David Hockney’s painting “Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime” was expected to sell at Christie’s for between £7 million and £10 million, but the predictions did not come true. The work, which sold out in 6 minutes, was bought by a private individual for £21 million (US$23.1 million) and was the highlight of this successful auction recently held in London.

“Dawn at Sainte-Maxime” was painted by a British artist in 1968 while staying at director Tony Richardson’s home on the Côte d’Azur. The harbor of Saint-Maxime is visible above the hills of Saint-Tropez, but Hockney created this pink sunrise from a photograph – he often worked like that, and not from nature. The magical light of the Mediterranean, Hockney’s love for his then-partner, and the wonderful life at Richardson’s villa provided inspiration for this particular painting. The work was completed in 1969 and has been in a private collection for 30 years. Hockney, now 85, is considered the highest paid living artist after his painting Portrait of an Artist (also known as Pool with Two Figures) sold for $90 million in 2018.

The success of this particular Christie’s auction, which featured works from the 20th and 21st centuries – high prices and a sale of all the works offered – proves once again that buyers are still willing to pay to acquire the best works of contemporary art, despite the gloomy international economic climate. .terms. According to representatives of the house, the American presence at the auction was strong. About 15% of projects were acquired in the Americas, 62% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 23% in Asia and the Pacific. According to financial industry experts, thanks in part to the rise in the dollar, super-rich Americans want to travel again, see art up close and invest part of their fortune in it, constantly increasing demand.

In addition, the message of this year, already from the first semester, was that the art market is in full bloom. The tip of the spear – auctions, “everyone is talking about them now,” art dealers comment, which sometimes creates a misconception about the reality of contemporary art. Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips in New York lead in millions of sales. Sotheby’s completed another record sale at the start of the year thanks to the infamous Macklow Collection, which sold for $922 million. The next highly anticipated event will be the Christie’s auction for the sale of the art collection of tech mogul Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and one of the largest art collectors in the world. The collection is worth about a billion dollars and will be auctioned in November.