This year’s auctions may have eye-popping bids, but 2018 already had its own share of record-breaking paintings. Take this quiz to see how well you know the multi-million-dollar art sales.
The new year is here, even as the jury’s still out on whether 2018 was good for the art world or not. Last year had its share of record sales, nonetheless. Take a quick quiz to check if you are in step with the key moments when billionaires loosened their purse strings and acquired these masterpieces.
Scribbles, Scratches And Other Abstract Pieces Of Art That Made Millions
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Who says a scribble or a scratch is worthless? Check out these abstracts which sold for a fortune thanks to their minimalistic allure.
Who says a scribble or a scratch is worthless? Check out these abstracts which sold for a fortune thanks to their minimalistic allure.
Cost: $70.5 million
What seems like chalk scribbles on a slate is actually an oil-based house paint and crayon artwork on canvas by Edwin Parker ‘Cy’ Twombly Jr, which fetched a record price for the artist in Christie’s 2014 sale. Part of Twombly’s ‘blackboard’ paintings, the 1970 artwork is inspired by his stint in Pentagon as a cryptologist. What’s interesting is the way he produced this artwork. He sat on the shoulders of a friend, who kept on walking along the length of the canvas, enabling Twombly to create fluid lines. The painting’s then owner, Audrey Irmas, a philanthropist, parted with the painting to raise funds for her foundation for social justice. Interestingly, Irmas bought the painting for $3.85 million in 1990.
(Image: www.christies.com)
Cost: $70.5 million
What seems like chalk scribbles on a slate is actually an oil-based house paint and crayon artwork on canvas by Edwin Parker ‘Cy’ Twombly Jr, which fetched a record price for the..
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Cost: $1.65 million
Once part of the Robert and Jean Shoenberg collection, this 1961 artwork came into the market at Christie’s 2008 sale. Kelly was a camouflage artist during his stint in the army in the 1940s. He was a part of the unit known as ‘the Ghost army’ comprising artists and designers who painted objects that would misdirect enemy soldiers.
(Image: www.christies.com)
Cost: $1.65 million
Once part of the Robert and Jean Shoenberg collection, this 1961 artwork came into the market at Christie’s 2008 sale. Kelly was a camouflage artist during his stint in the army ..
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Cost: $86.88 million (including buyer’s premium)
The vibrant orange, red and yellow coloured rectangles was part of art collector David Pincus’s estate and was brought to the market by Christie’s in 2012 where its sale set the record for post war/ contemporary art at the time. Rothko’s 1961 work was in Pincus’s possession for four-and-a-half decades. The final bid was double the highest estimate of the artwork.
(Image: www.markrothko.org)
Cost: $86.88 million (including buyer’s premium)
The vibrant orange, red and yellow coloured rectangles was part of art collector David Pincus’s estate and was brought to the market by Christie’s i..
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Cost: $16.2 million
The 24 sharp vertical tears on a crimson, water-painted seven- foot wide canvas was contested for about a minute and 30 seconds during Sotheby’s 2015 auction. Yet, the painting was sold below the low presale estimate of $15 million. Turns out, Fontana was inspired to paint this artwork watching Red Desert, a 1964 movie created by Michelangelo Antonioni, which won the Golden Lion in that year’s Venice Film Festival. In fact, the inscription on the back of the painting, in Italian, reads, “I returned yesterday from Venice, I saw Antonioni’s film!!!”
(Image: www.sothebys.com)
Cost: $16.2 million
The 24 sharp vertical tears on a crimson, water-painted seven- foot wide canvas was contested for about a minute and 30 seconds during Sotheby’s 2015 auction. Yet, the painting ..
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Cost: $84.16 million
Newman’s 1961 stark black palette on a pale canvas was part of Christie’s post-war and contemporary evening sale auction in 2014. Newman started dabbling in abstract expression while he was mourning the death of his younger brother George. About the painter’s black fixation, art expert Thomas Hess recalled Newman saying, “When an artist wants to change, when he wants to invent, he goes to black as it is a way of clearing the table-of getting to new ideas.” The painting is in the possession of a private collector now. Its previous owner had the painting for nearly 40 years.
(Image: www.christies.com)
Cost: $84.16 million
Newman’s 1961 stark black palette on a pale canvas was part of Christie’s post-war and contemporary evening sale auction in 2014. Newman started dabbling in abstract expression..
1. ‘Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)’ by David Hockney
At the November 2018 sale of Christie’s, this Hockney painting became the most expensive work of art by a living artist sold at an auction. The seller of this iconic work was British billionaire currency trader Joe Lewis, who decided to put up the painting for sale without a reserve price. Bidding therefore started at a modest $ 18 million. a) $85.3 million b) $95.3 million c) $90.3 million d) $100.3 million ‘Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)’ by David Hockney
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2. ‘Young Girl with a Flower Basket’ by Pablo Picasso The three -day auct ion of David Rockefeller’s private collection last year was perhaps the highlight of the art auction calendar. This famous work by the Spanish artist went up for sale on day one. The price it clinched contributed significantly to the total monies raised from the 1,600-plus item sale. a) $110 million b) $115 million c) $118 million d) $120 million ‘Young Girl with a Flower Basket’ by Pablo Picasso 3. ‘Chop Suey’ by Edward Hopper
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It is believed that the term ‘chop suey’ comes from the Cantonese phrase tsap sui, meaning ‘odds and ends’. In the New York of 1920s, chop suey restaurants served as popular lunch options for the working class. Since Hopper’s oil paintings were often a result of a combination of his past experiences, it is thought that this painting was partially inspired by two restaurants that the artist visited during the time. a) $90.9 million b) $91.9 million c) $92.9 million
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d) $94.9 million ‘Chop Suey’ by Edward Hopper 4. ‘Woman as Landscape’ by Willem de Kooning This work by de Kooning went up for sale alongside Hopper’s ‘Chop Suey’ and set a record auction price for the Dutch abstract expressionist artist. The painting is considered important in de Kooning’s oeuvre. It has been included in some of the most important exhibitions of his work in US and Europe. a) $60.93 million b) $65.93 million c) $66.93 million d) $68.93 million ‘Woman as Landscape’ by Willem de Kooning 5. ‘Nu couché (sur le côté gauche)’ by Amedeo Modigliani This work by Modigliani sold for a record price at an auction in May 2018, establishing a new milestone in the history of Sotheby’s. It was the highest price fetched by a work at a public sale by the auction house ever. Fresh from its participation in the artist’s retrospective at the Tate Modern, the painting’s prospects looked bright from the word go. a) $157 million b) $165 million c) $170 million d) $175 million
6. ‘Suprematist Composition’ by Kazimir Malevich This painting by the Russian abstractionist is considered to have given art one of its ‘thunderclap moments’. According to a note shared by Christie’s on its website, ‘Composed of multiple, geometric forms in an array of colours, ‘Suprematist Composition’ — like the other ‘Suprematist’ paintings Malevich made in a brief period up to 1919 — reflected the artist’s wish to experience the world in a state of higher, or supreme, consciousness.’ a) $82.8 million b) $85.8 million c) $86.8 million d) $88.8 million
‘Suprematist Composition’ by Kazimir Malevich Correct Answers 1. $90.3 million 2. $115 million 3. $91.9 million 4. $68.93 million 5. $157 million 6. $85.8 million
