SOTHEBY’S CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING AUCTION TOTALS £69.1M / $87.8M / €77.4MLED BY FRANCIS BACON’S EVOCATIVE SELF-PORTRAIT £16.5 MILLION / $21 MILLION / €18.5 MILLION £98,500 PER SQUARE INCH Tragic Portrait Created After the Death of his Former Lover and Greatest Muse, George Dyer From the Height of Bacon’s Career, the Same Year as his Major Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
NEW RECORD FOR ALBERT OEHLEN THE ARTIST’S GIGANTEAN SELBSTPORTRAIT MIT LEEREN HÄNDEN REALISES £6 MILLION / $7.5 MILLION / €6.6 MILLION Ahead of The Forthcoming Major Solo Exhibition at The Serpentine Gallery This Autumn
THREE FURTHER AUCTION RECORDS FOR WOLS |TOYIN OJIH ODUTOLA| PASCALE MARTHINE TAYOU
26 June 2019, London: Tonight in London, Sotheby’s evening sale of Contemporary Art totalled £69,143,300/ $87,811,991/ €77,440,496 (est. £58-82.8 million/ $73.5-105 million / €64.7-92.4 million). Led by Francis Bacon’s evocative ‘Self-Portrait’ from 1975, the sale drew bidders from across the globe and was 90% sold by lot, with over 70% of works appearing at auction for the first time.
Alex Branczik, European Head of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s, said: “Tonight was business as usual for Sotheby’s with strong results for great art from great collections. We also saw records for Wols, Toyin Ojih Odutola and Pascale Marthine Tayou, and of course, Albert Oehlen who really had his moment this evening. There’s undoubtedly a real momentum behind the artist, who will star in a major new exhibition at the Serpentine in a few months’ time.”