Francis Bacon Leads Sotheby's $234.6m 'Contemporary Evening Auction' in New York

A work by Francis Bacon, which had a guarantee, was the headline sale at Sotheby's 'Contemporary Evening Auction' on May 13 in New York.

• The sale totaled $234.6m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 32 works sold totaling $234.6m.
• Estimates totaled: $217.6m (low) and $315.8m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 91% of the original 35 lots announced.

The star lot was: Francis Bacon, Portrait of George Dyer Crouching (1966), which sold for $27.73m, 7% below its $30m low estimate. The work was backed by a guarantee. It had been traded twice in the past but has never appeared at auction before.

The outperformer sold for 350% above its low estimate. Yayoi Kusama, The Pacific Ocean (1958), sold for $4.66m ($1m low estimate). It has not been traded before.

A talking point was: Untitled (1984), a work by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, which set a new auction record for their co-productions. It sold for $19.37m, 70% above the artists' previous record sale for a collaborative painting. It has been traded twice in the past.

• 9 works, or 28%, sold above their high estimate.
• 19 works, or 59%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 4 works, or 12%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

23 works were backed by guarantees, including: Francis Bacon, Portrait of George Dyer Crouching (1966). It sold for $27.73m, 7% below its $30m low estimate.. It has been traded twice in the past.

Works that did not sell

3 works were bought-in, including: Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park #126 (1984), estimated at $18m (low) to $25m (high). It has been traded 3 times in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.