– Purchased a Tibetan embroidered silk Thangka for $45 million at an auction in November 2015. Ten of the 34 paintings put on the auction block did not sell, including a Willem de Kooning and a Picasso.
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The world record is $179.4 million for Picasso’s “The Women of Algiers (Version 0)” – which the auction house sold in NY last May in a record-breaking spring season. Just before the sale, Christie’s announced that a third party had stepped forward to share the risk -as well as any proceeds above the guaranteed price.
Presale estimate: $12 million to $18 million.
Liu and his wife Wang Wei have raised eyebrows in China for their extravagant spending, particularly in light of President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption in recent years.
The museum was founded by billionaire Liu Yiqian, who frequently buys art with his American Express card. According to reports, he plans to put the Modigliani painting on display during one of his museums’ fifth anniversary to give Chinese people the chance to view it without traveling outside their country.
Another highlight was Gauguin’s “Therese”, which fetched nearly US$31 million, setting a world auction record for a sculpture by the artist.
Modigliani’s 1919 work, Portrait de Paulette Jourdain, sold for $42.8 million at Sotheby’s sale of the A. Alfred Taubman estate last week, beating its estimate of $25 million. It is the second highest work of art ever sold at auction and the tenth ever to reach nine figures. His 1964 painting Nurse fetched $95.4m, within the $80m to $100m estimate.
Liu has openly spoken of his ambitions to create a Chinese museum that could rival the Guggenheim or MoMA in NY but has admitted that he has no idea how much his 2,300-strong collection is worth.
“I have no wish to dampen the markets in any way”, Richard Feigen, a dealer, said after the sale, but contemporary and modern art “has become a parking lot for money” as central banks’ policy of keeping interest rates low has inflated asset prices.
Several pieces backed by Christie’s failed to find buyers, underscoring just how risky guarantees can be. It sold for $36 million. The Tuesday evening sale of post-war and contemporary art was not expected to garner such stratospheric prices.
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The two recent Modigliani auction sales show how hot the artist’s work is as a trophy prize these days. “It’s levelled off at a very high level”, Jennings said about the Christie’s sale. “The market has plateaued”.
