Sotheby’s London contemporary art sale reaches $61.1 million

Sotheby’s London held a contemporary art auction on Thursday that totaled £46.1 million ($61.1 million). The sale was characterized by a cautious market, with the hammer total of £36.9 million falling below the low end of the initial £41.7 million to £58.6 million estimate.

The auction was led by a 1977 untitled abstract painting by Willem de Kooning, which sold for £9.8 million ($12.9 million), within its estimated range. Gerhard Richter’s ‘Abstraktes Bild’ (1992) was the second highest seller, fetching a total of £6.7 million ($8.9 million) including fees.

Despite the top results, several notable artists had works go unsold, including Banksy, Georg Baselitz, Jadé Fadojutimi, Lucian Freud, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Additionally, pieces by Damien Hirst, Anselm Kiefer, and Leon Kossoff were withdrawn prior to the sale.