This market is a duel between two works by titans of the art world—both soon to be up for auction at Christie's.
SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS - The Virgin and Child of the Rosary
Lot 78 at the "A Park Avenue Collection" auction on April 17th.
EDWARD HOPPER - Oaks at Eastham
Lot 20 at the "Modern American Art" auction on April 18th.
Both were given the same initial estimates by Christie's—USD 500,000 – USD 700,000.
This market resolves to the artwork which the Christie's website lists with a higher sale value at their respective auction.
Resolution details:
Example from a past auction: this painting by Gentileschi has a "price realised" of USD 982,800. This is the number I will use—whatever is displayed by the auction page.
Edge cases:
If one fails to sell for any reason, it resolves to the other.
If there's a tie (or they both fail to sell), both resolve at 50%.
If any scenarios for resolution are unclear, please ask.
SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS - The Virgin and Child of the Rosary
Sir Peter Paul Rubens... was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. (Wikipedia)
This fluidly rendered oil sketch was made in preparation for a large-scale painting for the Dominican Church of the Hermitage in Lier... Such rapidly executed sketches in oil made in preparation for more fully realized, generally larger scale paintings have been celebrated as independent works of art more or less since their inception. (Lot essay)
EDWARD HOPPER - Oaks at Eastham
Edward Hopper... was an American realist painter and printmaker. He is one of America's most renowned artists and known for his skill in capturing American life and landscapes through his art... Hopper's work, spanning oil paintings, watercolors, and etchings, predominantly explores themes of loneliness and isolation within American urban and rural settings. (Wikipedia)
In Oaks at Eastham, Hopper delights in the psychological tension found within these unremarkable views.... Literally painted at a crossroads, the work immediately evokes associations with those internal thoughts that arise when deciding which path forward to pursue and which will be the proverbial ‘road not taken’. (Lot essay)
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Related questions
🏅 Top traders
| # | Name | Total profit |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ṁ185 | |
| 2 | Ṁ37 | |
| 3 | Ṁ16 | |
| 4 | Ṁ15 | |
| 5 | Ṁ12 |
@traders The Rubens didn't do very well, just USD 504,000. Yikes. However, the Hopper failed to sell at auction. Thus, by the resolution, this resolves to the Rubens (as the other failed to sell).
There are some huge May auctions coming up, which make this 500k sale seem like a trifle. Check out the $50M painting by Bacon, or another 8 figure rivalry.
these are both pretty mediocre/uninspiring works from their authors, my guess is at least one will go unsold, how would that factor ? Does an unsold piege get a sale price of 0 ?
@Odoacre Yup from the edge cases in the description:
If one fails to sell for any reason, it resolves to the other.
If there's a tie (or they both fail to sell), both resolve at 50%.
So roughly "fails to sell" is basically it selling for 0. (in earlier markets I made a distinction between "withdrew before the auction" and "fails to reach the minimum reserve price and is not sold at auction", but that was hard to track so now I've simplified it to just be that whether or nor it'll actually sell has to be priced in in advance).
In these markets I've only very rarely had cases where the piece might have been pulled before the auction, but yeah several examples where it fails to sell at the auction (and thus resolved to the other).
@Ziddletwix I think museums and special collectors are often in the running for these important names, and they may be interested in something niche like this