"An incredible richness of experiences"

Now on Sotheby's TV: the preview of its Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York on November 11.

Seeing auctioneer Tobias Meyer talking about the works of Yves Klein and the likes, you start to understand what he said in an interview with The New Yorker in 2006: "What I love to do is put people in front of art and make them feel it, make them stop everything else they're doing and experience it, deeply. That's how I make art expensive. And that's my job, for the company and for my clients. To make art expensive."

Beautiful inside his wallet

On September 15 and 16, Sotheby's organizes a special auction consigned by Damien Hirst. The sale carries the title "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever", features 223 works by Hirst (butterflies! dot-paintings! formaldehyde!) and is expected to net the artist more than 120 million USD.

Weak dollar, record sales...

...at Sotheby's in London.

“The global hunger for great works of art is here to stay,” said auctioneer Tobias Meyer after the evening’s heady sale. “It’s become a 20th century masterpiece market.”

Sotheby's stock crashes

A few days ago, Sotheby's had a "disappointing evening". The biggest failure was the buy-in of one of Van Gogh's last paintings. Yesterday, Sotheby's had to announce that it lost $14.6 million on auction guarantees at the sale. Last week's events led to a plunge of the Sotheby's stock.

Heart of gold

Bloomberg reports: "A nearly 9-foot-tall, stainless- steel heart by Jeff Koons, estimated to sell for as much as $20 million, could set an auction record for a living artist at Sotheby's contemporary art sale on Nov. 14 in New York." The current auction record for Jeff Koons is $5.6 million. Reflecting on the upcoming auction, Sotheby's head of contemporary art, Tobias Meyer, said: "Whatever the market will be, the market will be. No one will know until that night, but this is great and I'm confident." You can watch a movie on the heart and its sale here.

(The heart weighs around 1600 kilograms, "as much as a compact Mercedes".)

Autumn in New York

From Artinfo.com: "Two major works by Pablo Picasso, a bronze head of his muse Dora Maar and a 1931 canvas, La Lampe, will go under the hammer in New York on November 7, Sotheby's auction house said Tuesday. Sotheby's expects the painting, which comes directly from the artist's family, to fetch $25 million to $35 million, and the 31.5-inch high sculpture Picasso made in Paris in 1941 will bring $20 million to $30 million."

Yes, November is going to be an exciting month for the art world and for Sotheby's New York in particular.

Sketchy sale?

In December, Christie's London will auction a "forgotten" Rubens. The auction house values 'Two studies of a young man' at 8 to 12 million USD, but probably hopes the piece to sell for a lot more. In 2002, Sotheby's estimated 'Massacre of the Innocents' at 8 to 10 million USD. It ended up selling for 76 million USD (still a record for an Old Master) and is now on display in The National Gallery in London. Clearly, this oil sketch is not of the same quality, but "in an art market currently dominated by contemporary art, an old master oil sketch by Peter Paul Rubens can still cause a stir."

A shift of interest from subtle to brutal

Souren Melikian of Art + Auction on an important work by Jean-Honoré Fragonard - a study for Le Verrou (see picture) - that didn't find a buyer at the Sotheby's Old Masters evening sale in London two monts ago:
"If proof were needed that art cannot be an investment based on calculated risk, this is it. For the one thing that can never be forecast on the basis of rational arguments is the evolution of what we call taste or fashion."

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.

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."