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Art Market Watch
Dec. 21, 2006 

As 2006 draws to a close, the art market boom is driving prices for the most expensive artworks to new heights. The art market’s top tier has made itself at home in the eight-figure realm, with all manner of works selling for $10 million or more. This luxury inflation, if that’s what it is, has now spread from major Impressionist works to a much broader range of masterpieces, from popular illustrations by Norman Rockwell to 18th-century Chinese porcelain. 

Today, to count as a really big price, an artwork has to sell for nine figures. Although this kind of transaction does take place at the auction houses -- Pablo Picasso’s Boy with a Pipe (1905), which sold for $104 million at Sotheby’s New York, is a notable example -- more nine-figure sales have been happening privately, only to be chronicled later in the press.

Hollywood mogul David Geffen, for instance, has been widely reported to have sold Willem de Kooning’s Woman III (1952-53) for $142.5 million to hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen. Geffen has now reportedly sold four multimillion-dollar works from his modern and contemporary collection -- the others are Jackson Pollock’s No. 5, 1948, for $140 million, Jasper Johns’ False Start for $80 million and de Kooning’s Police Gazette (1955) for $63.5 million. Originally thought to be raising money to make a bid to buy the Los Angeles Times, Geffen has since denied that report, saying only that he didn’t like having such value hanging on his walls -- only to offer $2 billion for the newpaper a few days later.

The total for the four Geffen works is $426 million, and is considerably more than the record $240-million evening sale of contemporary art at Christie’s New York on Nov. 15, 2006.

With the completion of the major fall sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in November, it’s time to take another look at the overall advance of the art market. Our first such report, posted in June 2006, looked at the incredible 1,650 new art-auction records set in the spring, ranging from Carroll Dunham ($102,000) and Kerry James Marshall ($108,000) to Robert Ryman ($9,648,000) and Henri Matisse ($18,496,000).

The impression given of an in exorable upward rise in prices, while certainly illusory, does seem to have been born out by the events of the last six months. Art collecting is more popular than ever, especially as a way to gain class and status for the macher who otherwise has everything (pace those hedge-fund billionaires). Wall Street bonuses are up 20 percent over last year, and the sinking exchange rate for the dollar makes the U.S. market ever more attractive to foreigners.

Technological advances -- notably the internet -- have made the art market more liquid and more efficient than ever before. Once focused largely to the U.S. and Europe, the art market has spread like wildfire into Latin America, China, India and the Middle East. The result is an art boom that -- dare we say it, even in folly? -- might never quit.

This time around, following the big art auctions of fall 2006, mining the data found in Artnet’s signature Fine Arts Auction Data base shows that more than 2,800 new auction records were set in the fine-art auctions of October and November 2006. Of these new records, 72 were over $1 million. In May 2006, 45 of the new record prices were for $1 million or more.

New auction records set in October and November 2006 range from Gustav Klimt ($87,936,000) and Paul Gauguin ($40,336,000) to Anton Henning ($101,887) and Tetsuya Ishida ($100,257). The following list is comprehensive to $1,000,000, after which it is selective.

Rank

Price

Artist

Work

Venue

Sale 0606

Date

1

$87,936,000

Gustav Klimt

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II

Christie's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/08/06

2

$40,336,000

Paul Gauguin

L'homme à la hache

Christie's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/08/06

3

$38,096,000

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Berliner Strassenszene

Christie's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/08/06

4

$27,120,000

Willem de Kooning

Untitled XXV

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

5

$26,896,000

Edward Hopper

Hotel window

Sotheby's New York

American Paintings

11/29/06

6

$22,416,000

Egon Schiele

Einzelne häuser - Häuser mit Bergen

Christie's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/08/06

7

$21,296,000

Clyfford Still

1947-R-no. 1

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

8

$17,376,000

Andy Warhol

Mao

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary  

11/15/06

9

$15,416,000

Norman Rockwell

Breaking home ties

Sotheby's New York

American Paintings

11/29/06

10

$15,024,000

Francis Bacon

Version No. 2 of lying figure...

