Christie's New York 21st Century Evening Sale Totals $103 Million

market-auction · 2026-04-27

Back in May 2022, Christie's New York held its 21st Century evening auction, raking in an impressive $103 million, part of a total of $420 million from two nights of sales. The auction attracted a lot of enthusiastic bidders, especially from Hong Kong. It set multiple records for a range of artists, including Anna Weyant, Shara Hughes, and Matthew Wong. Notably, Helmut Newton's 'Big Nude III' sold for $1.9 million, well above its estimate of $800,000–1.2 million. Gerhard Richter’s 'Abstraktes Bild' went for $33 million. Refik Anadol's NFT also hit $1.1 million, with a portion of that going to charity. Christie's even accepted cryptocurrency for some pieces, while two Jean-Michel Basquiat artworks were pulled from the auction.

Key facts

Christie's New York 21st Century evening sale realized $103 million.
Total for first two auction evenings reached $420 million.
Records set for Anna Weyant, Shara Hughes, Matthew Wong, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Tom Sachs, Eric Fischl, Joel Mesler, Ouattara Watts.
Helmut Newton's 'Big Nude III' sold for $1.9 million ($2.34 million with premium).
Gerhard Richter's 'Abstraktes Bild' sold for $33 million ($36.5 million with premium).
Two Jean-Michel Basquiat works were withdrawn by the seller.
Refik Anadol's NFT 'Living Architecture: Casa Batlló' sold for $1.1 million ($1.38 million with premium).
Christie's accepted cryptocurrency for Banksy and Anadol works.

Entities

Artists

Institutions

Christie's
Christie's New York
Casa Batlló foundation
Artribune

Locations

New York
United States
Hong Kong
Rockefeller Plaza
Barcelona
Spain

Sources

Artribune — 2022-05-16