
Lot 26, "Five Deaths on Orange," by Andy Warhol, acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen, 30 3/16 inches square, 1963
Lot
26, "Five Deaths on Orange," is an acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen
by Andy Warhol that is 30 3/16 inches square and was painted in 1963. It
was acquired by Ileana and Michael Sonnabend of Paris and was on
extended loan to the Baltimore Museum of Art for many years. It
is part of the artist's "Death and Disaster" series. It has an
estimate of $8,000,000 to $12,000,000. It sold for $11,365,000.

Lot 16, "Little Electric Chair," by Andy Warhol, acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen, 22 by 28 inches, 1964-5
Based
on a 1953 photograph of the electric chair to accompany an article
about the planned execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Lot 16,
"Little Electric Chair," is an acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen by
Warhol that was painted in 1964-5. It measures 22 by 28 inches
and is property of the Cy Twombly Foundation. The catalogue entry
notes that it is "overflowing with gloom and completely devoid of
unnecessary adornments." It has an estimate of $3,500,000 to
$5,500,000. It sold for $6,045,000.

Lot
29, "Small Campbell's Soup Can (Chili Beef)," by Andy Warhol, casein,
metallic paint and graphite on canvas, 20 by 16 inches, 1962
Lot
29, "Small Campbell's Soup Can (Chili Beef)," by Warhol is a casein,
metallic paint and graphite on canvas that measures 20 by 16 inches.
It was painted in 1962 and was owned by Maria and Bryon Janis in
1962 and 1963. The catalogue entry has a color photograph by Boib
Adelman/Corbis of the artist in 1962 clutching some soup cans in a
Gristede's. It has an estimate of $6,500,000 to $8,500,000. It sold for $7,445,000.

Lot 55, "Self-Portrait," by Warhol, synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen inks on canvas, 79 inches square, 1986
Lot
55 is a large and stark Warhol self-portrait in synthetic polymer paint
and silkscreen inks on canvas that is 79 inches square. It was
painted in 1986 and has an estimate of $25,000,000 to $35,000,000.
It was withdrawn. A similar work was in the Sotheby's auction the same season.

Lot 14, "Self-Portait," by Warhol, acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 20 by 16 inches, 1963-4
A
smaller and earlier Warhol self-portrait is Lot 14, an acrylic and
silkscreen ink on canvas that is 20 by 16 inches and was painted in
1963-4. It was offered at Christie's New York May 11, 2011 with
an estimate of $6,000,000 to $8,000,000 and it sold for $6,802,500.
This time it has an estimate of $10,000,000 to $15,000,000. It sold for $11,365,000.

Lot 77, "Mona Lisa," by Warhol, synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas, 50 1/8 by 40 1/8 inches, 1978
Lot
77, "Mona Lisa," has four pictures of the famous Leonardo da Vinci
woman and is a synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas that
measures 50 1/8 by 40 1/8 inches. It was painted in 1978.
It has an estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000. It sold for $5,989,000.

Lot 12, "Reflections on the Prom," by Roy Lichtenstein, oil and magna on canvas, 74 by 90 inches, 1990
Lot
12, "Reflections on the Prom," is an excellent and striking oil and
magna on canvas by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997). It measures 74
by 90 inches and was painted in 1990. It was offered at
Christie's New York May13, 2008 when it had an estimate of $3,000,000
to $5,000,000. Its estimate this time is "on request" and it sold for $21,445,000.

Lot 25, "Landscape with Figures," by Lichtenstein, oil and magna on canvas, 64 by 100 inches, 1977
Another
very fine and complex composition by Lichtenstein is Lot 25, "Landscape
with Figures," an oil and magna on canvas that measures 64 by 100
inches. It was painted in 1977. It has an estimate of
$15,000,000 to $20,000,000. It sold for $18,085,000.

Lot 4, "Girl in Mirror," by Lichtenstein, porcelain enamel on steel, 42 inches square by 2 inches, 1964, from an edition of 8
Lot
4, "Girl in Mirror," is a strong porcelain enamel on steel by
Lichtenstein from an edition of 8 in 1964. It measures 42 inches
square by 2 inches. It has an estimate of $2,000,000 to
$3,000,000. It sold for $6,885,000.

Lot 32, "Keds," by Lichtenstein, oil and graphite on canvas, 48 1/8 by 34 1/4 inches, 1961
Lot
32, "Keds," is an early oil and graphite on canvas by Lichtenstein.
It measures 38 1/8 by 34 1/4 inches and was painted in 1961.
It has been widely exhibited and has an "estimate of request." It failed to sell and was passed at $19,000,000.

