New York —
On Monday evening, it took auction house Christie’s just 40 minutes to sell more than $630 million in art, smashing records for both the painter Jackson Pollock and sculptor Constantin Brancusi. Later in the night, it rounded things off with yet more broken records and another $490 million.
The first part of the $1.1-billion New York sale featured 16 works from S.I. Newhouse’s storied collection. It marked the fourth time Christie’s has brought a group of works to market from the late media giant, who owned Condé Nast, as well as large slice of America’s local newspapers and broadcast stations.
But it was the first time that the auction house tapped Nicole Kidman for a promotional video, filming her free-flowing encounter with the golden Brancusi bust “Danaïde,” which was poised to be one of the night’s star lots. The video was based on a 1930s Man Ray film of fellow surrealist Lee Miller, per Christie’s, and while it didn’t quite take off in the same way as Kidman’s viral AMC ad, it did once again prove her commitment to any and all roles.
Netting $107.6 million with fees, “Danaïde” surpassed Brancusi’s previous auction record of $71.2 million almost as soon as bidding began. A pivotal drip painting by Pollock — of which few of its scale remain in private hands — also soared skyward, to applause, landing at $181.2 million with fees to become the night’s top-grossing lot. The price tag far surpassed the abstract expressionist’s previous 2021 record of $61.2 million — and he did it without the help of Kidman.
