Spirits and sales were high during the opening days of Basel, with high rollers flocking to the picturesque town for what is arguably the final sprint after a long art-fair marathon.
Many of the blue-chip galleries boasted flashy displays (see Jeff Koons’s giant shiny pink bow at Gagosian’s stand—yours for only $14.5 million!). But there was also considerable buzz surrounding virtual sales this year. At David Zwirner, a mere swipe of the finger locked in collectors for a $900,000 Donald Judd sculpture, a $1.8 Kusama pumpkin, and a $200,000 Carol Bove sculpture—and that was only on the first day.
Face-to-face sales were swift as well. New York dealer Jack Shainman saw six of nine works on display by sought-after artists including Kerry James Marshall and the late Barkley L. Hendricks find new homes within the first hour. All in all, the vast majority of high-priced sales were still garnered by men who have long sat at the top of the list—Gerhard Richter, George Condo, Christopher Wool, and Mark Grotjahn among them.
To capture a snapshot of all this commerce, we combed through reported sales from the 290 participating galleries. 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. (We did not include reported sales unaccompanied by a price or price range in our list, so the galleries that tend to disclose figures are disproportionately represented here.)
All prices have been sorted by medium and price and converted to USD for ease of reading.
PAINTINGS
Gerhard Richter, Versammlung (Assembly) (1966). © Gerhard Richter 2019. Courtesy David Zwirner.
$20 million: Gerhard Richter’s Versammlung (1966) at David Zwirner
$10 million–12 million: Kim Whanki’s Tranquility 5-IV-73 #310 (1973) at Kukje Gallery/ Tina Kim Gallery
$7.75 million: Mark Bradford’s Rat Catcher of Hamelin II (2011) at White Cube
$6 million: Christopher Wool’s Untitled (2009) at Lévy Gorvy
$5 million: Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled (Indian #2 Face 54.47) (2014) at Lévy Gorvy
$3.8 million: Franz West’s Test (1994) at Hauser & Wirth
$3.5 million: Mark Bradford’s Fly in the Buttermilk (2002) at Mnuchin Gallery
$3.5 million: Kerry James Marshall’s To Be Titled (2019) at Jack Shainman Gallery
$3 million: Georges Vantongerloo’s étude la haye (1918) at Hauser & Wirth
$3 million: Richard Prince’s The Housewife and the Grocer (1988) at Skarstedt
$2.8 million: Georg Baselitz’s Supper in Dresden (Remix) (2006) at White Cube
$2.5 million: Philip Guston’s Boot (1968) at Hauser & Wirth
$2.5 million: Albert Oehlen’s Rasieren (2005) at Skarstedt
$2.2 million: Rudolf Stingel’s Untitled (2019) at Massimo De Carlo
$2 million: Yoshimoto Nara’s Not Yet Titled (2019) at Blum & Poe
$2 million: Lee Ufan’s From Line (1977) at Pace
$2 million: Joan Mitchell’s Untitled (1960) at Mnuchin Gallery
$2 million each: Two works by Albert Oehlen, Stück (2003) and Auf der Veranda (2005), at Galerie Max Hetzler
$1.75 million: Robert Rauschenberg’s Crossings (Borealis) (1990) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$1.7 million: A painting by Alex Katz at Richard Gray Gallery
$1.5 million: Barkley L. Hendricks’s Andy (1974) at Jack Shainman
$1.5 million: George Condo’s Man and Woman (2019) at Skarstedt
$1.5 million: Robert Mangold’s Four Color Fame painting #15 (1985) at Pace
$1.5 million: A painting by Beatriz Milhazes at White Cube
$1.35 million: Robert Rauschenberg’s Proof (Salvage) (1984) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$1.3 million: Kerry James Marshall’s Red Hot Deal (2012) at Jack Shainman Gallery
$1.25 million: El Anatsui’s Breaking News (2015) at Jack Shainman
$1.25–1.5 million: Yoo Youngkuk’s Work (1965) at Kukje Gallery / Tina Kim Gallery
$1.25 million: Frank Stella’s mixed media painting Grodno I (1973) at Marianne Boesky Gallery
$1.2 million: A work by painter Luc Tuymans sold to a Taiwanese collector at David Zwirner
$1.2 million: Bridget Riley’s Fermata (Blue) (2014) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$1.1 million: Pierre Soulages’s 2018 painting at Lévy Gorvy
$1.1 million: Georg Baselitz’s Kalmuckentempel (2010) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$500,000–$1 million
$1 million: Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Négatif/Positif, Composition Verticale – Horizontale, 1928/21 at von Bartha
