Art Fairs
Price Check! Here’s What Sold—and for How Much—at Art Basel 2018
Here's what art dealers say they sold at the fair (though watch out for number-fudging and other kinds of general sneakiness).
Here's what art dealers say they sold at the fair (though watch out for number-fudging and other kinds of general sneakiness).
Caroline Goldstein ShareShare This Article
Sales were fast and furious at this year’s edition of Art Basel, where, by all accounts, many gallerists were frantically rehanging their booths to accommodate collectors’ unstinting appetites. Local institutions’ impressive shows also heightened interest in certain artists, in particular Bruce Nauman, whose work is currently on display at the Schaulager (before traveling to MoMA in the fall), and Sam Gilliam, whose retrospective “The Music of Color” lured visitors away from the booths to the nearby Kunstmuseum Basel. Overall, multimillion-dollar sales by Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchell generated the loudest chatter of the week, helped along by a well-timed announcement of the artist’s forthcoming survey at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
What follows is a rundown of the fair’s reported sales this year, ranging from paintings that reached the auction-worthy nosebleed terrain of eight figures all the way down to artworks that left the fair for the price of a luxury handbag.
Nota bene: Sales reports are notoriously slippery in the art world. Some purchases may have been finalized long before the fair, while others might only be handshake deals, still waiting on paperwork and cash. But prices themselves are more reliably telling, providing a snapshot of where individual artists stand in the matrix of the art market today. Even here, of course, there is room for slippage: Some dealers occasionally offer inflated figures, while others prefer to report ranges or the “asking price” to obscure the actual selling price, or to cover up favorable treatment that one buyer may have received over another.
Here is a (partial) roundup of notable sales at the fair—take it all with a pinch of salt—as compiled by artnet News, sorted by medium and price. Any sums reported in GBP or euros were converted to US dollars for consistency and ease of reading.
In excess of $14 million: Philip Guston’s The Visit (1955) at Hauser & Wirth
$14 million: Joan Mitchell’s 1969 Composition, sold by Hauser & Wirth to a European collection
$14 million: Joan Mitchell’s Untitled (1959) at Lévy Gorvy
$7.5 million: A Joan Mitchell painting at David Zwirner
$7.5 million: Joan Mitchell’s Syrtis (1961) at Lévy Gorvy
$6 million: Joan Mitchell’s Red Tree at Cheim & Read
$4.5 million: Keith Haring’s Untitled (1984) at Acquavella Galleries
$3.9 million: Mark Bradford’s You Must Have Fell and Hit Your Head (2001) at Mnuchin Gallery
$2.5 million: David Hockney’s Chrysanthemums (1996) at Pace
$2.5 million: George Condo’s Autumn in Soho (2011) at Almine Rech Gallery
$2.5 million: Mark Bradford’s Battle (Trimmed Extra) at Hauser & Wirth
$1.8 million: Barkley L. Hendricks’s Greg (1973) at Jack Shainman Gallery
$1.73 million: Yu Hong’s Old Man Yu Gong Is Still Moving Away Mountains (2017), from the Unlimited section, at Long March Space
$1.6 million: Francis Picabia’s Les baigneuses, femmes nues au bord de mer at Hauser & Wirth
$1.45 million: Robert Rauschenberg’s Ruby Re-Run (1978) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$1.3 million: George Condo’s Portrait of an English Lady (2008) at Xavier Hufkens
$1.2 million: Mira Schendel’s Untitled (1963) at Hauser & Wirth
