After a few stumbles during Art Basel’s first foray into an online-only fair model with its Hong Kong edition, things are looking up as the marquee Swiss fair heads into the final week of its sophomore Online Viewing Room, which it’s hosting in lieu of its flagship Basel edition.
As usual, dealers who are pleased with results tend to be the most vocal, reporting swift sales to VIP clients in the early hours, and a steady trickle continuing as the days wore on. The fair, which continues through June 26, is now open to the public in exchange for email registration.
Mega-galleries brought works—or, uploaded images of works, rather—with price tags that reached well above six figures (and some cracked the next echelon of price points). Gladstone Gallery nabbed a buyer for its Keith Haring painting with an asking price of $4.75 million, and David Zwirner sold Jeff Koons’s cherry-red balloon sculpture for $8 million, an online sales record for the gallery.
Below, we’ve assembled a list of sales reported from the fair, all converted to USD.
As always, keep in mind that some dealers occasionally offer inflated figures, while others prefer to report ranges or “asking prices”. We did not include sales unaccompanied by a price or price range in our list, so the galleries that tend to disclose figures are disproportionately represented here.
PAINTINGS
Mark Bradford, The Press of Democracy (2020). Image courtesy of the artist and Hauser and Wirth
$5 million: Mark Bradford’s The Press of Democracy (2020) at Hauser and Wirth
$4.75 million: Keith Haring’s untitled dayglo painting at Gladstone Gallery
$3 million: Kerry James Marshall, Untitled (Blot) (2015) to an American museum, at David Zwirner
$1.66 million: Georg Baselitz, Komplementär bräunlich (2012) at White Cube
$1.4 million: George Condo’s Diagonal Evolution (2020) at Hauser & Wirth
$1.35 million: Georg Baselitz, Elke in Frankreich II (2019) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$1.2 million: Glenn Ligon’s Untitled (study for large untitled (I Feel Most Colored When I Am Thrown Against A Sharp White Background)) (1990) at Luhring Augustine
$1.2 million: Bridget Riley’s Intervals 6 (2019) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$1.2 million: Ed Clark, Untitled (1972) at Hauser & Wirth
In excess of $1 million: Joan Mitchell, Pastel (1991) at David Zwirner
$1 million: Josef Albers’s City, (1928/1936) at David Zwirner
$950,000–1 million: George Condo, The Dreamer (2008) at Almine Rech
$900,000: Georg Baselitz, Ralf III (Remix) (2005) at Skarstedt
$850,000: Walton Ford, The Flaming Fields (2020) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$850,000: Lee Lozano, No Title (ca. 1964) at Hauser and Wirth
$730,000: Günther Förg, Untitled (2007) at Hauser and Wirth
$619,000: Günther Förg, Untitled (2007) at Hauser and Wirth
$600,000: A painting by Jennifer Bartlett at Marianne Boesky Gallery
$580,000: Roy Lichtenstein, Head (Study) (1986) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$575,000: A painting by Elizabeth Peyton at Gladstone Gallery
$500,000: Neo Rauch, Im Turm (2019) at David Zwirner
$500,000: Dan Colen’s Mother (2020) at Lévy Gorvy
$490,000: Tracey Emin, This Was The Beginning (2020) at White Cube
$475,000: Carroll Dunham, Untitled (1991) at Gladstone Gallery
$450,000: Stanley Whitney, Listening to the Poets at Lisson Gallery
$450,000 each: Three paintings by Oscar Murillo, including (untitled) surge (2019-20) at David Zwirner
$425,000: Avery Singer, Assassin (Bird bar) (2020) at Hauser and Wirth
$400,000-450,000: Luiz Zerbini, Happiness Beyond Paradise (2020) at Stephen Friedman Gallery
$375,000: Cecilia Vicuña, Camilo Torres (1978) at Lehmann Maupin
$375,000: David Salle, Under the Earth (2020) at Skarstedt
$360,000–400,000: Markus Lüpertz’s Das Gerücht (1982) at Almine Rech
$350,000: Mamma Andersson, The First Magician (2020) at Stephen Friedman Gallery
$350,000: Liu Wei, Purple Air 2016 No. 2 (2016) at White Cube
$350,000: Jia Aili, Mountain and Line (2020) at Gagosian
$325,000: Charline von Heyl’s Retox (2018) at Petzel
$300,000-400,000: Antoni Tàpies, Galanteig (1952) at Di Donna
$300,000: Harold Ancart, Untitled (2018) at David Zwirner
$280,000: Michael Armitage, Account of an Illiterate Man (2020) at White Cube
$250,000: Nicolas Party, Still Life (2020) at Hauser and Wirth
Mickalene Thomas, Sugar Baby (2004). Courtesy of the artist and Levy Gorvy.
