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MOST EXPENSIVE PAINTING
For details of the world's most
highly priced works of art, see:
Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings
Top 20 Most Expensive Paintings
TOP IRISH ART PRICES
For details of the top-priced works
by artists from Ireland, see:
Most Expensive Irish Paintings.
IRISH FINE ARTS
MARKET
For a guide to trends in the value
of works by artists from Ireland,
see: Irish Art Market.
EVOLUTION OF
FINE ART
For details about the development
of Western painting and sculpture
see: History of Art Timeline.
MOVEMENTS, PERIODS,
ARTISTS
For more information, see:
History of Art
Old Masters
Famous Artists.
MEANING OF ART
For more about the different types,
styles and values of traditional and
contemporary visual art, see:
Definition of Art.
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• In November 2006, May 2007, and
June 2007, the company hosted the five highest grossing art auctions of
all time.
• In May 2008, the Impressionist masterpiece
Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas by Claude
Monet, was auctioned for $80.4 million, a world record for a work
by Monet.
Other Record Auction Prices
• Third highest price paid at auction
for a work of art: Adele Bloch-bauer II (1912) by Gustav
Klimt. Sold by Christie's New York, November 2006, for $87.9 million.
• Fifth highest auction price paid
for a work of art: Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890) by Vincent
Van Gogh. Sold by Christie's New York in 1990, for $82.5 million -
a world record at the time.
• Third highest price paid at auction
for a post-war work of art: Green Car Crash (1963) by Andy
Warhol. Sold by Christie's New York in 2007, for $71.7 million.
• Portrait de l'Artiste Sans Barbe
(1889), self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh. $71.5 million at Christie's
New York, in 1998.
• Femme aux Bras Croisés
(1902), by Pablo Picasso. $55
million at Christie's New York, in 2000.
Price-fixing Controversy
In 2000, allegations surfaced of price-fixing
between Christie's and its deadly rival Sotheby's.
Following the confession and cooperation of a senior Christie's employee,
the firm was granted immunity from prosecution in the United States. However,
several senior executives from Sotheby's were fired, while both Alfred
Taubman, the largest shareholder of Sotheby's at the time, and CEO Diana
Brooks were convicted of conspiracy.
Irish Art Auctions
Christie's has achieved numerous record-breaking
sale-prices for works by Irish artists, including:
• Three Studies for a Self Portrait,
by Francis Bacon.
$34,457,475 (Christie's auction, London, 30 June 2008)
• Version No 2 of Lying Figure
with Hypodermic Syringe, by Francis Bacon.
$19.31 million (Christie's auction, New York, November 2006)
• Study from the Human Body, Man
Turning on the Light, by Francis Bacon.
£8,084,500 (Christie's auction, London, October 14 2007)
• Portrait of George Dyer Staring
into a Mirror by Francis Bacon.
£4,936,000 (Christie's auction, London, June 23 2005)
• The Whistle of a Jacket,
by Jack B Yeats, was
sold by Christie's London in May 2001, for £1.4 million.
• The Bridge at Grez, by Sir
John Lavery, was sold by Christie's
London in December 1998, for £1.4 million.
• Bowl, Eggs and Lemons, by
William Scott. Sold at Christie's
London, June 6 2008, for £1,071,650.
• The Honeymoon, by Sir John
Lavery. Sold at Christie's London, May 2006, £915,200.
Christie's Education
In addition to its auctioneering activities,
the firm also maintains an important educational division, called Christie's
Education, which runs accredited colleges in London and New York offering
Masters and Undergraduated Degree courses in Early European Art (Antiquity,
Middle Ages and Renaissance); Fine and Decorative Arts (15th Century to
the mid-19th Century); Modern and Contemporary Art; Postmodernism;
and the History of the Art Market, to name but a few.
Christie's Images
Christie's Images is the firm's
picture library, which owns a multi-million item archive of fine and decorative
art images, consisting of items auctioned in its sales rooms around the
world.
Art Loss Register
In association with Bonhams (the third
largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's) as well as members
of the insurance industry and various art industry associations, Christie's
is a shareholder in the London-based organization Art Loss Register
(ALR). Founded in 1991, the ALR is the world’s largest privately-owned
international database of lost and stolen art, antiques and collectibles.
It offers recovery and search services to private individuals, collectors,
insurance companies and law enforcement agencies. Reportedly, the ALR
has helped to recover over 1,000 works of art worth over $150 million.
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