$1.2 million: Vija Celmins’s Untitled (Knife and Dish) (1964) at Matthew Marks Gallery
In excess of $1 million: George Condo’s Green and Purple Head Composition (2018) at Sprüth Magers
In excess of $1 million: David Hockney’s The Big Hawthorn (2008) at Annely Juda
In excess of $1 million: Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s Six Espaces Distinct (1939) at von Bartha Gallery
$880,000: Georg Baselitz’s Noch kein Braun, aber Rosa (2018) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$850,000: Sam Gilliam’s beveled-edge work Repeat (1971) at David Kordansky
$753,000: Günther Förg’s Untitled (1993) at Hauser & Wirth
$650,000 each: Paintings by Robert Ryman from his 2008 series Large-small, thick-thin, light reflecting, light absorbing at Pace
$637,000: Georg Baselitz’s Man sieht noch etwas (2018) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$550,000: Frank Stella’s Red Star at Marianne Boesky Gallery
$550,000: Carmen Herrera’s Arco (2018) at Lisson Gallery
$550,000: Tom Wesselmann’s Study for Blue Nude #8 at Almine Rech
$550,000: A painting by Per Kirkeby at Michael Werner Gallery
$550,000: John Baldessari’s Four Types of Balance (With Basketballs) (1990) at Sprüth Magers
$531,000: Bridget Riley’s Measure for Measure 6 (2016) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$525,000: Mario Schifano’s Per La Strada-Ma Tutto Finto (1963) at Fergus McCaffrey, NY
$475,000: Sam Francis’s Untitled (White Line) at Mnuchin Gallery
$475,000: Elizabeth Peyton’s Hanyu (Yuzuru Hanyu) (2018) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$464,000: Günther Förg’s Untitled (2005) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$450,000: McArthur Binion’s DNA Painting from the Unlimited section, presented by Lehmann Maupin and Massimo de Carlo
$400,000: Jonas Wood’s Japanese Garden 2 (2018) at David Kordansky
$400,000: Stanley Whitney’s Untitled (1999) at Lisson Gallery
$375,000: Work by Mary Corse at Lisson
$350,000: Mary Weatherford’s Trap (2018) at David Kordansky
$350,000: A large painting by Lee Ufan at Pace
$300,000: McArthur Binon’s Transition: One (2017) at Lehmann Maupin
$261,000: Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s Triangles, Cercles, Lignes (1932) at von Bartha
$200,000: Sue Williams’s Memory and Paint (2017) at 303 Gallery
$200,000–250,000: Ha Chong-Hyun’s Conjunction 00-1-5 (A) (2000) at Kukje Gallery/Tina Kim Gallery
$200,000: Robert Colescott’s A Winning Combination (1974) at Blum & Poe
$200,000: Ha Chong-Hyun’s Conjunction 15-172 (2015) at Blum & Poe
$175,000: Henry Taylor’s OXXO-Somewhere in Mexico but Close to the BORDER (2015/18) at Blum & Poe sold to a European museum.
$175,000: Lee Bul’s Perdu III (2018) at Lehmann Maupin
$174,000: John Armleder’s Wawa (2014) at Mehdi Chouakri
$174,000: A painting by André Butzer at Galerie Max Hetzler
$160,500: Cathy Wilkes’s Untitled work at Xavier Hufkens
$150,000: Mary Heilmann’s Green Tube Whitewater (2018) at 303 Gallery
$150,000: Michael Williams’s Untitled at David Kordansky
$150,000: Sue Williams’s Baghdad (2017) at 303 Gallery
$150,000: Hernan Bas’s The Gardener’s Scarf at Lehmann Maupin
$150,000: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Invincible (2018) at Jack Shainman Gallery
$145,000: Franz Ackermann’s Little Sky (2016) at Galerie Templon
$125,000–220,000 each: Three works by Markus Lüpertz at Michael Werner Gallery
$120,000: Jennifer Guidi’s Hot and Bothered (Black Sand SF #1T, Yellow-Hot Pink-Orange Gradient Ground, Black) (2018) at David Kordansky
$120,000: Dorothea Tanning’s Dantedore II (1982) at Alison Jacques Gallery
$120,000: Tala Madani’s Disco Pussy (2018) at David Kordansky
