April 13th, 2011

Pablo Picasso’s “La Lecture” [photo courtesy of Luxuryticker.com]

Following the auction market never ceases to fascinate me. Although the Mountain West and Southwest art markets have strong sales and successful artists, our overall sales are never even close to where the hammer falls in New York and London. The top sale was for Pablo Picasso’s “La Lecture,” seen above. Not sure the 1932 painting is worth $40,601,265? Sevenreasons.org agrees with you in this hilarious post.

MutualArt.com has a fantastic auction summary that shares insightful information on auction sales, top artists, and more. Which artist’s work generated the most revenue in the first quarter of 2011? Which auction house has the most lots in the season’s top sellers list and how did Sotheby’s and Christie’s fare compared with other leading auction houses? Which lot was most disappointing? Which lots sold at the highest margins above their high estimates? The answers lie ahead in a review of the first quarter of 2011.

The summary explores lots and artists who were in the spotlight, whether for the right or wrong reasons.

Top 20 Best Selling Artists (As of March 31, 2011, includes results from all major and mid-level auction houses):

1) Pablo Picasso sold 262 lots out of 315 offered for a total of $78,002,208 (over $297,000 per lot)

2) Andy Warhol sold 147 lots out of 193 for a total of $40,360,332 (over $274,000 per lot)

3) Francis Bacon sold 18 lots out of 18 for a total of $37,420,441 (over $2 million per lot)

4) Salvador Dalí sold 97 lots out of 121 for a total of $33,457,543 (over $344,000 per lot)

5) Marc Chagall sold 88 lots out of 104 for a total of $26,919,761 (over $305,000 per lot)

6) Gerhard Richter sold 17 lots out of 19 for a total of $25,758,045 (over $1.5 million per lot)

7) René Magritte sold 18 lots out of 22 for a total of $20,203,587 (over $1.1 million per lot)

8 ) Titian sold 4 lots out of 5 for a total of $16,889,219 (over $4.2 million per lot)

9) Irma Stern sold 19 lots out of 37 for a total of $13,708,909 (over $721,000 per lot)

10) Pierre Bonnard sold 17 lots out of 25 for a total of $13,672,170 (over $804,000 per lot)

12) Lucio Fontana sold of 13 lots out of 17 for a total of $13,174,103 (over $1 million per lot)

13) Julio González sold 14 lots out of 19 for a total of $12,997,763 (over $928,000 per lot)

14) Alberto Giacometti sold 14 lots out of 20 for a total of $11,964,373 (over $854,000 per lot)

15) Claude Monet sold 4 lots out of 4 for a total of $11,541,226 (over $2.8 million per lot)

16) Joan Miró sold 85 lots out of 111 for a total of $11,078,216 (over $130,000 per lot)

17) Edgar Degas sold 17 lots out of 21 for a total of $10,881,852 (over $640,000 per lot)

18) Claude-Joseph Vernet sold 10 lots out of 13 for a total of $10,222,405 (over $1 million per lot)

19) André Derain sold 15 lots out of 21 for a total of $9,548,678 (over $636,000 per lot)

20) Jean Michel Basquiat sold 8 lots out of 10 for a total of $9,406,554 (over $1.1 million per lot)

The top 20 selling artists’ 2010 total: $407,207,385

And the top three best selling lots…

1) $40,601,265 – Pablo Picasso, La Lecture (see top image of artwork at auction) oil on panel, 1932 (Sotheby’s London, Feb. 8).

2) $37,097,999 – Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Portrait of Lucian Freud, oil on canvas, 1964 (Sotheby’s London, February 10).

3) $21,743,488 – Salvador Dalí, Portrait de Paul Éluard, oil on board, 1929. World auction record for the artist (Sotheby’s London, Feb. 10).

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