No. 10, Mark Rothko
$81 925 000
Canvas No. 10 one of the founders of abstract expressionism, Mark Rothko, painted in 1958 - at a time when he brought his painting style to almost perfection. The two-color painting went under the hammer for $ 81.9 million, not exceeding the artist's record - $ 86.9 million, set in 2012 by the canvas "Orange, Red, Yellow".
Untitled (New York) Cy Twombly
$70 530 000
Painted by the American abstract painter and sculptor Sai Twombly in 1968, the painting is part of his famous blackboard series. To create this, the artist used regular chalk. The painting was sold at the Sotheby’s auction on November 11 in New York, and became the most expensive work of the evening, and at the same time set a price record for the artist's works.
Cabaret Singer, Pablo Picasso
$67 450 000 "Cabaret Singer" is a portrait of a nude woman, painted in 1901 by 19-year-old Picasso and belonging to the artist's "blue period". The work was sold on November 5 at the Sotheby's auction in New York with a slight excess of the price of $ 60 million, which the auction house planned to bail out for the canvas.
"Bust of a Woman (Woman in a Hairnet)" by Pablo Picasso
$67 365 000
This cubist portrait of a woman was painted by Picasso in 1938 - when the artist's relationship with the photographer Dora Maar was just beginning. Bust of a Woman (Woman in a Hairnet) is one of Picasso's most famous portraits of Maar. The Christie’s house, which put the painting up for auction on May 11 in New York, hoped to sell it for at least $ 55 million - and gained more than 10 million more.
"The social caretaker sleeps" by Lucian Freud
$56 165 000 The canvas "The social caretaker is sleeping" by Lucian Freud on May 13 at the Christie's auction in New York went under the hammer with a slight excess of the upper estimate ($ 30-50 million). The painting, which is one of a series of four portraits of Sue Tilly, set a price record for the artist's works.
Alyscamp Alley, Vincent Van Gogh
$66 330 000
Vincent Van Gogh painted the landscape "Allee Aliscamps" in 1888 - just at the time when the artist moved to Arles. Bright colors appeared in his palette, and his main masterpieces were born from under the brush. On May 5, at the Sotheby’s auction in New York, the canvas appeared at the auction for the first time in more than ten years.
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