Sotheby's New York

Contemporary 

11/14/06

11

$8,528,000

Pierre Bonnard

Deux corbeilles de fruits

Christie's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/08/06

12

$6,925,450

 Xu Beihong

Slave and lion

Christie's Hong Kong

20th Century Chinese

11/26/06

13

$6,736,000

 Balthus

Les trois soeurs

Christie's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/08/06

14

$6,176,000

Richard Diebenkorn

Berkeley 53

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

15

$5,184,615

K. A. Somov

Pastorale russe

Christie's London

Important Russian Pictures

11/29/06

16

$4,478,149

 Chen Chengbo

Danshui

Sotheby's Hong Kong

Chinese Contemporary

10/09/06

17

$4,048,000

Louise Bourgeois

Spider

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

18

$4,048,000

Sam Francis

Yellow

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

19

$4,030,189

Lucio Fontana

Concetto spaziale, attese

Christie's London

The Italian Sale

10/16/06

20

$4,000,000

Thomas Lawrence

Portrait of Arthur Wellesley

Christie's London

British Pictures 1500-1850

11/22/06

21

$3,758,355

 Sanyu

Potted chrysanthemum

Christie's Hong Kong

20th Century Chinese

11/26/06

22

$3,701,266

H. A. Camarasa

El Casino de Paris

Christie's Madrid

Spanish Sale

10/04/06

23

$3,600,000

Erich Heckel

Akt (Dresden): A double-sided painting

Sotheby's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/07/06

24

$3,273,892

Joan Mitchell

Salut sally

Artcurial Briest Le Fur Poulain F. Tajan

 Contemporain

10/28/06

25

$3,182,519

Zao Wou-Ki

Composition no. 8

Christie's Hong Kong

20th Century Chinese

11/26/06

26

$3,040,000

Mark Tansey

Mont Sainte-Victoire

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

27

$2,704,000

Mike Kelley

Deodorized central mass with satellites

Phillips, de Pury

Contemporary

11/16/06

28

$2,656,604

Tom Wesselmann

Great American nude #88

Christie's London

Yoav Harlap Collection

10/15/06

29

$2,648,000

Barbara Hepworth

Ultimate form (The family of man)

Sotheby's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/07/06

30

$2,592,000

Piero Manzoni

Achrome

Sotheby's New York

Contemporary 

11/14/06

31

$2,480,000

Andreas Gursky

99 cent II Diptychon

Phillips, de Pury

Contemporary

11/16/06

32

$2,462,725

 Liao Chi Chun

Spring scene in the garden

Christie's Hong Kong

20th Century Chinese

11/26/06

33

$2,318,766

 Zhang Xiaogang

Tiananmen square

Christie's Hong Kong

Asian Contemporary

11/26/06

34

$2,256,000

Anish Kapoor

Untitled

Sotheby's New York

Contemporary 

11/14/06

35

$2,256,000

Richard Prince

Tender nurse

Phillips, de Pury

Contemporary

11/16/06

36

$2,032,000

Carl Andre

Aluminum steel plain

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

37

$2,032,000

N. C. Wyeth

Stand and deliver

Sotheby's New York

American Paintings

11/29/06

38

$1,953,846

A. E. Yakovlev

Three women in a box at the theatre

Sotheby's London

The Russian Sale

11/28/06

39

$1,920,000

Eric Fischl

Daddy's girl

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

40

$1,916,981

David Bomberg

Cuenca from Mount Socorro

Christie's London

20th Century British

11/17/06

41

$1,864,000

Lynn Chadwick

Couple on a seat

Sotheby's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/07/06

42

$1,846,154

Boris Dmitrievich Grigoriev

The children

Christie's London

Important Russian Pictures

11/29/06

43

$1,808,000

Alfredo Ramos Martínez

Mujeres con flores

Christie's New York

Latin American

11/21/06

44

$1,738,462

P. N. Filonov

The Adoration of the Magi

Christie's London

Important Russian Pictures

11/29/06

45

$1,696,000

Christopher Wool

Hole in your fuckin head

Phillips, de Pury

Contemporary 

11/16/06

46

$1,695,385

Z. E. Serebryakova

Reclining nude

Sotheby's London

The Russian Sale

11/28/06

47

$1,642,013

Giacomo Ceruti

Il bravo ...

