I’ve attended countless major art auctions, both in person and online, but I’ve never seen an ending quite like the one at Christie’s contemporary sale tonight.
The ingratiating and efficient auctioneer, Jussi Pylkkänen, perhaps seeking to avoid an uncomfortably anemic ovation like that received by Oliver Barker the night before at Sotheby’s, called upon whoever was still left at the end of the 82-lot sale to applaud the winning bidder on the final lot.
“Let’s have a round of applause for Larry,” he gamely urged the stragglers. That was mega-dealer Larry Gagosian, who had obeyed Pylkkänen‘s request that attendees stay to the end and successfully offered $800,000 (plus buyers premium) for a Jeff Koons donated by the artist (whom Gagosian represents) to benefit the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
Sold for $965,000
But enough amusing (or not) anecdotes. Here’s my running Twitter commentary on Christie’s solid $658.53-million sale which, despite its impressive take (following close upon an even bigger take at Christie’s on Monday night for just 35 works), had surprisingly few fireworks: