Billion Dollar Art Auctions: Fall 2012

The art market has been on a tear in the past decade, providing art lovers and coldhearted investors alike the solid value and handsome returns that have deserted the stock market.

The furor for blue-chip art only increased as China, Russia and other emerging nations began minting their own millionaires and billionaires, many looking to diversify beyond their booming but unstable economies.

The future of the market now faces a test. As the autumn auction season kicks off in New York, more than $1 billion worth of art is expected to change hands in four major sales. So far, prices have been soft, raising doubts about the market's prospects. Is art losing steam as an investment? Or were buyers distracted by the hurricane, elections and the "fiscal cliff?"

Some observers have speculated the appetite is fading for artists who have anchored previous booms — Picasso, Monet, Giacometti and Chagall — in favor of post-war and contemporary work that goes on sale this week. (Shown here, the controversial Jeff Koons with Christie's chairman for post-war and contemporary art, Brett Gorvy.)

Click ahead to see the trophy canvases from this historic two weeks of bidding—pieces that are causing consternation and those that are generating the most excitement:

By Paul O'Donnell
Posted 12 Nov. 2012

Nymphéas (1905)
Price: $43.8 million

An early example of Monet's famous water lilies paintings, this Impressionist icon was off the market (in the hands of Wall Street executive Herbert Allen Jr.) for decades.

Yet at Christie's Impressionism and Modern Art sale on Nov. 7, the bidding for the painting ended squarely in the middle of its estimated range. This was the first sign that wealthy collectors' enthusiasm had been dampened—perhaps (literally) by Hurricane Sandy, or by President Barack Obama's re-election.

Studie für Improvisation 8 (1909)
Price: $23 million

Kandinsky's "Studie für Improvisation 8" provided some good news. The piece set an auction record for the artist, but still only garnered bids in the low end of its estimate. This later drew criticism that Christie's had overestimated the lots across the board, creating the impression that the market was softening.

Champ de blé (1881)
Price: $12.1 million

The day after Christie's disappointing sale of Monet's water lilies, the artist's sweeping view of a wheat field fetched nearly double its estimated value in spirited bidding at Sotheby's.

Once owned by Chase bank president Henry White Cannon, the painting had belonged to the Cleveland Museum since 1947. Works locked up for so long often draw avid bidding, and buyers perhaps sensed this iconic Monet wouldn't be seen again for some time.

But when the dust settled, Sotheby's sales had fallen short of expectations. Nearly a third of the works on auction went unsold.

Nature morte aux tulips (1932)
Price: $41.5 million

At Sotheby's on Nov. 8, Picasso's portrait of his lover and muse, Marie-Therese Walter, one of nine works by the artist, fetched a respectable price. So did the master's "Femme a la Fenetre," which went for $17.2 million.

A dramatic work on paper by Picasso, "Le Viol," from the collection of Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos, nearly tripled its estimate of $5 million and got $13.5 million.

By the end of the week, most experts had come to the conclusion that there was nothing amiss: Good pieces were finding buyers at decent prices. There just weren't enough good ones to go around, or to provide the auctions momentum.

After a decade-long boom, one observer intimated, it was possible the market for Impressionists and the early 20th century avant garde art was simply shopped out.

Untitled (1957)
Estimate: $20 million-$30 million

If the art market is going to continue to be a haven for wealthy investors, the energy may come from painting and sculpture of the postwar period and after, including work being created today.

At Christie's London in June, a postwar and contemporary sale realized more than $207 million, a European record for an auction of work of any category.

Eyes are now on Christie's and Sotheby's Contemporary sales this week in New York, particularly on standout examples of Abstract Expressionism, like this canvas by the American Franz Kline. Once belonged to David Geffen, it is now being sold by a "notable private collection," according to Christie's.

Number 4, 1951
Estimate: $25 million-$35 million

Pollock is the new blue-chip: His early drip painting "Number 5, 1948" was sold for $140 million in a private sale (by Geffen) six years ago, the highest-priced painting by a 20th century artist.

Another Pollock drip painting, "Number 28, 1951," sold for $23 million in May. This is the prize in a collection of eight Abstract Expressionist works on auction at Sotheby's this week that is projected to raise more than $100 million.

Untitled (Pope) (circa 1954)
Estimate: $18 million-$25 million

Bacon's raw paintings depicting screaming popes are signature images for this British artist who, before his death in 1992, set a record for the most expensive painting by a living artist. Examples of his pope paintings are rarely at auction, and this one has not been seen in public for decades.

No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) (1954)
Estimate: $35 million-$50 million

In the hands of a private collector for 30 years, Rothko's 9 1/2-by-5 1/2- foot canvas will lead Sotheby's Contemporary Art auction this week. The painting is classic Rothko, and was shown at the artist's first major show at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1954. Earlier this year, Rothko's "Orange, Red and Blue" sold for $86.9 million.

Statue of Liberty (1962)
Estimate: $35 million

Only 12 of 74 works on auction at Christie's Post-War and Contemporary sale are estimated to go for more than $10 million. This silk screen reproduction of a New York tourist postcard nicely captures Warhol's Pop style, and may be a good deal at its estimate: The auction record for a Warhol is more than twice that, at $71 million.

Tulips (1995-2004)
Estimate: $20 million-$30 million

Nord Landesbank, a major German commercial bank based in Hannover, is selling this steel sculpture by the artist known for his gleaming statue of Michael Jackson and a 43-foot topiary of a puppy. The sculpture on the block at Christie's this week is one of five so-called "balloon flowers" by Koons, one of which sold in 2008 for $25.7 million. Prices for Koons's controversial work are highly volatile, however, and the success of this work may not be a good indicator of how the market is trending.