$1 million: A painting by Lisa Yuskavage at David Zwirner
$1 million: Robert Ryman’s Surface Veil (1970) at Xavier Hufkens
$950,000: Yoshitomo Nara’s Midnight Cross (2017) at Pace
$900,000: Robert Colescott’s Down in the Dumps: So Long Sweetheart (1983) at Blum & Poe
$900,000: Alice Neel’s Poet Mark McCloskey and his Girl (ca. 1967) at Xavier Hufkens
$840,000–960,000: Günther Forg’s Untitled (2008) at Almine Rech
$840,000: Günther Forg’s Untitled (1996) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$800,000: Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled (Capri 51.29) and Untitled (Capri 51.31) (both 2019) at Blum & Poe
$750,000: Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled (Capri 51.30) at Blum & Poe
$750,000: Joe Bradley’s Untitled (2018) at Galerie Eva Presenhuber
$650,000: Georges Vantongerloo’s Zittende Vrouw (Sitting Woman) (1916) at Hauser & Wirth
$650,000: Mary Corse’s Untitled (White Light Band with White Sides) (1989) at Pace
$600,000: Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled (Capri 50.79) at Blum & Poe
$570,000: Anish Kapoor’s Untitled (2019) at Lisson Gallery
$550,000–600,000: Ha Chong-Hyun’s Conjunction 77-12 (1977) at Kukje Gallery / Tina Kim Gallery
$500,000: Sterling Ruby’s WIDW. SET. FIRE. (2019) at Xavier Hufkens
$500,000: Alex Katz’s Coca-Cola Girl 44 (2019) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
Jennifer Bartlett, Beaver: Man Carrying Thing (1989). Courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery.
$100,000–$500,000
$425,000: Rashid Johnson’s Untitled Escape Collage (2019) at David Kordansky Gallery
$407,000: Günther Förg’s Untitled (1998) at Massimo De Carlo
$400,000–600,000 each: Two works by Toshio Yoshida at Fergus McCaffrey
$400,000–450,000: Jannis Kounellis’s Untitled (1980) at Almine Rech
$400,000: Dorothea Tanning’s The Moonstone Effect (1959–2005) at Alison Jacques
$400,000: Mary Weatherford’s Smoke Blossom Exploding Bamboo (2019) at David Kordansky Gallery
$375,000: Mary Corse’s Untitled (White Inner Band, Beveled) (2019) at Lisson Gallery
$350,000: A painting by Thornton Dial from David Lewis Gallery to a US collector as a promised gift to the Whitney Museum of American Art
$350,000: Leon Polk Smith’s Cobalt Violet Deep–Yellow (1960) at Richard Gray Gallery
$325,000: Stanley Whitney’s Between Black and White (2003) at Lisson Gallery
$325,000: Jennifer Bartlett’s Beaver: Man Carrying Thing (1989) at Marianne Boesky Gallery
$320,000: Steven Shearer’s Birdy Boy (2019) at Galerie Eva Presenhuber
$300,000–350,000: Lee Ufan’s From Point No. 78211 (1978) at Kukje Gallery / Tina Kim Gallery
$300,000: Lee Ufan’s Dialogue (2019) at Lisson Gallery
$260,000: Wang Guangle’s 181004 (2004) at Pace
$225,000: Jonas Wood’s NYTimes Frimkess Still Life (2018) at David Kordansky Gallery
$200,000–250,000: Pope.L’s Training Painting (2019) at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
$200,000: Adam Pendleton’s Untitled (WE ARE NOT) (2019) at Pace
$200,000: Imi Knoebel’s Bochum (1999) at von Bartha
$190,000: Jennifer Guidi’s Lunar Sunrise, Lunar Sunset (Diptych: Blue and Light Blue #2MT, Painted Yellow Sand SF #1R, Black and Orange, Yellow Ground; Black #1PT, Painted Yellow Sand SF #1T, White to Red Gradient, Yellow Ground) at David Kordansky Gallery sold to a US-based foundation
$190,000: Shirazeh Houshiary’s Sonorous (2011) at Lisson Gallery
$185,000: Nina Chanel Abney, Junk Mail Scribble (2019) at Jack Shainman
$180,000: Katharina Grosse’s o.T. (2019) at König Galerie
$180,000 each: Two paintings by Josh Smith from 2019 at Galerie Eva Presenhuber
$175,000: Henry Taylor’s Green Light (2018) at Blum & Poe
$150,000: Michael Williams’s Puzzle Painting 101 (2019) at Galerie Eva Presenhuber
$150,000: Tala Madani’s Shit Mother I (2019) at David Kordansky Gallery
$145,000: Allora & Calzadilla’s Electromagnetic Field (March 25, 2019, Meter Number 96215234, Provisional Rate 36.1kWh x $0.01299, Fuel Purchase 36.1kWh x $0.105645, Energy Charge 36.1kWh x $0.053508) (2019) at Lisson Gallery
$140,000: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s All of What We have, None of What We Are (2019) at Jack Shainman
$140,000: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Waves and Crests (2019) at Jack Shainman