Christie's Milan

Old Master Pictures

11/29/06

48

$1,574,684

Miquel Barceló

Bibliotheque avec poe

Christie's Madrid

Spanish Sale

10/04/06

49

$1,480,000

Nikiforos (Nicéphore) Lytras

A festival in Megara

Sotheby's London

The Greek Sale

11/15/06

50

$1,472,000

Archibald Willard

The spirit of '76

Christie's New York

Important American Paintings

11/30/06

51

$1,397,468

Cornelis Springer

A view of the Westerstraat in Enkhuizen in summer

Sotheby's Amsterdam

19th Century European Paintings

10/17/06

52

$1,360,000

Henri Eugène Le Sidaner

La table aux Lanternes, Gerberoy

Sotheby's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/08/06

53

$1,360,000

Anselm Kiefer

Balder's Triume

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

54

$1,360,000

Grandma Moses

Sugaring off

Christie's New York

Important American Paintings

11/30/06

55

$1,264,615

A. A. Ekster

Picnic on the beach

Christie's London

Important Russian Pictures

11/29/06

56

$1,248,000

Isamu Noguchi

The sky

Sotheby's New York

Contemporary 

11/14/06

57

$1,200,000

Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky

Rest on the way from Kiev

Sotheby's London

The Russian Sale

11/28/06

58

$1,200,000

Leon Bakst

A dancer in costume

Christie's London

Important Russian Pictures

11/29/06

59

$1,178,462

Nikolaus Gysis

The new arrival

Sotheby's London

The Greek Sale

11/15/06

60

$1,177,358

Barry Flanagan

Nijinski hare

Christie's London

20th Century British

11/17/06

61

$1,173,846

Alexej Alexejewitsch Harlamoff

The little seamstress

Bonhams London

Russian Sale

11/27/06

62

$1,167,095

Bada Shanren

Flowers, birds, fish and rocks (set of 4)

Christie's Hong Kong

Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy

11/27/06

63

$1,136,000

Niki de Saint Phalle

Ana Lena en Grice

Sotheby's New York

Contemporary 

11/14/06

64

$1,136,000

Josef Albers

Homage to the square, autumn climax

Christie's New York

Post War & Contemporary 

11/15/06

65

$1,113,962

William Scott

Blue still life

Christie's London

20th Century British

11/17/06

66

$1,101,760

Fred Williams

Water pond in a landscape II

Sotheby's Melbourne

Australian & International

11/21/06

67

$1,092,308

Santiago Rusiñol

Terraced gardens, sa como

Sotheby's London

19th Century European Paintings

11/15/06

68

$1,071,698

Piotr Uklanski

The Nazis (set of 164)

Phillips, de Pury

Contemporary

10/14/06

69

$1,071,698

Alighiero Boetti

Tutto

Sotheby's London

The Italian Sale

10/16/06

70

$1,066,324

 Zhu Ming

Single whip (from Taichi)

Sotheby's Hong Kong

Chinese Contemporary 

10/09/06

71

$1,029,434

Mel Ramos

Peek-a-boo Raven #2

Christie's London

The Yoav Harlap Collection

10/15/06

72

$1,024,000

Jenny Saville

Still

Sotheby's New York

Contemporary 

11/14/06

73

$996,000

Paul Howard Manship

Celestial sphere

Sotheby's New York

American Paintings

11/29/06

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

75

$984,615

Abram Efimovich Arkhipov

At the market

Christie's London

Important Russian Pictures

11/29/06

77

$968,000

Jacob Lawrence

Subway acrobats

Christie's New York

Important American Paintings

11/30/06

78

$951,157

 Yue Minjun

Kites

Christie's Hong Kong

Asian Contemporary

11/26/06

79

$940,000

Henri Martin

Le Bassin principal du parc de Marquayrol à Labastide-du-vert

Sotheby's New York

Impressionist & Modern

11/08/06

80

$923,774

Luciano Fabro

Italia carta stradale

Sotheby's London