$110,000: Harold Ancart’s Untitled in artist’s frame at David Kordansky
$100,000–150,000: Kon Young-Woo’s Untitled (1980’s) at Kukje Gallery/Tina Kim Gallery
$100,000 each: Three paintings by Eddie Martinez at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
$90,000–100,000: Cecilia Vicuña’s Budas en la Cordillera de los Andes (1973) at Lehmann Maupin
$90,000 each: McArthur Binion’s paintings Ink: Work: Violetta; Ink Work: Vermillion; and Ink Work: Verde (all 2018) at Lehmann Maupin
$86,000: A painting by Toby Ziegler at Galerie Max Hetzler
$80,000–90,000: Cecilia Vicuña’s Pongo la Mano al Fuego para ti (1969/1972) at Lehmann Maupin
$75,000: Tala Madani‘s Mother Figure (2018) at 303 Gallery
$70,000: Nicholas Hlobo’s Umhloli Womkhondo (2017) at Lehmann Maupin
$60,000: Ma Ke’s Two Trees (2018) at Rüdiger Schöttle Gallery
$60,000: Nina Chanel Abney’s Anytime Any Place (2018) at Jack Shainman Gallery
$45,000 each: Three versions of Sam Falls’s Untitled (Neutra House, Los Feliz, CA. 5) (2018) at 303 Gallery
$45,000: Jacob Kassay’s Untitled (2018) at 303 Gallery
$35,000: Laure Prouvost’s The Hidden Paintings Grandma Improved–Forward Thinking (2018) at Lisson Gallery
$35,000–174,000 each: All 18 paintings by Bernard Frize co-presented by Perrotin and Simon Lee Gallery
$25,000: Markus Amm’s Untitled work at David Kordansky
$24,000: Calvin Marcus’s me with tongue (2015) at David Kordansky
$20,000: Kim Gordon’s Pussy Galore (2009) at 303 Gallery
$19,000: A painting by Misheck Masamvu at Goodman Gallery
$2,600: Lewis Hammond’s Ménagerie at Antoine Levi, Paris
$4.75 million: Louise Bourgeois’s The Three Graces (1947) at Hauser & Wirth
$2.8 million: Carl Andre’s 100 Copper Squares (1968) at Mnuchin Gallery
$1.5 million: Paul McCarthy’s CSSC Luncheon on the Grass (2015-18) at Xavier Hufkens
$1.5 million: A work by Carol Bove at David Zwirner
$1.5 million: Robert Longo’s Death Star II (2018) sculpture from the Unlimited section, at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$1.4 million: Ai Weiwei’s Iron Tree Trunk (2015) at neugerriemschneider, Berlin
$1 million: Robert Rauschenberg’s Plosion (Borealis) (1990) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$1 million: Sol LeWitt’s 12x12x1 TO 2x2x6 (1990) at Paula Cooper Gallery
In excess of $1 million: Bruce Nauman’s Leaping Foxes (2018) sculptural work was purchased by the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation via Sperone Westwater
$950,000: Alina Szapocznikow’s Lampe (c. 1967) at Hauser & Wirth
$600,000: Alina Szapocznikow’s Auto portrait at Hauser & Wirth
$550,000: Yoshitomo Nara’s OTAFUKU No.0 (Moon-faced Woman No.0) (2007) at Blum & Poe
$475,000: Fred Sandback’s Untitled (Sculptural Study, Seven-part Triangular Construction) (1982/2011) presented in Unlimited by David Zwirner Gallery
$450,000: Francis Alÿs’s video work, Tornado (2000–2010) at David Zwirner Gallery
$350,000: Teresita Fernández’s Untitled (Fence) 2018, bought by a member of an important American institution, at Lehmann Maupin.
$350,000: A sculpture by Max Ernst at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery
$350,000: Doug Aitken’s Future (2017) at 303 Gallery
$327,300: Ai Weiwei’s Coca Cola Vase (2012) at Lisson Gallery
$325,000: Rosemarie Trockel’s Culture Dish (2012) at Sprüth Magers
$320,000–380,000: Ghada Amer’s The Blue Bra Girls (2012) at Kukje Gallery/Tina Kim Gallery
$289,600 each: Two of Jeppe Hein’s Your Way (2017) sculptures at 303 Gallery
$201,000: Imi Knoebel’s Schnitt, 10.03.2017 (2017) at von Bartha
$289,600: Thomas Schütte’s Mann im Matsch mit Fahne (2008/2017) at Peter Freeman, Inc.
