art + beat

It's that time of year again readers!

The rich folks need some fresh millions to get through the Summer.

The cool kids all gathered at Sothebys on Tuesday night.

43.8 Million

Onement VI -1953

Barnett Newman

This one is going to take just a few to wrap our brains around, I mean its all that much money for a blue stripe...

 It is big, so who ever bought it is going to have to have a very tall living room. I'm just not feeling this one, unlike other abstract expressionists , this leaves me cold. This was a record price for a Barnett Newman work.

 37.1 Million

Domplatz , Miland - 1968

(Catherdral Square, Milan )

Gerhard RIchter

 From the NYT : "Prices for Mr. Richter’s work have been escalating ever since a recent traveling retrospective in London, Paris and Berlin. And this painting, an unusually large example of the German artist’s photo-based paintings — it measures 9 by 9 ½ feet — depicts both the cathedral and the square’s 19th-century shopping arcade.

Until recently the painting had hung in the Hyatt Hotel in Chicago and was being sold by the Hyatt Hotels Corporation. The Pritzker family, majority shareholders in the hotel chain, had bought the work at Sotheby’s in London in 1998 for what was then a record price for Mr. Richter at auction, $3.6 million. On Tuesday night, Donald L. Bryant, a New York businessman, bought it for $33 million or $37.1 million with fees. (It had been estimated to fetch $30 million to $40 million.)"

22 Million 

Sculpture éponge bleue sans titre, SE 168 - 1959

Yves Kline

Yeah, this one comes with a MOVIE

20.8 Million

Blue Unconscious - 1946

Jackson Pollock

(really )

Last sold to an unidentified Texas collector who paid 45,000 in 1965. A good investment....

Story from the New York Times.