Frida Kahlo Leads Sotheby's $98.28m Exquisite Corpus Sale in New York

A work by Frida Kahlo, which had a guarantee, was the headline sale at Sotheby's 'Exquisite Corpus Evening Auction' on November 20 in New York.

• The sale totaled $98.28m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 24 works sold totaling $98.28m.
• Estimates totaled: $66.72m (low) and $98.93m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 100%, so a white-glove sale.

The star lot was: Frida Kahlo, El sueño (La cama) (1940), which sold for $54.66m, 36% above its $40m low estimate. The work was backed by a guarantee. It has been traded 3 times in the past.

The outperformer sold for 725% above its low estimate. Valentine Hugo, Le Crapaud de Maldoror (1932), sold for $825,500 ($100,000 low estimate). The work was backed by a guarantee. It has been traded once in the past.

• 16 works, or 67%, sold above their high estimate.
• 3 works, or 12%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 5 works, or 21%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Auction records

Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) set a new auction record for the artist, selling for $54.66m. It was $19.78m above the artist’s previous record sale, a 56% rise.

Dorothea Tanning’s Interior with Sudden Joy set a new auction record for the artist, selling for $3.4m. It was $1.06m above her previous record sale, a 44% rise.

Hans Bellmer’s Les Bas rayés set a new auction record for the artist, selling for $942,000.

Guaranteed sales

17 works were backed by guarantees, including: Rene Magritte, La Représentation (1962). It sold for $3.71m, 7% below its $4m low estimate.. It has been traded 4 times in the past.

Works that did not sell

0 works were bought-in.

Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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