After just eight minutes of bidding at Sotheby’s, Alberto Giacometti‘s life-sized sculpture L’homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) was sold for £65,001,250 ($US104,327,006).
The winning bid, which opened at £12million, was made over the telephone by an anonymous buyer.
The sculpture, which is considered to be one of the most important by the 20th century Swiss artist, was estimated to sell for between £12 million and £18 million.
More than ten rivals escalated the price, which eventually hit the £65 million mark.
A Sotheby’s spokeswoman claimed that it was the highest for any work of art ever sold at auction.
The former record was a Picasso painting, Boy with a Pipe – Picasso’s haunting Rose Period portrait of a youngster called “Little Louis”, who used to hang around his studio in Paris. In 2004, this piece was sold for $104 million (£58.5m).
Before that, the previous record of $82.5 million, was paid for Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet in 1990. It became the first $100 million painting ever.
Melanie Clore, Co-Chairman, Impressionist & Modern Art, Sotheby’s Worldwide, said,
“The competition which generated these exceptional results demonstrates the continued quest for quality that compels today’s collectors.”
She also said:
“Ten bidders competed for the Giacometti, which had been estimated at £12-18 million. Its success, as well as the success of many other works sold this evening, demonstrated both the continued quest for quality that we had seen in New York in November as well as the market’s response to works with attractive estimates. This was without question one of our most exciting sales ever.”
In a bumper night for Sotheby’s, one of the other highlights of the Impressionist and Modern Art sale too exceeded all expectations: Gustav Klimt’s Kirche in Cassone went for £26,921,250, far above the £12 million to £18 million estimate.
It proved to be a record price for a Klimt landscape and the second highest auction bid for any work by this particular Austrian painter.
Paul Cezanne‘s Pichet et Fruits sur une table was sold for just under £12 million.
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1 Art Breaks Records | Unique Gift Ideas: Handmade Jewelry, Hamsa, Kabbalah, Jewish, Religious, Spiritual Gifts // Dec 28, 2010 at 9:30 am
[...] by modern masters marched above the $100 million mark. First, Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man I” strutted over $104 million before being usurped by Pablo Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves [...]
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