Hot Bacon

Next to the Van Gogh of the story below, Sotheby's New York will also auction two important works by Francis Bacon in November. The one depicted here, 'Study for Bullfight No.1, 2nd version' (1969) is estimated to sell above $35 million. As the press release notes: "The offering of these paintings follows the success of last season’s sale of Bacon’s Study for Innocent X, 1962, which sold at Sotheby’s New York for $52.7 million, a record for the artist at auction, and his Self Portrait, 1978, which sold at Sotheby’s London for $43 million, the second highest price achieved for a work by the artist." In other words, Francis Bacon is extremely hot right now.

The auction sensation of the century?

According to The Independent, Sotheby's will soon auction one of Van Gogh's last masterpieces, namely The Fields: "The Fields will be unveiled at Sotheby's in London on 7 October and sold at auction in New York a month later with an estimated list price £17m. But due to its extraordinary provenance and the booming art market, it is likely to provoke one of the heaviest bidding wars in the auction house's history and greatly exceed this price. When the painting was exhibited in Amsterdam in 2001, as a privately owned work, there was an immediate, if vain, rush by buyers to place offers." The Independent already speaks of the "auction sensation of the century".

In a related article, one of Britain's most fashionable "young" artists, Tracey Emin, comments on the piece.

Update: Sotheby's released a press statement concerning the sale.

Investment, not art

An update on yesterday's story. Apparently, Damien Hirst is part of the investment group that bought his diamond skull for about 100 million USD.

The sale keeps Hirst in the news, reinforces the demand for his work and makes everyone who spent money at White Cube feel good about their investment. This is all about investment, not about art collecting.

Diamonds are forever?

Reportedly, Damien Hirst has recently sold his "diamond skull" - last summer on display in London - for about 100 million USD. To an investment company. Click here to read more.

Rothko & co

On Tuesday May 15, Sotheby's New York has its Contemporary Art Evening Sale. Although works from Lichtenstein, de Kooning, Pollock and Warhol are all expected to fetch high prices, most attention will go to Mark Rothko's White Center (1950). In this video, Tobias Meyer (worldwide head of Sotheby's contemporary art department) says: "What is so extraordinary about this picture: there is nothing we need to explain about it - it is so beautiful". Exceptionally, Sotheby's does not give a public estimate for the painting.

The auction will be interesting in another respect as well. It will be streamed live via the Sotheby's website.

London calling

From June 17 until July 14, I will be in London. I will take part in the summer course Art & Its Markets, organized by Sotheby's Institute of Art.

"This course looks at a number of different art market sectors (such as old masters, contemporary art and wine) and examines how their respective objects are identified and catalogued and how quality and value is assessed. Students also study how auctions are marketed, organised and run."

Good news

"The valuation and appreciation of art. That research area was allocated a grant for Christophe Spaenjers by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the NWO. This grant of 180.000 euros is one of the grants in the NWO Toptalent round of 2007. In September, Spaenjers will start his research project under supervision of Prof. Luc Renneboog (dept. Finance) as a PhD student, researching the evolution of returns and risk in art markets over 100 years."

Source: Tilburg FEB News (April 13, 2007)