The first part of Sotheby’s two-part sale of works from the collection of Christo and Jeanne-Claude concluded in Paris, generating €8 million ($9.8 million) across 28 lots. With only one lot withdrawn before the auction’s start, the first half of the sale more than doubled its pre-sale low estimate of €3.1 million ($3.7 million).
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were recognized for their temporary monumental wrappings of public sites, from the Reichstag building in Berlin to the Pont Neuf in Paris. The auction included conceptual works from the postwar era that are slightly atypical for traditional contemporary art auctions.
Estimated at about $241,000 to $361,400, the drawing showing the yellow umbrellas that were erected on the hills of Tejon Pass north of Los Angeles proved a highly desirable image, selling to a telephone bidder for about $2.05 million, setting an auction record for the artist.
The top lot of the sale was Andy Warhol’s 1964 black and grey screen-print of Jackie Kennedy, who is shown grieving following the assassination of her husband John F. Kennedy. Christo and Jeanne-Claude acquired the work from art critic David Bourdon. At Sotheby’s, it sold for €750,000 hammer, or €920,000 ($1.11 million) with premium.
Christo’s Package achieved the second-highest price ever for the artist at auction. It is a sculptural work made of fabric wrapped in rope and mounted to a board, attracted considerable attention among buyers as well. It went for €520,700 ($630,000), making five times estimate of €100,000 ($121,000). William N. Copley’s Lady Windermere’s Fan (1965), named after an 1892 Oscar Wilde play of the same name, was among the sale’s top lots, hammering for more than 10 times its estimate at €252,000 ($305,000) and going to a phone bidder.
A piece by Allan McCollum, whose work deals with art in the age of mass production, also outperformed. McCollum’s 1979 mint green Untitled (Surrogate) painting was estimated at €3,000 ($3,630), and it drew competitive bidding, eventually selling for €30,240 ($36,600).
The legacy of Christo, who died in 2020 and continued working solo following Jeanne-Claude’s passing in 2009, was felt at today’s auction. “Today’s results really put Christo where he belongs,” Simon Shaw, vice president of Sotheby’s fine art division, said.