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A record-breaking night: the art market roars again in New York
New York reaffirmed its position as the world's art market capital. In just a few days, major auction houses recorded sales of hundreds of millions of dollars and set new historical records for essential figures of modern and contemporary art such as Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi, and Mark Rothko. The intensity of the bidding and the volume of sales were interpreted by specialists as a clear sign of a revival in the international market.
The star of the season was Pollock's Number 7A (1948) , which sold at Christie's for $181.1 million. The work not only shattered the artist's previous record—$61.1 million achieved in 2021—but also entered the list of the most expensive pieces ever sold at auction, displacing none other than Pablo Picasso from the all-time top ten.
The painting, over three meters wide, is considered one of the most important examples of the monumental drip compositions created by Pollock during the pivotal period that began in 1947, when he definitively abandoned figurative painting to explore pure abstraction. Christie's described the work as “a pivotal moment both in the artist's career and in the history of painting,” highlighting the gestural freedom and technical radicalism of a piece rarely exhibited publicly.
From the collection of publishing magnate Samuel Irving Newhouse, who died in 2017, the work generated a seven-minute bidding war at Rockefeller Center, where buyers drove the price to a figure that almost tripled the artist's previous record.
The evening also marked a new high for Rothko. One of his paintings fetched $98.3 million, far surpassing the $86.8 million achieved in 2012. Days earlier, another work from the collection of art dealer Robert Mnuchin had sold at Sotheby's for $85.7 million, anticipating renewed interest in American Abstract Expressionism.
But the most cinematic moment of the week featured Nicole Kidman. The actress appeared in a sophisticated promotional video filmed in a room at Rockefeller Center to accompany the auction of Danaïde , the celebrated gilded sculpture created by Brancusi in 1913.
In the video, Kidman slowly circles the gold-plated sculpted head as David Bowie's " Golden Years" plays. The scene, inspired by an experimental film by Man Ray starring Lee Miller in the 1930s, sought to convey the emotional impact of encountering a work of art.
According to Christie's, Kidman was chosen for her ability to embody "the joy, passion, curiosity, and wonder" that the artistic experience evokes. The strategy worked: Danaïde fetched $107.5 million, becoming the most expensive Brancusi work ever sold at auction.
The sales also yielded remarkable figures for other 20th-century masters. Joan Miró set a new personal record with Portrait of Madame K , which sold for $53.5 million, well above initial estimates. Christie's noted that the work, purportedly inspired by the Polish artist Dora Bianka, fuses desire, eroticism, and femininity with a surrealist sensibility.
In contrast, several Picasso pieces achieved more modest results. Tête de femme (Fernande) , a 1909 bronze bust inspired by Fernande Olivier after the artist's trip to Horta de Ebro, sold for $48.3 million, below the auction house's expectations. Other works that found buyers included Homme à la guitare , for $40.8 million; La femme enceinte, 1er état , for $22.4 million; and Tête de femme , for $14.4 million.
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