With a spectacular 34 million euros, Grisebach achieved the highest total turnover in the thirty-year history of the house in four days at the anniversary auctions - and in Germany since 1945.
In the "Selected Works" auction alone, works of art were sold for a total of €21.6 million. Leading the way was Lyonel Feininger's "Gelbe Gasse" from 1932, which was knocked down to a Swiss bidder for €3,525,000 from a lower estimate of one million after a bidding war lasting several minutes between bidders in the room and on the phones. This was followed by Max Beckmann's "Still Life with Burning Candle", which was sold to an American private collection for € 2,950,000 after a long bidding period and a lower estimate of € 700,000. These are the two most expensive works of art auctioned in Germany so far in 2016.
Previously, three important paintings by Emil Nolde were sold to various German collections: Two flower still lifes for € 985,000 each to German private collections and a brilliant sea painting by Nolde for € 1,225,000 to a collector in northern Germany.
The current auction cycle also saw the most successful sale to date in the "Contemporary Art" category. A Joseph Beuys portrait by Andy Warhol came out on top with € 1,153,000. The buyer was a collector in Hong Kong. A total of €5.9 million was realised, including the contemporary prints.
Bernd Schultz, founder of Grisebach, summarised: "Our anniversary auctions could not have gone better. We are delighted that so many special works of art were entrusted to us - and that the market is prepared to pay exceptional prices for them in Germany too."
*All results incl. buyer's premium