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Here Are the 15 Most Expensive Artworks Sold at Auction Around the World in November 2021
We scoured the Price Database for the top-selling lots in November.
We scoured the Price Database for the top-selling lots in November.
Caroline Goldstein ShareShare This Article
In a surprise to no one, this month’s top auction lots were dominated by two marquee events: Christie’s sale of Impressionist works assembled by the late Texas oil magnate Edwin Cox and Sotheby’s record-breaking auction of the Macklowe collection.
Both were heralded as signs that the top of the art market remains strong (and maybe grew even stronger) amid an ongoing pandemic that has left many individuals in dire financial straits.
The Cox Collection, offered alongside Christie’s 20th century art sale, brought in a robust $332 million on November 11. (It was the second most lucrative evening for the house ever, just behind the 2017 evening sale in which Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi fetched $450.3 million.)
Highlights included three lots by Vincent van Gogh. Hugo Nathan, principal of the London advisory firm Beaumont Nathan, was identified as the winning bidder for two of them, including a garish portrait that outperformed its estimate by an eye-popping 567 percent. Meanwhile, the Getty in Los Angeles went home with Gustave Caillebotte’s Jeune homme à sa fenêtre (1876).
Just days later, Sotheby’s sold the show-stopping collection assembled by the bitter exes Harry and Linda Macklowe, who were forced to sell the works they had assembled over decades because they could not agree on what they were worth. The answer, it turns out, was a lot. The sale brought in more than $676 million, making it the most valuable in Sotheby’s history. And it isn’t even over yet: More works from the collection will hit the block in May 2022.
Below, see the most expensive works to hit the block in November 2021. Final prices include auction-house fees; estimates do not.
Estimate: $70 million to $90 million
Final Price: $82.5 million
Where & When: Sotheby’s New York, November 15, 2021
Estimate: $70 to $90 million
Final Price: $78.4 million
Where & When: Sotheby’s New York, November 15, 2021
Estimate: In the region of $40 million
Final Price: $71.3 million
Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 11, 2021
Estimate: $25 million to $35 million
Final Price: $61.2 million
Where & When: Sotheby’s New York, November 15, 2021
Estimate: $40 million to $60 million
Final Price: $58.9 million
Where & When: Sotheby’s New York, November 15, 2021
Estimate: $35 million to $55 million
Final Price: $55.3 million
Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 11, 2021
Estimate: In the region of $50 million
Final Price: $53 million
Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 11, 2021
Estimate: In the region of $40 million
Final Price: $50.8 million
Where & When: Sotheby’s New York, November 15, 2021
Final Price: $47.4 million
Where & When: Sotheby’s New York, November 15, 2021
Estimate: $5 million to $7 million
Final Price: $46.7 million
Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 11, 2021
Estimate: In the region of $20 million
Final Price: $40.1 million
Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 11, 2021
Estimate: $40 million to $80 million
Final Price: $40 million
Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 11, 2021
Estimate: In excess of $35 million
Final Price: $39.9 million
Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 11, 2021
Estimate: $20 million to $30 million
Final Price: $35.9 million
Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 11, 2021