Christie’s Spring Marquee Week—Monday, May 12 through Thursday, May 15, 2025 in Rockefeller Center—generated a total of $693 million, 123% over low estimate, surpassing the auction house’s totals from the previous two Marquee Weeks.
“Going into this week, we were confident that we had the strongest material of the season, priced right,” said Bonnie Brennan, Christie’s CEO. “We had demand from our clients who trust us, and a team of the world’s best specialists to build our sales. We are pleased with our results, and that this season’s total surpassed both our 2024 Marquee Weeks. We are seeing supply unlock, and with this strong May in the books, we are optimistic about the balance of 2025.”
The sales saw spirited bidding in the room, on the phones and online throughout each of the four days, with a sell-through rate of 88% sold by lot, and multiple artist records realized. Marlene Dumas’ Miss January established a new record for living female artists to sell at auction at $13.6 million in the 21st Century Evening Sale, with additional records set for Simone Leigh, Emma McIntyre, and Louis Fratino during the night. The 20th Century Evening Sale set records for Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, for Monet’s famed Poplars series, and for a work on paper by Franz Von Stuck. The top lot sold during the week was a 1922 Mondrian painting from the Riggio sale, sold for $47.6 million.
As of today, Christie’s has sold the top 8 works of the season, and 9 of the top 10. The week in total was defined by success not exclusively at the top end, but across all price bands in the market, in both the Evening Sales and the Day Sales. In Tuesday’s Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale, Matisse’s Henriette, robe jaune saw strong demand, with nine engaged bidders. It exceeded its estimate of $300,000 – 500,000 to achieve a final price of $1.4 million. Today in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale, an oil painting by Mark Tansey experienced exceptionally deep bidding, with participants eagerly vying for Study for “The Enunciation.” The work sold for $3.2 million – more than 10 times its low estimate.
“We have an incredible team in place to land collections, price them properly, and sell them more successfully than anyone else,” said Alex Rotter, Christie’s Global President. “We take our responsibility to the market and to our clients seriously. Our job is to find buyers for as many lots as possible in our sales. and with fresh and unique material to work with, we took every opportunity to deliver. I’m proud of the team, I’m pleased for the market, and I’m very optimistic for the future. As long there is art people will want to own it.”
Records
21st Century Evening Sale
20th Century Evening Sale
Main Image: Adrien Meyer sells the top lot of Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works, Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue for $47.6 million
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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