The Mobile That Set Sandy Calder's Auction Record
3 min read · 16 Jan 2025
Poisson volant (Flying Fish). Image courtesy of Christie's
Sandy Calder, Poisson volant (Flying Fish) (1957) sold for $25.93m at Christie's in New York on May 13, 2014. The hanging mobile, made of painted sheet metal, rod and wire work, had been traded once before.
The artist's life-long love of fish was shared by the collector extraordinaire, Peggy Guggenheim, who in 1945 commissioned Calder to make a silver headboard for her New York apartment. It depicted fish swimming in an underwater garden. She also owned one of Calder's fish-inspired mobiles, another talking point at cocktail parties in her apartment.
In 1964, the sculpture Poisson volant (Flying Fish) featured in Calder's major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, which travelled to Toronto and Paris.
Lily Of Force. Image courtesy of Christie's
The sale beat Calder’s previous auction record by $7.36m, a 39% rise. The previous record was set by Lily Of Force (1945), which sold for $18.56m at Christie's on May 8, 2012. The work had not been traded before.
A Brief History of Calder at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014-05-13 | Poisson volant (Flying Fish) | $25.93m | 40 % | Christie's | New York |
2012-05-08 | Lily Of Force | $18.56m | 192 % | Christie's | New York |
2010-11-10 | Red Curlicue | $6.35m | 22 % | Christie's | New York |
2003-11-11 | Untitled | $5.2m | 37 % | Christie's | New York |
2000-11-14 | Stegosaurus | $3.8m | 7 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1999-11-17 | Brazilian fish | $3.55m | 87 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1989-05-22 | The tree | $1.9m | 145 % | Phillips-Selkrik | St. Louis |
1984-05-09 | Big crinkly | $775,000 | 525 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1984-03-25 | Quinze Feuilles Noires | $124,000 | 107 % | Loudmer | Paris |
1983-11-09 | Disques Verticales | $60,000 | 9 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1983-11-08 | Blue flag | $55,000 | 18 % | Christie's | New York |
1981-11-11 | Circus | $46,500 | 80 % | Koller Auktionen | Zurich |
1972-11-29 | Mobile | $25,900 | - | Sotheby's | London |
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