Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi realizes a staggering $450 million!
After a 19-minute bidding battle at Christie’s New York, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi — the last known painting by the Italian master that was still in private hands — sold for more than twice as much as Pablo Picasso’s Femmes d’Alger (version O) which was, until yesterday, the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction, having fetched $179.4 million in 2015, also at Christie’s New York.
Having sold for a staggering $450.3 million, Da Vinci’s painting is also the most expensive artwork ever sold, smashing the record held by the private sale of Paul Gauguin’s When Will You Marry? ($300 million). The painting, which was estimated at $100 million, sold for a measly £45 in 1958, when it had not been yet identified as an authentic Da Vinci. The buyer remains anonymous. The New York Times has more information.
Christie’s Post-war and Contemporary sale realizes $788 million
Other than the Da Vinci sale, Christie’s has also registered its best evening sale since 2014. Out of the 58 lots offered, 49 sold (84%). New records were set for artists Hans Hofmann ($8.9 million), Kerry James Marshall ($5 million), Philippe Parreno ($516,000), Lee Krasner ($5.5 million), Julian Schnabel ($1.5 million), and William Baziotes ($1.3 million).
Among the 49 lots sold, only five fetched less than a million dollars. Andy Warhol’s Sixty Last Suppers sold for $60.8 million, Cy Twombly’s Untitled (2005) went for $46.4 million and Saffron by Mark Rothko realized $32.4 million. Read more on artnet.
Kerry James Marshall (B. 1955) Still Life with Wedding Portrait — Price realised USD 5,037,500
ZONA MACO has a new artistic director
The fair, taking place in Mexico City in February, has announced that Tania Ragasol is its new artistic director. For her part, Marisol Barbosa — until now ZONA MACO’s fair coordinator — will be the fair’s new managing director.
Ragasol succeeds Daniel Garza Usabiaga, who was artistic director since 2015. Ragasol has previously served as editorial coordinator at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (Mexico City, 1998-2000) and associate curator for contemporary art at the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo (Mexico City). The fair, founded in 2002 by Zélika García, is the leading contemporary art fair of Latin America. Read more here.
Marisol Barbosa & Tania Ragasol
A new, 100% female art fair to debut in Miami this December
A new fair, dedicated entirely to women artists, will open at Miami’s Brickell City Center on December 7, running parallel to Art Basel Miami Beach. Titled FAIR, it will “address gender inequality in the art world and beyond, highlight activism in contemporary creative practices and inspire and empower women.”
Among the artists on show are: the Guerrilla Girls, Yoko Ono and Nathalie Alfonso. The fair will be curated by Zoe Lukov, the director of exhibitions for Faena Art in Miami, and Anthony Spinello, a Miami-based curator who founded Spinello Projects. More via the fair’s website.