$240,000: Mickalene Thomas, Sugar Baby (2004) at Lévy Gorvy
$226,000: A painting by Daniel Richter at Regen Projects
$220,000: Katharina Grosse, Untitled (2020) at Gagosian
$200,000: Jennifer Giudi, Ace of Wands (Painted Universe Mandala SF #2H, White, Multicolor Ground) (2020) at Massimo de Carlo
$185,000: Charles Gaines, Numbers and Trees: Palm Canyon, Palm Trees Series 3, Tree #2 (2020) at Hauser and Wirth
$180,000: Dana Schutz, Juggler at Petzel
$150,000: Nicole Eisenman, Sarah Nicole Prickett Portrait (2020) at Hauser and Wirth
$175,000: A work by Donald Moffett at Marianne Boesky
$160,000: Tala Madani, Shit Mom (Parentheses) (2020) at David Kordansky Gallery
$140,000: R.H. Quaytman, The Sun Does Not Move, Chapter 35 (2020) at Miguel Abreu Gallery
$140,000: Josh Smith, Untitled (2020) from the recent show “Josh Smith: High as Fuck” at David Zwirner
$130,000–135,000: Genieve Figgis, Actors (2017) at Almine Rech
$125,000: Marina Rheingantz, A vida é bonita, Até pelo avesso, O caminho não, É o desvio, A morte não tem, Nome, O iniludível, É um abraço sincero, Definitivo, Magnifico. (Lucas Fazzio), (2020) at Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel
$120,000: A painting by Christina Quarles at Regen Projects
$100,000: A work by Jeff Elrod at Galerie Max Hetzler
$100,000: Stefan Brüggeman, Hyper-Palimpsest (Gold) (2020) at Hauser and Wirth
$90,000: Tishan Hsu’s Fingerpainting 3, (1994) at Miguel Abreu Gallery
$85,000: Lisa Yuskavage, Thespian (2020) at David Zwirner
$65,000: Claudio Parmiggiani’s Untitled (2019) at Bortolami
$60,000: Jennifer Guidi’s Desert Beauty (Painted Purple Sand SF #1A, Light Purple-Pink Sky, Purple Mountain, Yellow Ground), (2020) at David Kordansky
$55,000: A painting by Pieter Schoolwerth at Petzel
$55,000: Michaela Eichwald, Innere Verwahrlosung (2014) at
$50,000–60,000: Vaughn Spann, Year of the Fallen (2020) at Almine Rech
$50,000: Julie Curtiss, Selfies 2 (2020) at White Cube
$50,000: Marina Rheingantz, Danse de l’eu (2020) at Bortolami
$50,000: A painting by Katherine Bernhardt at Xavier Hufkens
$50,000: Milton Resnick, Skow (1981) at Miguel Abreu Gallery
$45,000: Jules de Balincourt, Park People Versus Forest People (2020) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$38,000: A work by Ida Tursic & Wilfried Mille at Galerie Max Hetzler
$30,000: Work by Serge Alain Nitegeka at Marianne Boesky
$15,000: Cassi Namoda, Bar Mundo at 12am (2020) at Goodman Gallery
$18,500 each: Five editions of Kaspar Müller’s Untitled (2020) at Société
SCULPTURES & MIXED MEDIA
Paul McCarthy, White Snow Cake (2017). Courtesy of Xavier Hufkens.
