What a night in the art world! No recession on West 49th St. as Christie’s auction house had a record night with $852 million in sales. Eleven of the painting s were by Andy Warhol. They went for a total of $200 million including one, Triple Elvis [Ferus Type], 1963, that went for $81,925,000. Another, Four Marlons, 1966, came in at $69,605,000.
I was actually there in the auction room and I can tell you the place crackled with electricity. The bidding for all paintings was pretty ferocious. In the crowd I spotted some regulars– like art dealer Larry Gagosian– and some unusual faces like actor Ethan Suplee. He was busing making notes and placing phone calls on his cell phone. But Suplee said that even though he collects art, “I’m not planning on buying anything tonight.”
Clearly though plenty of people were ready to part with fortunes. Here are the record sales for the night:
11 WORLD AUCTION RECORDS FOR ARTISTS
 $69,605,000
Cy Twombly (1928-2011), Untitled, oil based house paint and wax crayon on canvas, Executed in 1970
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$30,405,000
Ed Ruscha (b. 1937), Smash, oil on canvas, Painted in 1963
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$22,565,000
Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997), Untitled, oil on canvas Painted in 1988
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$18,085,000
Peter Doig (b. 1959), Pine House (Rooms for Rent), oil on canvas, Painted in 1994
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$8,901,000
Arshile Gorky (1904-1948), Child’s Companions, oil and graphite on canvas, painted in 1945
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$7,445,000
Georg Baselitz (b. 1938), Der Brückechor (The Brücke Chorus), oil on canvas, Painted in 1983
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$7,109,000
Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929), White No. 28, oil on canvas, Painted in 1960
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$6,773,000
Cindy Sherman (B. 1954), Untitled Film Stills, 21 gelatin silver prints, 1977/1978/1979/1980
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$5,765,000
Mark Tansey (b. 1949), Land Fall, oil on canvas, Painted in 2007
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$3,413,000
Sturtevant (1926-2014), Lichtenstein, Frighten Girl, oil and graphite on canvas, painted in 1966
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$785,000
Seth Price (b. 1973), Vintage Bomber, vacuum formed high-impact polystyrene, Executed in 2006
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