Christie's New York 21st Century Evening Sale totals $96.4M, sets records for Marlene Dumas and Louis Fratino

Christie's 21st Century Evening Sale on May 14, 2025 in New York achieved $96.4 million from 42 lots (3 withdrawn), below the $115 million from 60 lots in the previous year. The pre-sale estimate was $79.5 million. 17 works were backed by third-party guarantees. The top lot was Jean-Michel Basquiat's 'Baby Boom' (1982), selling for $23.41 million within its low estimate. Marlene Dumas' 'Miss January' (1997) from the Rubell Collection fetched $13.635 million, making it the most expensive work by a living female artist, surpassing Jenny Saville's 'Propped' (2018) at $12.4 million. Louis Fratino's 'You and Your Things' (2022) set a new auction record at $756,000. Other notable sales included works by Ed Ruscha ($2-6 million), George Condo ($2.288 million), Georg Baselitz ($3.317 million), John Currin ($3.075 million), Simone Leigh ($5.737 million, new record), Cecily Brown ($6.221 million), Yayoi Kusama, Elizabeth Peyton, Julie Mehretu, and Lisa Brice ($2.954 million). The sale highlighted strong demand for female artists. Upcoming sales include the collections of Daniella Luxembourg and Barbara Gladstone at Sotheby's on May 15.