New York’s Spring Marquee Auctions: A Preview
By Elizabeth Gillett
The art market has taken a major hit over the past two years, with global sales declining by 12% and global auction sales (private and public) continuing to fall, dropping by 20% year-on-year to $23.4 billion. This prolonged soft market, resultant of a contraction at the high end of the market, has challenged the notion that art always appreciates. Further, in 2024, the number of works selling for over $10 million at auction dropped by 39% and values by 45%, proving blue-chip works to no longer be a surefire investment.
This trend has continued into 2025, with blue-chip works continuing to sell for less at last month’s London sales of modern and contemporary art. Amidst the market’s downturn and global economic and political volatility, the upcoming series of evening sales, held in New York between 12 and 15 May, serve as a major test for the market.
Piet Mondrian, Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue, Oil on canvas, 54 x 53.3 cm.
Image courtesy of Christie’s.
Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works | Christie’s 12 May 18:30 EDT
Kicking off the week of marquee sales is the collection of Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio and his wife Louise Riggio. The 39 lots, representing the most significant artists and genres of the twentieth century, are estimated to reach a total of $250 million. Highlights include a 1974 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth (est. $8-12 million), paintings by Picasso (est. $20-30 million) and Magritte (est. on request), and Mondrian’s Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue (1922), expected to surpass the artist’s current auction record of $51 million.
20th Century Evening Sale | Christie’s 12 May 19:30 EDT
Directly following the Riggio sale, Christie’s will hold their 20th Century Evening Sale, featuring modern works spanning the late nineteenth to late twentieth century. Alongside works by Rothko, Richter, and Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair (1967-1968) and Monet’s Peupliers au board de l’Epte, crépuscule (1891) are both expected to fetch high hammers, at around $30 million and between $30 and 50 million respectively.
Modern & Contemporary Evening Sale | Phillips 13 May 17:00 EDT
Phillips will be holding their Modern & Contemporary Evening Sale prior to Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction. Although primarily featuring mid-range works—with around half of the lots expected to hammer for under seven-figures—works by Ed Ruscha, Gerhard Richter, Picasso, and Donald Judd all hold estimates of between $4 and 6 million.
Alberto Giacometti, Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego), 1955, Painted bronze, 65.4 cm (height).
Image courtesy of Sotheby's.
Modern Evening Auction | Sotheby’s 13 May 19:00 EDT
Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction, part of their New York Sales series presented in partnership with Celine, features lots from the Joseph H. Hazen Family Collection, the Estate of Leonard and Sophie Davis, and the Phillips Collection. The sale’s stand-out lot, Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego) (1955) is estimated to sell for $70 million, making it the highest-priced lot hitting the block at this month’s sales. Exhibited at the 1956 Venice Biennale, the bronze bust, one of six casts and the only painted version, has been described by Simon Shaw, Sotheby’s senior advisor for Impressionist and modern art, as Giacometti’s ‘great monument to that postwar moment’, the sale of which is particularly timely given today’s tumultuous climate. Additionally, works by pointillists Paul Signac and Georges Seurat and a bronze, iridized and opalescent glass lamp by Frank Lloyd Wright are set to hit the block.
20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale | Bonhams 14 May 17:00 EDT
Akin to Phillips, Bonham’s 20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale features primarily mid-range works and will precede Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale. The highest estimated lot, Wayne Thiebaud’s Pie a la Mode (1961) is expected to hammer between $1.2 and 1.8 million, with Alexander Calder’s The Cross (1948) and Fernando Botero’s The Bed (1982) also carrying seven-figure high estimates.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Baby Boom, 1982, Acrylic, oilstick, and paper collage on canvas mounted on tied wood supports, 125 x 213.5 cm.
Image courtesy of Christie’s.
21st Century Evening Sale | Christie’s 14 May 19:00 EDT
Christie’s 21st Century Sale is headed by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Baby Boom (1982). Painted in 1982, the year in which Basquiat claimed to have created his ‘best paintings ever’, the work depicts what Richard D. Marshall, former curator at the Whitney, posited to be the Artist with his father and mother. With an extensive exhibition history, shown across the US, Europe, and Asia, the work is anticipated to fetch between $20 and 30 million. Additional significant lots include Cecily Brown’s Bedtime Story (1999) and Simone Leigh’s Sentinel IV (2020), estimated at $4-6 million and $3.5-5.5 million respectively.
Selections from The Collection of Barbara Gladstone | Sotheby’s 15 May 18:30 EDT
The final evening consists of three back-to-back sales held by Sotheby’s. The first, Selections from The Collection of Barbara Gladstone, features 12 lots, estimated at a total of $12 million, from the private collection of the late dealer Barbara Gladstone. Leading the sale are two works by Richard Prince—Man Crazy Nurse (2002-2003) (est. $4-6 million) and Are You Kidding? (1988) (est. $2.5-3.5 million)—and a rare black version of Warhol’s Flowers (1964), estimated at $1-1.5 million.
Daniella Luxembourg’s New York townhouse, with works by Alexander Calder, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Lucio Fontana, and Pino Pascali.
Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Im Spazio: The Space of Thoughts | Sotheby’s 15 May 19:00 EDT
Im Spazio: The Space of Thought highlights 15 works from the collection of London and New York-based dealer Daniella Luxembourg. The most anticipated lot, Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio (1963) is a rare gold version of the Argentine-Italian artist’s 38-part series La Fine di Dio and is expected to go for $12-18 million. Two sculptures by Alexander Calder and an Alberto Burri painting are also predicted to garner high hammers.
The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction | Sotheby’s 15 May 19:30 EDT
Closing the week is Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction with works by Rauschenberg, Basquiat, and Frank Stella heading the sale. Stella’s Adelante (1964), housed at the San Francisco Museum of Art since 1968, is one of seven works in the Artist’s Running V Paintings series—with other works in the series held in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm—and is estimated at $10-15 million. Further highlights in the sale include Lee Krasner’s August Petals (1963) and Lichtenstein’s Reflections: Art (1988), both expected to fetch between $4 and 6 million.
Bibliography
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Carollo, Elisa. “Danielle Luxembourg’s $30 Million Collection Leads Sotheby’s May Auctions.” Observer, April 15, 2025. https://observer.com/2025/04/sothebys-daniella-luxembourg-barbara-gladstone-auction/.
Kazakina, Katya. “$70 Million Giacometti Heads to Sotheby’s for High-Stakes May Sale.” artnet, April 21, 2025. https://news.artnet.com/market/sothebys-70-million-alberto-giacometti-2634149.
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