On February 10 at Sotheby’s London, Gerhard Richter’s painting Abstraktes Bild sold for $46.3 million, establishing an auction record for the highest sale by a living European artist. American Jeff Koons holds the overall record for a living artist with his $58.4 million take for Balloon Dog (Orange).
According to Sotheby’s, bidders from three countries vied for Abstraktes Bild, which was valued at $21.3 million to $30.5 million. The 1986 piece is one of Richter’s largest abstract works and one of his first squeegee paintings. The artist’s previous record was the result of a May 2013 Sotheby’s sale of Domplatz, Mailand, a 1968 oil on canvas that went for $37 million.
Total sales from the evening realized $188 million, marking another record: the highest ever take for a Sotheby’s sale of contemporary art in Europe—shattering its previous best, $133 million in February 2014.
