The Artmark spring auction, the biggest event of the Romanian art market this season, recorded impressive results and confirmed the solid interest in important Romanian art, with a total of around €1 million and a reward rate of over 85%. At the anniversary event – Auction no. 500 hosted by A10 by Artmark at the physical auction room of the InterContinental Athenee Palace, for the first time after 3 years of almost exclusively online auctions, saw 341 pallets bid, of which 80 pallets were in-room and over the phone. Although from a quantitative point of view the limitations of the physical room required that most of the participants take place online, for the first time in a long time the majority of the values ​​were awarded in the room – 53.42% of the judges were present in the room or by phone.

Anniversary event, p. 500 – The quarterly spring auction resets the hierarchy of appreciation and importance in Romanian art. Some artists resisted, some went forward, some were overcome. Thus, once again the top of yesterday’s awards is headed by Nicolae Tonica and Nicolae Grigorescu. The work “Girl with a pink bow” was awarded for 110 thousand euros. Likewise, another important work signed by Nicolae Tonice was Three Brothers, which fetched €75,000.

One of the most anticipated works of the evening was the small painting “Lady Elizabeth in her study”, signed by the national artist Nicolae Grigorescu. The work, which comes from the historic collection of the diplomat Viorel Thilea and is a scaled-down version of the final one in the collection of the Romanian royal family, was awarded for €77,500.

In the postmodern and contemporary art section, a rare Horia Bernea work from the Gardens series fetched €16,000, making it one of Bernea’s top three best-selling works (led by another Garden, a large, awarded by Artmark in 2019 for €26,000 ).

In the sculpture section, the bronze “After the Bath” by Oscar Hahn was recognized as the best for 16,500 euros, which is also an absolute record for the sculptor. His previous record was set in 2014 with the work “Elegy” (prize €15,000).

Absolute records have also been set by other Romanian heritage artists, some known to museums and the public, others less common and admired only by experienced collectors. Thus, the pleasant surprise of the spring auction was Alexandru Romano, whose work “Girl with a turban” was awarded for 4,000 euros, starting from the starting price of 800 euros. The previous record for this little-known talented artist, who died aged just 29, was set in 2020 by the painting The Sage, which sold for €2,250. A partial record was also set last night by Jean Alexandru Steriadi with Boats in the Port of Deauville, which sold for €19,000, his best-selling work in at least the last 10 years.

The results of the spring auction prove the strength of the Romanian art market during the recession – many participants, the return of the appetite for closed events, many judges, a high level of judges (over 85%), the rejuvenation of the age of participants (15.3% of judges belong to the millennial generation, i.e. only 38.8% of participants belong to the generation of collectors formed before 1989), as well as the expressed interest of collectors and investors in an important segment of heritage art.

Article supported by A10 by Artmark