Christie’s highly anticipated two-day auction on May 22-23 of Latin American Art totaled $27,731,875, and set 32 world auction records. The spring sale was comprised of 299 lots and was 84% sold by value and 74% sold by lot.
Virgilio Garza, Head of the Latin American Art department, comments: “Major records for modern and contemporary Latin American works were set this season. The sale was led by Matta’s La révolte des contraires, which realized $5 million, against the high estimate of $2.5 million, and set a world auction record for the artist, a long overdue recognition for one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Brazilian works performed exceptionally well and were 100% sold, most notably were works by Ernesto Neto, Iberê Camargo, Candido Portinari, Alfredo Volpi, and Vik Muniz.”
The Day Sale continued with strong bidding across the board and set nineteen new artist records including Alberto Da Viega Guignard’s Still Life, a record for the artist for a work on paper. In addition to Brazilian works, the demand for Argentinian artists was strong in the morning, led by a fine group of works by Rómulo Macció, Luis Benedit, and Ernesto Deira.
