Last year, the fine arts market experienced an overall dip compared to its performance in the past years, Christie's has even come out with a report saying its year-end total was down by 25%.
That said, 2023 still had a handful of gigantic sales with one clear forerunner that had a final auction price that was leaps and bounds above other sales.
That particular piece was by the Spanish master Pablo Picasso, whose work had pieces made by Gustav Klimt and Claude Monet trailing it.
TOPSHOT - Sotheby's employees take phone bids during the "The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: An Era Defined" auction for Pablo Picasso's "Femme a la Montre" at Sotheby's in New York City on November 8, 2023.
Picasso's 'Femme à la Montre' or 'Woman with a Watch'
Back in November, Picasso's "Femme à la Montre" painting fetched a ridiculous $139.3 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York, surpassing its high-end estimation by over $19 million. This price cemented the piece as the second most expensive Picasso piece ever sold.
The sale was part of a larger auction comprising items from the late Emily Fisher Landau's highly sought-after art collection, the "Woman with a Watch" artwork was once even considered as the "crown jewel" of the Landau estate.
Its background is surrounded by drama regarding Picasso and his "golden muse" and secret lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter.
Picasso created the painting in 1932 as a gift to the French model, who was 17 at the time. The artist himself was 47 and was known to have been married to the ballet dancer Olga Khoklova.
Aside from this piece, Walter ended up being the subject of Picasso's many artistic forays including his 1932 artwork dubbed "Femme Nue Couchée," or "Nude Reclining Woman," which brought Sotheby's over $67.5 million at an auction in May 2022.
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LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 20: work by artist Gustav Klimt’s Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) will lead this London’s season with an estimate in the region of £65 million, on display ahead of the Sotheby's summer sales of Modern & Contemporary Art at Sotheby's on June 20, 2023 in London, England.
Klimt's 'Dame mit Fächer'
The two runner-ups as 2023's most expensive paintings sold in an auction are works by Klimt and Monet, with the former's piece holding the second spot and the latter's being the third most expensive artwork last year.
In the case of Klimt's 1918 painting, named "Dame mit Fächer" or "Lady with a Fan," it sold for $106,756,365 at the Sotheby's London sale "Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction, featuring Face to Face: A Celebration of Portraiture."
This particular final price beat out the previous highest bid for a Klimt piece of around $104 million, belonging to the artist's "Birch Forest" painting made in 1903, the sale of which happened at a Christie's auction in November 2022.
In the catalog note for "Lady with a Fan," Sotheby's writes, "It combines rich patterns and oriental motifs with the delicate and luminous human touch that makes Klimt's portraits so sought-after."
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 03: 'Le Bassin aux nymphéas' by Claude Monet is on display during Sotheby's NY press preview of the upcoming Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale at Sotheby's on May 03, 2021 in New York City.
Monet's 'Le Bassin aux Nymphéas'
On the other hand, Monet's 1919 "Le Bassin aux Nymphéas," or "Water Lily Pond," sold for a comparably lower yet still respectable $74 million at Christie's "Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale" in New York back in November 2023.
According to the auction house's written highlight for the piece, Monet painted the piece at the precarious age of 80 and was well beyond the average life expectancy of his era. During this time, he was already suffering from cataracts in both of his eyes.
Despite this, the legendary Impressionism master would eventually finish painting "Water Lily Pond," and due to his worsening vision, had given the piece an almost "ethereal" element to it.
After its creation, the piece found its way to a private collection and was held by the same family for over five decades before it finally sold at the Christie's auction and cemented its place as the sixth-most expensive artwork made by the legendary French Impressionist.
Currently, the Monet piece with the highest final price is held by "Meules," which was made in 1890. The sale of this particular painting brought in over $110.7 million for Sotheby's, in one of its auctions in 2019.
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