Page 76 - Forbes - Asia (March 2020)
P. 76
By Susan Adams
the most expensive artwork ever sold? It’s un-
Forbes Life clear. Although auction houses trade their trea-
sures in public, most transactions remain pri-
EYE OF vate. Still, record-breaking sales have a way of
coming to light.
THE BEHOLDER After combing through much data, here’s a list
74 of the highest-priced known art deals in each
year of the last decade. In second place: “Inter-
change,” a 1955 work of abstract expressionism
A look back at the ten most expensive sales by Willem de Kooning, which fetched $300 mil-
of artwork over the 2010s. lion in September 2015. Chicago hedge fund ti-
tan Ken Griffin reportedly paid entertainment
billionaire David Geffen’s foundation a total of
T he overflow crowd at Christie’s auction $500 million for two works. The second was
house broke into applause when the gavel fell
“Number 17A,” a 1948 painting by Jackson Pol-
on the blockbuster art sale of the decade. On
lock. Griffin loaned both works to the Art Insti-
November 15, 2017, a Saudi prince agreed to tute of Chicago, where he is a trustee.
pay $450 million—nearly half a billion dol- Paul Cézanne’s “The Card Players” brought the
lars—for “Salvator Mundi,” a 500-year-old portrait of Jesus third-highest price of the decade. In 2011 the na-
Christ hyped by Christie’s as “The Last da Vinci.” No matter tion of Qatar paid the estate of the late Greek
that many art scholars believed the work was a product of shipping magnate George Embiricos $250 mil-
Leonardo’s studio rather than the master himself. lion, according to Vanity Fair. In the 1890s Cé-
Since the sale, the painting seems to have gone missing. zanne painted a series of four versions of Pro-
The Louvre Abu Dhabi abruptly canceled a scheduled un- vençal farmhands relaxing over a game of cards.
veiling in September 2018. The latest speculation is that The other three are in museums, including New
Saudi Arabia’s ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. If there’s a
whisked away the painting on his private plane and stowed lesson from the decade’s sky-high prices, it’s that
it on his $500 million yacht, Serene. Is “Salvator Mundi” the art market’s ceiling keeps ascending.
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ISABEL INFANTES/PA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020
