After the COVID-sparked chaos of 2020, there was reason for hope heading into 2021. In-person events seemed poised to return, a possibility that would kick-start an art world that had scrambled to find replacements for the experience of viewing art in person.

1. The Most Expensive
Artworks Sold in
2021

2. After the COVID-sparked chaos of 2020, there was reason for hope heading into
2021. In-person events seemed poised to return, a possibility that would kick-start
an art world that had scrambled to find replacements for the experience of viewing
art in person. The year ended up being an experience in compromises,
incorporating both COVID-necessitated distance and bouts of proximity when
possible, but the secondary market seemed unequivocally healthier in comparison
to the prior year. Lots once again rose above the $100 million mark after failing to
do so in 2020 for the first time in years, and new entrants in the realm of
crypto-backed NFTs signalled hope for the future.

3. The most expensive artworks sold at auction in 2021 may be mostly dominated by
familiar faces—male artists from the 19th and 20th centuries—but that may be a
signal that we are coming back to business as usual, for better or worse.
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4. ● Pablo Picasso, Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) (1932) - $103,410,000
● Jean-Michel Basquiat, In This Case (1983) - $93,105,000
● Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a young man holding a roundel (ca. 1470–80) - $92,184,000
● Mark Rothko, No. 7 (1951) - $82,468,500
● Alberto Giacometti, Le Nez (1947) - $78,396,000
● Vincent van Gogh, Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers et cyprès (1889) - $71,350,000
● Claude Monet, Le Bassin aux nymphéas (1917) - $70,353,000
● Beeple, EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS (2021) - $69,346,250
● Jackson Pollock, Number 17 (1951) - $61,161,000
● Cy Twombly, Untitled (2007) - $58,863,000

5. This vibrant untitled Cy Twombly painting from 2007 was yet another work by a
20th-century icon that sold as part of the Macklowe sale at Sotheby’s in
November. The late-period work, which features Twombly’s signature gestural
marks spread across nearly 20 feet of canvas, sold near the top of its estimate
range, hammering at $58.9 million and becoming the third-most expensive
Twombly work at auction in the process. Much of the late artist’s current auction
standings hail from his iconic period of production ranging from the late 1960s to
the early ’70s, when he was producing more muted, calligraphic works, like his
current auction record, 1968’s Untitled (New York City), which sold for $70 million
in 2015. This result, when coupled with the 2017 sale of a piece from the same era
for $46.4 million, may signal a rising market interest in the artist’s late period.

6. At Farhi Fine Art we enjoy privileged access to a large number of ‘blue-chip’
artists. We also have access to the estates of many leading established artists.
This is a significant advantage that gives our clients the potential for even greater
growth. Moreover, we have access to a very exciting cohort of talented emerging
artists – those with the potential to become blue-chip artists.