New York, 14 November 2022 - This evening’s offerings of Modern works - many from prized collections and unseen on the market in many years, together realized $391.2m, the third highest total for such an evening of sales in Sotheby’s history. 

The evening opened with the white-glove sale of the Collection of David M. Solinger - a collection fully reflective of David M. Solinger’s central role in the art and artistic community of his time.

Later in the evening, works from the collection of broadcasting pioneer and former MoMA Chairman, William S. Paley generated further competition, as did masterpieces such as that by Piet Mondrian. Please see summary below:

Overarching Fact & Figures from Tonight’s Sales: 
The evening’s sales together totaled $391.2 million (est. $318.7 - 405.5m)

• The David M. Solinger Collection realized an above estimate, $137.9m (est. $86.7-118m). All the works found a buyer tonight, and 61% of the works sold for prices in excess of their high estimates.
• Modern Evening Auction realized $253.3 (est. $232-287.5m)
• Across the two sales
  • 88% of all lots found buyers
  • 9 works sell in excess of $10 million
• Top Prices of the Evening:
  • Piet Mondrian: new auction record set for the artist with Composition No. II from 1930 selling for $51m to a collector from Asia (est. in excess of $50m)
  • Pablo Picasso: a rare to market Cubist work, Guitare sur une table sold for $37.1m (est. in excess of $25m), from the collection of William S. Paley.
  • Willem de Kooning: his Collage from 1950, makes a record for a work on paper by the artist, selling for $33.6m (est. $18-25m)
  • Alberto Giacometti: whose Trois hommes qui marchent (Grand plateau), from the collection of David M. Solinger, realized $30.2m (est $15-20m)
  • Henry Moore: as Reclining Figure: Festival from 1951 became the second highest price for the artist at auction, at $31 million (est. $30-40m)
• Freshness of material: All but one work from the Collection of David M. Solinger made its auction debut in tonight’s sale. In the Modern Evening sale, more than half of the lots had never before been offered at auction, while a third of the works had been off the market for more than 30 years.
• New benchmarks established for: Piet Mondrian, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning (for a work on paper)
• Appetite from collectors in Asia remains strong, taking home works by Piet Mondrian ($51m),Alexander Calder ($8.5m); Joan Miró ($17.8m), Augustine Rodin ($2.3m), and were active bidders on numerous lots including works by Tamara de Lempicka, Andrew Wyeth, Pablo Picasso andMarc Chagall
• American collectors were out in force, acquiring at least half the value of the Modern Evening sale
• A number of works were pursued by more than 10 bidders
• Nearly 4 million total worldwide views for both livestreams

The Collection of David M. Solinger

Collectors demonstrated their appreciation for tonight’s offering of 23 masterworks from the pioneering collection of David M. Solinger — a jewel of a collection, put together by this fascinating figure who was so central to the New York art scene in the heady days of the 1950s.

Close to many of the leading gallerists and artists of his time, David M. Solinger also played a transformative role as President of the Whitney museum, helping shape its extraordinary collection, and masterminding the development of the now landmark Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue.

At a moment when the two creative capitals of Paris and New York vied for cultural dominance, David M. Solinger brought together seminal works from the two great epicenters of Modern art. Tonight, leading American artists of the time were presented alongside their French contemporaries, many of whom were appearing tonight for the first time on the New York Evening auction stage, including Georges Mathieu and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva.

Standout results

Hammer Price List, The David M. Solinger Collection Evening Auction, 14 November

Hammer Price, Modern Evening Auction, 14 November