$181.2 million Pollock shatters auction record at Christie's

A painting by the American Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock sold for an eye-watering $181.2 million (€156.2 million) with fees, at Christie's auction house in New York on Monday, alongside other staggering sales on what was a blockbuster day for the institution.

The roughly three-by-one meter (35 × 131.5 inches / 88.9 x 334 centimeters) oil and enamel work on canvas, entitled "Number 7A, 1948," was painted at Pollock's Long Island, New York, studio when the artist was 36 years old and is considered ait was a key early example of his floor‑based drip technique.

Christie's described the postwar work, which consists of black drips with a few red accents, as follows, "It is with this work that Pollock finally frees himself from the shackles of conventional easel painting and produces one of the first truly abstract paintings in the history of art."  

The record sale made Pollock's canvas the fourth most expensive artwork ever sold at auction and eclipsed his own previous 2021 auction record of $61.2 million.

"Salvator Mundi," (Savior of the World), a Renaissance work attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, holds the top spot for the most expensive painting ever sold at auction, hauling in $450 million in 2017.

Although works by Pollock have brought as much as $200 million in private sales, Monday's was the priciest ever sold at auction.

Other works in the sale included US painter Mark Rothko's "No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe)," which sold for $98.4 million; and Catalan artist Joan Miro's "Portrait of Madame K.," which went for $53.5 million.

"Danaide," an abstracted head in bronze (ca. 1913) by Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi sold for $107.6 million, making it the second most expensive sculpture ever to be sold at auction. 

Talking money with Dirk Boll of Christie's

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Hard-drinking artistic trailblazer Pollock leads $1.1 billion evening at Christie's

Born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1912, Pollock moved to New York in 1930 and studied at the famous Art Students League in New York under the tutelage of Thomas Hart Benton, who would become his mentor and friend. 

After working for the US government's WPA Federal Art Project between 1938 and 1942, Pollock joined the stable of artists at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of this Century gallery in New York.

He became an established cultural figure in the city and attained national notoriety when Life magazine ran a story on him entitled, "Jackson Pollock: Is He the Greatest Living Painter in the United States?"

Pollock, who was married to fellow abstract painter Lee Krasner, was a volatile figure who struggled with alcoholism throughout his life.

He died at the height of his career in a single-vehicle car crash in 1956 while driving under the influence.

His works have become part of the canon of Western art history and belong to the collections of numerous important museums worldwide.

In all, Monday's three-hour sale at Christie's brought in $1.1 billion.

The 16 lots included in the Newhouse sale alone accounted for $630.8 million. A sale of 20th-century works brought in a further $490.3 million.

Art addict Peggy Guggenheim

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Edited by: Louis Oelofse