$255,500: Lara Favaretto’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), 2018, at Galleria Franco Noero
$195,000: Sterling Ruby’s ACTS/ALPHA BLOCKER (2018) at Sprüth Magers
$180,000 each: Two sculptures by Yinka Shonibare MBE at Goodman Gallery
$180,000: Donald Moffett’s Lot 052018 (Cerulean) (2018) at Marianne Boesky Gallery
$175,000: Rirkrit Tiravanija’s untitled 2012 (freiheit kann man nicht simulieren) (2012) at neugerriemschneider
$175,000: Pipilotti Rist’s Your Eye Fluid video installation at Hauser & Wirth
$174,000: Maria Bartuszová’s plaster and string work at Alison Jacques Gallery
$150,000: Huma Bhabha’s cork sculpture at Salon 94
$150,000: Rashid Johnson’s Untitled (Broken Men) (2018), made of ceramic tiles, at David Kordansky
$150,000: Alighiero Boetti’s Trail of Thoughts at Kukje Gallery/Tina Kim Gallery
$140,500: Imi Knoebel’s Elemente A.1 (2017) at von Bartha
$130,000: Sérgio de Camargo’s sculpture at Bergamin & Gomide Gallery
$128,000: Adolf Luther’s Hohlspiegelobjekt (1990) at von Bartha
$116,000: Raymond Hains’s Untitled bronze sculpture at Galerie Max Hetzler
$104,000: Mária Bartuszová’s Untitled aluminum work at Alison Jacques Gallery
$100,000: Pope.L’s Alcohol Shelf (Archive Version) (2001-09) at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
$95,000–300,000 each: Six sculptures by William Kentridge at Goodman Gallery
$95,000: Kathryn Andrews’s stainless-steel work Yellow Pop (2018) at David Kordansky
$85,000: Hannah Wilke’s four painted ceramics at Alison Jacques Gallery
$75,000–115,000: Kyungah Ham’s installation Chandeliers for Five Cities (2016)at Kukje Gallery/ Tina Kim Gallery
$75,0000: Jac Leirner’s Corpus Delicti (United) (1985–2018) at Galleria Franco Noero, Turin
$75,300: Alicja Kwade’s StillStand (Sterne rauchend) (2018) at 303 Gallery
$70,000: Walid Raad’s Letters to the Reader_015 (2017) at Sfeir-Semler Gallery
$60,000: Arlene Shechet’s No Doubt walnut-and-ceramic sculpture
$52,000–58,000: Haegue Yang’s Sol LeWitt Upside Down (2015) at Kukje Gallery
$50,000 each: Three pieces by Edmund de Waal at Galerie Max Hetzler
$48,000: Ricky Swallow’s mixed-media work Zig #5 (2018) at David Kordansky
In the range of $40,900–93,500 each: Three works by Italian artist Paolo Icaro at P420 Gallery
$48,700: Alicja Kwade’s Idol (300°) (2017) at 303 Gallery
$37,000: Alicja Kwade’s Be-Hide (2016) at 303 Gallery
$35,000: Ruby Neri’s figurative ceramic work Woman in a Landscape (2018) at David Kordansky
$35,000 each: Two video works by Hiwa K from Pre-Image (Blind as the Mother Tongue) (2017) at KOW, Berlin
$35,000: A mirror work by Monica Bonvicini at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
$32,500: Mario Garcia Torres’s Who Said I Was All Nostalgia and No Fun? At Galleria Franco Noero
$25,000: Ximena Garrido-Lecca’s Red Atarraya from the series “Aleaciones con memoria de forma” at Galerie Gisela Capitain
$25,000: Jacolby Satterwhite’s Entertainment Center (2018) at Morán Morán, Los Angeles
$20,000: A sculpture by Sarah Braman at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
$15,000–30,000 each: Three works by Michael E. Smith, including Untitled (2018), at KOW, Berlin
$8,000–28,000 each: 12 ceramic works by Takuro Kuwata at Salon 94
$2 million: Richard Prince’s Untitled (Cowboy) (2001) at Almine Rech Gallery
$1.04 million: Andreas Gursky’s El Ejido (2017) at Sprüth Magers
