Contemporary Art Evening Auction

On November 11, 2009, Andy Warhol’s monumental masterpiece, 200 One Dollar Bills, brought a remarkable $43,762,500, soaring past the pre-sale estimate of $8-12 million.  The Warhol was the top-selling lot in a sale of Contemporary Art that brought an outstanding total of $134,438,000, far-above pre-sale expectations.  New auction records were established for Alice Neel, Jean Dubuffet, Juan Muñoz and Germaine Richier; as well as for sculpture by Willem de Kooning, a neon by Bruce Nauman and a work on paper by Jackson Pollock.

In addition to the 200 One Dollar Bills several other works by Andy Warhol achieved strong prices.  A Self-Portrait from 1965 that the artist gave to a young receptionist at The Factory, sold for $6,130,500.  An Untitled 1962 drawing of a roll of dollar bills, also by Warhol, that came from the collection of Leonard Newman, eventually sold for $4,226,500.

Other works that achieved strong prices include: Jasper Johns’ Gray Numbers, which made $8,706,500, Orange, Red, Orange by Mark Rothko from the Estate of Lucia Moreira Salles fetched $3,386,500, Trinité-Champs-Elysées by Jean Dubuffet made $6,130,500 and set a new record for the artist at auction, and Violins, Violence, Silence by Bruce Nauman established a new record for a neon work by the artist when it sold for $4,002,500.