Christie's November 8th auction confirms the art market's hunger for contemporary art. Feast your eyes on the some of the artworks that sold for record-breaking prices.


"Tonight's sale was the most amazing sale of my career," said Christopher Burge, Honorary Chairman of Christie's Americas after the auction house's exhilarating Post-War and Contemporary Art sale on November 8th. "It was intensely exciting with a total and percentages that reveal a true hunger in the market. The atmosphere in the room was electric with intense bidding. It was an evening that will be a landmark event in the annals of the art market."

Shattering 18 artists' records and fetching more that $157.4 million, the auction displays the market's growing appetite for emerging and established contemporary artists. Indeed, the figures exceeded last year's sales of contemporary art by 70%. One of the major artistic achievements of the 20th century, Mark Rothko's 'Homage to Matisse', was the dramatic show-stopper of the evening. Bringing in a staggering $22.4 million dollars, it simultaneously set a new world auction record for the artist and for any work of Post-War art ever sold. Photographer Richard Prince's iconic 'Cowboy' (1989) also made history by becoming the first photograph to sell for more than $1 million at auction.

THE RECORD BREAKERS
Mark Rothko, 'Homage to Matisse', 1954.
Sold for $22,416,000.
World record for the artist.
World auction record for a Post-War work.
Buyer: Anonymous.

Roy Lichtenstein, 'In the Car', 1963.
Sold for $ 16,256,000. Pre
World auction record for the artist.
Buyer: American, private.
Description Text Lot Description
Gilbert & George, 'Red Morning (Hate)', 1977.
Sold for $856,000.
World auction record for the artist.

Francis Bacon, 'Study for a Pope I', 1961.
Sold for $10,096,000.
World auction record for the artist.
Buyer: European, trade.
Lot Description
Lucian Freud, 'Naked Girl Perched on a Chair', 1994.
Sold for $5,728,000.
Buyer: Anonymous.

Willem de Kooning, Untitled, 1977.
Sold for $10,656,000.
Buyer: American, private.

Richard Prince, 'Untitled (Cowboy)', 1989.
Sold for $1,248,000.
World auction record for the artist.
World auction record for any photograph/first time a photograph breaks the $1 million barrier at auction.
Buyer: Anonymous.


View all of the auction results
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