Taking the lead ahead of the other carefully chosen lots in the Selected Works auction was Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s masterful painting Heuernte (1924-26), which was knocked down to a Berlin-based private collection for EUR 825,500. Following closely behind was Günther Uecker with his monumental and fascinating image object Phantom from 1962, which sold for EUR 685,800 to a private collection in North Germany. Stanley Whitney’s Violet Times (2012) fetched EUR 342,900 and also found a new owner in North Germany. The impressive sculpture Schwimmerin II (1938/52) by Gerhard Marcks went to a Berlin private collection for EUR 228,600. Other notable highlights were the works of two important women artists from Germany: Gabriele Münter’s Blumenstillleben mit Sofa und Kissen (1910) and Kopf eines Mädchens mit geschlossenem Kragen (circa 1905) by Paula Modersohn-Becker, each of which commanded a price of EUR 190,500.
There was vigorous international interest for the auction Rudolf Zwirner Collection – Works on Paper, which showcased artworks spanning three centuries from the private holdings of this pioneer of the modern art-market. Here, Pierre-Paul Prud’hon’s L’Enlèvement de Psyché (circa 1808) fetched an impressive EUR 254,000 winning bid from a private collection in France, while Victor Hugo’s Carnet Guernesey (1856) found a new home in a German private collection for EUR 177,800. Plantation farcineuse hydropique parasite (1921) by Max Ernst overshot its original estimate of between EUR 30,000 and 40,000 with a sensational EUR 76,200 hammer price, going to a private collection in Switzerland.
The 19th Century Art auction likewise boasted a number of extraordinary results that far exceeded the original estimates. Numerous museums and cultural institutions took part, bidding side-by-side with highly dedicated, top-tier private collectors from Germany and abroad. Together they made for spectacular bidding contests and lofty hammer prices. The highest single winning bid in this segment was for Adolph Menzel’s Wallenstein’s Lager (1854?): Originally estimated at EUR 20,000 to 30,000, it ultimately sold for a breathtaking EUR 330,200. Another surprise standout was a work originating from the estate of the painter Georg Friedrich Kersting: The two oil studies Nelke und Blätterzweig (by an unknown German artist, circa 1820), for which the estimate had amounted to EUR 1,000-1,500. After a protracted, suspenseful bidding contest, the hammer came down at a sensational EUR 146,050. There was also intense interest for Caspar David Friedrich auf dem Felsen / Ausblick aufs Meer (circa 1809/10), a portrait of the famous painter executed by his close friend Georg Friedrich Kersting. This early realization of one of Friedrich’s own programmatic visual ideas, originally estimated at EUR 150,000 to 200,000, achieved a hammer price of EUR 190,500.
Daniel von Schacky, Spokesman of the Management Board and Partner, was particularly struck by one aspect of the summer auctions: “We are very pleased to see the strong level of demand in the contemporary art segment, which accounted for the highest-ever share of auction proceeds in the history of our firm, and which reflects the ongoing generational shift.”
The performance achieved at the summer auctions brought the company’s sales turnover for the first half of 2024 to approximately EUR 16 million.
* All results incl. premium