$8 million: Jeff Koons’s Balloon Venus Lespugue (Red) (2013–19) at David Zwirner
$1.85 million: Donald Judd’s Untitled (87-33) at Anthony Meier Fine Arts
$1.5 million: Louise Bourgeois’s mixed media work The Fragile (2007) at Hauser and Wirth
$1.2 million: Paul McCarthy, White Snow Cake (2017) at Xavier Hufkens
$957,000: A knitwork by Rosemarie Trockel at Gladstone Gallery
$750,000: Carol Bove, Tragic Deviousness (2020) at David Zwirner
$500,000: Rashid Johnson’s Untitled Broken Crowd (2019) at Hauser and Wirth
$475,000: Rashid Johnson’s Untitled Escape Collage (2020) at David Kordansky Gallery
$450,000: Theaster Gates, Now That Kobe’s Gone, All Rules Have Changed. (2019) at White Cube
$325,000: Simone Leigh, Las Meninas III (2020), promised gift to an American museum, at Hauser and Wirth
$320,000: A sculpture by Ugo Rondinone at Gladstone Gallery
$275,000: Fred Eversley, Untitled (parabolic lens) (1969/2019) at David Kordansky
$225,000: A tapestry work by Theaster Gates at Regen Projects
$225,000: Sol LeWitt’s Progressive Spiral (1972) at Anthony Meier Fine Arts
$200,000 each: Two editions of Glenn Ligon’s neon Aftermath (2020) at Hauser and Wirth
$110,000: Simone Leigh, Village Series (2020) promised gift to an American museum, at Hauser and Wirth
$100,000: Simon Denny’s Amazon worker cage patent drawing as virtual King Island Brown Thornbill cage (US 9,280,157 B2: “System and method for transporting personnel within an active workspace”, 2016), (2019) at Petzel
$85,000: Sarah Sze, Still Dusk (2020) at Gagosian
$55,000: Sterling Ruby’s REIF. 7263. (2020) at Xavier Hufkens
$45,000: A mixed-media sculpture by Michel François at Xavier Hufkens
$30,000: Didier William, Kisa nap fe ansamn, (2020) at James Fuentes
DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, & WORKS ON PAPER
Max Ernst, Petite fille jouant aux cercaux (1974). Image courtesy of Kasmin Gallery.
$625,000: A work on paper by Keith Haring at Gladstone Gallery
$600,000: William Kentridge, Enough of This Scandal (2020) at Goodman Gallery
$600,000: A painting on paper by Toba Khedoori at Regen Projects
$550,000: Barbara Kruger, Are We Having Fun Yet? (1987) at Skarstedt
$500,000: Wolfgang Tillman’s five-photograph installation, paper drop (passage) I-V (2019) originally meant to be displayed in Art Basel’s Unlimited section, at David Zwirner
$240,000: Lee Krasner’s untitled work on paper at Kasmin Gallery
$115,000: Max Ernst’s Petite fille jouant aux cercaux (1974) at Kasmin Gallery
$95,000: Edward Ruscha, FACTORY BUBBLE (2020) at Gagosian
$85,000: A gouache work by Louise Bourgeois at Xavier Hufkens
$50,000: Deborah Roberts What else can I do, (2020) at Stephen Friedman Gallery
$45,000: Zarina, Untitled (2014) at Luhring Augustine
$45,000 each: Two watercolors by Lauretta Vinciarelli at Anthony Meier Fine Arts
$30,000 each: Several works on paper by the late Joyce Pensato at Petzel Gallery
$20,000: Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Grandpères (2020) at Goodman Gallery
$10,000: Patrick Angus’s Untitled (Dancer) at Bortolami
$9,500 each: Four works on paper by Jason Moran at Luhring Augustine