$136,000: Wilhelm Sasnal’s Untitled (2018) at Hauser & Wirth
$135,000: Matthew Day Jackson’s Solopsist XII (2018) at Hauser & Wirth
$130,000: Nate Lowman’s Heartless Abstraction, (2018) at Massimo De Carlo
$120,000: Keith Tyson’s Nature Morte (2004) at Hauser & Wirth
$100,000: Paulina Olowska’s Fashion Cleaners (2019) at Metro Pictures
$100,000: Hayv Kahraman’s Untitled (2019) at Jack Shainman
$100,000 and Under
$85,000: A small-scale painting by Damien Loeb at Acquavella Gallery
$75,000: Friedrich Kunath’s I’ll Wait (2018) at Blum & Poe
$60,000: Yukie Ishikawa’s Red Brothers (1995) at Blum & Poe
$60,000: Calvin Marcus’s Dreamy Bloody Head with Bad Teeth on Grassy Mound (2018) at David Kordansky Gallery
$50,000–70,000: A painting by Keltie Ferris at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
$46,000: Cui Jie’s Telecom Building (2019) at Metro Pictures
$45,000: A new painting by Eddie Martinez at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
$45,000: Tony Lewis‘s Total (2018) at Massimo De Carlo
$37,000: Rinus Van de Velde’s I totally dislike… (2018) at König Galerie
SCULPTURES, MIXED MEDIA, & INSTALLATIONS
John Chamberlain, PARISIANESCAPADE (1999). © 2019 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the John Chamberlain Estate and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Thomas Barratt.
$3.4 million: Eduardo Chillida’s Elogio de la Luz XX (In Praise of the Light XX) (1990) at Hauser & Wirth
$2.5 million: Jack Whitten’s Aphrodite’s Lover (2015) at Hauser & Wirth
$2–2.5 million: Alberto Giacometti’s Tête d’homme (1961) at Lévy Gorvy
$2 million: Alexander Calder’s sheet metal and wire sculpture Untitled (1966) at Galerie Thomas
$1.7 million: Alina Szapocznikow’s Autoportret II (Self-Portrait II) (1966) at Hauser & Wirth
$750,000: John Chamberlain’s PARISIANESCAPADE (1999) at Hauser & Wirth
$650,000: Joel Shapiro’s Untitled (2017-19) at Pace
$450,000: Sherrie Levine’s False God (2007) cast bronze skeleton at Xavier Hufkens
$400,000: A granite sculpture by Jaume Plensa at Richard Gray Gallery
$400,000: Mark di Suvero’s Departure 2001 (1964) at Pace
$400,000: Antony Gormley’s VEER II (2018) at Galleria Continua
$375,000: Fred Eversley’s Untitled (Rose Gold) (1979) sold by David Kordansky Gallery to a foundation in Europe
$351,000: Eduardo Chillida’s Lurra M-7 (Earth M-7) (1995) at Hauser & Wirth
$340,000: Two editions of Camille Henrot’s OCPD bronze sculpture (2018) in the Parcours section, presented by König Galerie, Kamel Mennour, and Metro Pictures
$290,000: Alicja Kwade’s Trans-For-Men 6 (Fibonacci), 2019 at König Galerie
$225,000: Jenny Holzer’s I was arrested (2012-19) at Hauser & Wirth
$180,000: Pipilotti Rist’s video object, Panoramawasser (Rhein) Panorama Water (Rhine) (2019), at Hauser & Wirth
$175,000: Sheila Hicks’s Avalanche Heureuse (2012–14) at Alison Jacques
$170,000: Daniel Buren’s Triptyque electrique – Bleu (2012–14) at Galleria Massimo Minini
$160,000: Erwin Wurm’s Tall Bag G (2019) at König Galerie
$150,000: Donald Moffett’s Lot 012119 (nature cult, clockwise ruby red) (2019) at Marianne Boesky Gallery
$125,000: Lynda Benglis’s Cantilevered Forced Bunch (1993) at Blum & Poe
$112,000: Edmund de Waal’s installation jade steps grievance (2018) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$91,000: Tatiana Trouvé’s The Guardian (2019) at König Galerie
$90,000: Ugo Rondinone’s fall cloud (2018) at Galerie Eva Presenhuber
$82,000: Andreas Schmitten’s Adoleszenz (2019) at König Galerie
$60,000: Jeppe Hein’s aluminum coated Modified Social Bench V (2014) at König Galerie
$52,000: Alicja Kwade’s Casual Emergence (July) (2019) at König Galerie
$45,000: A bronze work by Giorgio Andreotti Calò at Sprovieri
$45,000: Julião Sarmento’s bronze work Joana and the Wall (2019) at Carolina Nitsch
$39,000: SUPERFLEX’s It Is Not the End of the World (2019) at Copenhagen’s Nils Staerk
$29,000: Claudia Comte’s Le Lapin (2019) at König Galerie
$16,000–18,000: Suki Seokyeong Kang’s GRANDMOTHER TOWER-#19-02 (2018-19) at Kukje Gallery / Tina Kim Gallery
PRINTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, & WORKS ON PAPER
Zanele Muholi, S’thombe, La Réunion, (2016) (detail). Courtesy of Stevenson Gallery.