In excess of $1 million: Bruce Nauman’s video work Contrapposto Split (2017) at Sperone Westwater
$651,000: Zao Wou-Ki’s Untitled (2007) watercolor at galerie kamel mennour, Paris
$504,000: Eduardo Paolozzi’s Untitled mixed-media collage at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, London
$375,000: Barbara Kruger’s Untitled (I WIN YOU LOSE) (2017) at Sprüth Magers
$220,000–280,000: Louise Bourgeois’s Les Arbres (2004), a portfolio of eight drypoint prints, at Kukje Gallery/Tina Kim Gallery
$179,000: Rodney Graham’s photograph Dead Flowers in My Studio 3 (2017) at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
$174,000: Adrian Ghenie’s Untitled (2017) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$166,000: Shirazeh Houshiary’s Portal (2018) at Lisson Gallery
$150,000–200,000 each: Several drawings by Sol LeWitt at Paula Cooper Gallery
$135,000: Adam Pendleton’s The The The/What is The (2018) silkscreen, at Galerie Max Hetzler
$125,000: Kara Walker’s Another Ancestor (2010) at Sprüth Magers
$119,000: Eduardo Paolozzi’s mixed-media collage at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, London
$116,000: Thomas Ruff’s r.phg.13_1 (2015) at Rüdiger Schöttle Gallery
$110,000: Marcel Odenbach’s Nobody answered (2017/8) at Galerie Gisela Capitain
$100,000: Louise Bourgeois’s drawing Maman at Xavier Hufkens
$95,000: Hannah Wilke’s Untitled pastel-and-paint work at Alison Jacques Gallery
$90,000: Mira Schendel’s Untitled gouache and watercolor on paper, at Bergamin & Gomide
$70,000: A photography work by Shirin Neshat at Goodman Gallery
$65,000 each: All works at the stand by Lenore Tawney at Alison Jacques Gallery
$65,000–76,000 each: Five works by Francis Picabia at Galerie 1900–2000
$50,000: Zoe Leonard’s Untitled (1987/2017) at Galerie Gisela Capitain
$50,000: Helen Chadwick’s Wreath to Pleasure (1992–1993) at Richard Saltoun Gallery
$45,000: Tony Lewis’s Transition (2017) at Blum & Poe
$41,000–46,000 each: Four aquarelles on paper by Marwan at Sfeir-Semler Gallery
$32,000: Barbara Kasten’s Composition 8 T (2018) at Galerie Kadel Willborn, Dusseldorf
$30,000–50,000: Alex Prager’s Deborah (2009) at Lehmann Maupin; Prager’s mid-career retrospective is on now at the Photographer’s Gallery.
$36,000 each: Two of Mira Schendel’s untitled works on cardboard at Bergamin & Gomide
$32,000: Mimi Lauter’s Untitled (Devotional Flower Landscape) (2018) at Blum & Poe
$28,000: Torbjørn Rødland’s Poolside (2017) at David Kordansky
$20,000 each: Two prints from Samson Kambalu’s “Mboya Series” (2016) at Kate MacGarry, London
$17,000: Christine Sun Kim’s Self Listening (2018) at White Space Beijing
$14,000: Torbjørn Rødland’s Pink Pipe (2018) at David Kordansky
$12,000 each: Five works from Candice Breitz’s Hollywood Kids 349-Nail Polish, Ghost Write Series (1996) at KOW, Berlin
$11,000: Christine Sun Kim’s Suggested Amount of Getting A Baby’s Attention by Waving Hands or Stomping on Floor Instead of Using Voice (2018) at White Space Beijing
$11,000 each: Five prints and two artist’s proofs of Natalie Czech’s A poem by repetition by Emmett WIlliams 2 (2018) at Galerie Kadel Willborn, Dusseldorf
$3,000: Alina Chaiderov’s photograph Hors d’oeuvre (2018) at Antoine Levi, Paris
$3,000: Alina Chaiderov’s photograph Caress at Antoine Levi, Paris
$1,400 each: Unique sanguine-on-paper works by Louis Fratino at Antoine Levi, Paris