In the wake of strong results throughout 2012, Sotheby’s has announced details of the forthcoming February Evening Auction of Contemporary Art.
After finishing their third most successful year ever for global auctions and a new record for Contemporary Art (2012), which totalled $1.25 billion and saw a new record set for the work of any living artist, Sotheby’s has announced details of the upcoming February Evening Auction of Contemporary Art. The sale, which will take place at Sotheby’s New Bond Street premises in London on Tuesday, February 12th, 2013 will be led by masterpieces by post-war and contemporary artists such as Francis Bacon, Gerhard Richter, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mark Rothko – with pre-sale estimates suggesting results in excess of £63 million ($99 million).
Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for a Self-Portrait
The sale comprises 56 lots, headed with ‘Three Studies for a Self-Portrait’ by Francis Bacon, a highly important oil on canvas triptych painted in 1980 – nine years on from the death of Bacon’s lover and model George Dyer. Dyer’s death deeply affected Bacon, and his work in the following years – up until his own death in 1992 – is haunted by both a sense of mourning and scathing self-analysis. This self-portrait in one of 11 painted in the same manner and format by Bacon throughout his career, and is set to sell for an estimated £10 – £15 million ($15,7 – $23,6 million).
Other notable auction highlights will include ‘Abstraktes Bild (769-1)’ by Gerhard Richter – the world’s most valuable living artist – estimated at £7,5 – £9,5 million ($11,8 – $15 million), ‘Untitled (Pecho/Oreja)’ by Jean-Michel Basquiat valued at £7 – £9 million ($11 – $14 million), ‘Untitled (1960)’ by Mark Rothko estimated at £2,5 – £3,8 million ($4 – $6 million) and ‘Concetto Spaziale, Attesa’ by the Italisn artist Lucio Fontana, valued at £2,2 – £2,8 million ($3,5 – $4,4million).
Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (769-1)
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Pecho/Oreja)
Mark Rothko’s Untitled (1960)
Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Attesa
