2018 Art Market: Top Lots at Christie's and Sotheby's

The 2018 art market saw record prices at Christie's and Sotheby's, driven by major collections and Asian demand. Christie's reported its best-ever first half, led by the Rockefeller collection. Sotheby's achieved a record Modigliani sale. Top lots included Picasso's 'Fillette à la corbeille fleurie' ($115 million), Edward Hopper's 'Chop Suey' ($91.9 million, world auction record for the artist and pre-war American art), David Hockney's 'Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)' ($90.3 million, making Hockney the most expensive living artist), Kazimir Malevich's 'Suprematist Composition' ($85.8 million, record for the artist), and Claude Monet's 'Nymphéas en fleur' ($84.7 million, record for the artist). Sotheby's top lots included Modigliani's 'Nu couché (sur le côté gauche)' ($157.2 million, record for Sotheby's and fourth most expensive artist ever), Picasso's 'Femme Au Béret Et À La Robe Quadrillée' ($69.2 million), and Zao Wou-Ki's 'Juin-Octobre 1985' ($65.2 million, record for the artist and for Asian oil paintings at auction in Hong Kong). Other notable sales included Henri Matisse's 'Odalisque couchée aux magnolias' ($80.8 million, record for the artist), Constantin Brancusi's 'La jeune fille sophistiquée' ($71 million, record for the artist), and Willem de Kooning's 'Woman as Landscape' ($68.9 million, record for the artist). The market showed growth over 2017, except for the exceptional Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi'.