$1.5 million: Robert Longo’s Untitled (Tiger Head 2) (2011) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$950,000: Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still #21 (1978) at Sprüth Magers
$750,000: Robert Longo’s Untitled (Statue of Marianne; Paris, France, December 1, 2018) (2018) at Metro Pictures
$750,000: Wayne Thiebaud’s Eyebrow Pencil (1964) at Pace
$650,000: Robert Longo’s Untitled (Portrait of Hubris) (2018) at Metro Pictures
$600,000: George Condo’s Large Female Figure charcoal drawing at Sprüth Magers
$450,000: Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Aegean Sea, Pilion (1990) at Pace
$425,000: Lorna Simpson’s Ellipses (2019) at Hauser & Wirth
$336,000: A suite of digital prints from Rosemarie Trockel’s CLUSTER II-Prisoner of Yourself (2015) at Sprüth Magers
$300,000: A watercolor by Otto Dix at Galerie St. Etienne
$200,000: Adam Pendleton’s Untitled (masks) (2019) at Galerie Eva Presenhuber
$190,000–200,000: A portfolio of 28 photographs by Sol LeWitt at Pace/MacGill Gallery
$150,000–200,000 each: Two aquatints by Richard Diebenkorn, Large Light Blue and Large Dark Blue (both 1980) at Susan Sheehan Gallery
$150,000 each: Two drawings by Egon Schiele at Galerie St. Etienne
$140,000: August Sander’s Gymnasiast (High School Student) (1926, printed ca. 1960) at Hauser & Wirth
$125,000: Yoshitomo Nara’s Untitled (2011), colored pencil on paper board, at Pace
$101,000: Arnulf Rainer’s Proportion (ohne titel) (1953) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$100,000–200,000 each: Two lithographs by Jasper Johns, Corpse and Mirror and Scent (both 1976), at Susan Sheehan Gallery
$100,000: Martin Kippenberger’s Imperial Hotel (1980) at Pace
$90,000: Four estate color photographs by Ana Mendieta, Untitled (Cosmetic Facial Variations) (1972), at Alison Jacques
$85,000: Mao Yan’s Thomas (2006) at Pace
$65,000 each: Three of Robert Longo’s studies—Of Luca (2017); Of Jellyfish (2019); and Of Ram (2018)—at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$65,000: Marc Brandenburg’s Stress Reliever 1 (2018) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$52,000–60,000 each: Three photo drawings by David Hockney at Pace/MacGill Gallery
$45,000: Andreas Gursky’s Kodak (1995) at Sprüth Magers
$40,000: Kathryn Andrews’s Tutti Frutti Ancient (Durga’s Lemon Lamp) (2019) at König Galerie
$30,000: Carl Andre’s POOHBAR (1992) at Pace
$30,000: Karl Haendel’s Jaguar (2019) at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
$28,000: Benode Behari Mukherjee’s Abstract Composition with String and Fabric (1960) at Vadehra Art Gallery
$20,000–25,000 each: Six lifetime prints by Peter Hujar at Pace/MacGill
$13,600: David Claerbout’s Confetti (2019) at Annet Gelink Gallery
$13,600: Meiro Koizumi’s Fog #6 (2019) at Annet Gelink Gallery
$12,500–25,000 each: 14 of Yoshitomo Nara’s diptych photographs at Pace/MacGill Gallery
$12,000–30,000 each: 24 photographs by Zanele Muholi at Stevenson Gallery
$11,000 each: Two works by Ian Wallace at Parra & Romero in the Features section