Piero Manzoni's 'Merda d'artista' fetches record €275,000 at Milan auction

A can of Piero Manzoni's 'Merda d'artista' (number 69, 30 grams) sold for €275,000 at Casa d'Aste Il Ponte in Milan, setting a world record for the work. The auction of Modern and Contemporary Art achieved a total of €5,450,000, with 91% sold and a 130% increase on estimate. Other notable results include Ennio Morlotti's 'Vegetazione' (1958) selling for €62,500 (estimate €8,000), Carlo Carrà's 'Marina' at €45,000 (estimate €16,000), and Lucio Fontana's ceramic 'Madonna con Bambino' (1950/1953) at €225,000. Records were also set for Gianfranco Pardi (€32,000) and Ideo Pantaleoni (€20,000). Additional highlights: Afro's 'Zona Recinta' (€75,000), Giuseppe Capogrossi's 'Superficie 489' (€60,000), Pietro Consagra's 'Impronta Solare' (€65,000), Victor Vasarely's 'Guru D.M.' (€87,500), Max Ernst's 'L'oiseau en Cage' (€98,750), Francois Morellet's '4 passes de carrés réguliers, privotées à chaque coté' (€65,000), Giorgio Morandi's watercolor 'Natura morta' (€137,500), Fausto Melotti's 'Antiscultura' (€193,750), Lucio Fontana's 'Concetto Spaziale, Natura' (€131,250), and Giorgio de Chirico's 'Il Grande Metafisico' (€100,000).