Lot 28, "Sunrise," by Lichtenstein, oil, magna and graphite on canvas, 36 1/8 by 68 3/8 inches, 1965
Lot
28 is a good oil, magna and graphite on canvas by Lichtenstein entitled
"Sunrise." It measures 36 1/8 by 68 3/8 inches and was painted in
1965. It has an estimate of $12,000,000 to $18,000,000. It sold for $16,405,000.

Lot 31, "Lichtenstein, Frighten Girl," by Sturtevant, oil and graphite on canvas, 45 1/2 by 63 1/2 inches, 1966
Lot
31 is an oil and graphite on canvas by Sturtevant (1926-2014) entitled
"Lichtenstein, Frighten Girl." It measures 45 1/2 by 63 1/2
inches and was painted in 1966. It is modeled on a smaller
lithograph by Lichtenstein. It sold at Phillips in New York
November 8, 2011 for $710,500. It has an estimate of $600,000 to
$800,000. It sold for $3,413,000, an auction record for the artist.

Lot 23, "King Oliver," by Franz Kline, oil on canvas, 99 by 77 1/2 inches, 1958
Lot
23 is a very strong and colorful abstraction by Franz Kline
(1910-1962). It is entitled "King Oliver" after the jazz musician
whose protegé was Louis Armstrong and is an oil on canvas that measures
99 by 77 1/2 inches. It was painted in 1958. It has an
estimate of $25,000,000 to $35,000,000. It sold for $26,485,000.

Lot 24. "Untitled XXIV," by Willem de Kooning, oil on canvas, 77 by 88 inches, 1982
Lot
24, "Untitled XXIV," is an abstract oil on canvas by Willem de Kooning
(1904-1997). It measures 77 by 88 inches and was painted in 1982.
It has an estimate of $9,000,000 to $12,000,000. It sold for $17,525,000.

Lot 20, "Untitled," by Cy Twombly, oil based house paint and wax crayon on canvas, 61 1/4 by 74 3/4 inches, 1970
Lot
20 is an untitled oil based house paint and wax crayon on canvas by Cy
Twombly (1928-2011). It measures 61 1/4 by 74 3/4 inches.
It was painted in 1970. It has an ambitious estimate, for a
repetitive and uninteresting "blackboard" scribble, of $35,000,000 to
$55,000,000. It conjures the scrawl of a naughty child ordered to write
100 lines of nonsense after class. It ain't art, but
it sold for $69,605,000, the auction's most astounding price, breaking
the artist's previous auction record of $21,669,000 set at Sotheby's
New York November 13, 2013.
Lot 5, "Untitled," by Gerhard Richter, oil on canvas, 44 1/8 by 40 1/4 inches, 1989
Lot
5 is an extremely beautiful untitled smudge oil on canvas by Gerhard
Richter (b. 1932) that measures 44 1/8 by 40 1/2 inches. It was
painted in 1989. Both Christie's and Sotheby's have gone out of
their way to introduce reference illustrations in their major
catalogues that are not directly related to the lots and often the
connection is irrelevant and only meant to enhance the value of the lot
in a misleading way. In this instance, however, the catalogue
reproduces a nice black and white photograph of a winter forest scene
by Ansel Adams and the comparison is striking. The entry, like
many, is a major essay and it notes that this work "seduces the eye
with its fluctuating tonalities, eroded surface and crystalline color
formations." The lot has an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000.
It sold for $9,125,000, much
lower than many of the artist's "color" abstractions that are
definitely inferior to this jewel.

Lot 37, "Abstraktes Bild (648-3)," by Richter, oil on canvas, 88 3/4 by 78 3/4 inches, 1987
Lot
37 conjures a "water lily" painting by Monet soaked in phosphorus.
It is, indeed, better than Monet's water lilies and deserves to
be above a large fireplace across a very large room from another large
fireplace beneath a masterpiece by Mark Rothko. It is a squeegee
oil on canvas by Richter entitled "Abstraktes Bild (648-3), Lot 37, and
measures 88 3/4 by 78 3/4 inches and was painted in 1987.
The catalogue entry has a stunning verbal description of this lot:
"With
virtuosic mastery Gerhard Richter creates a vast seascape of high-keyed
chromatic labyrinths that floods the picture plane in wave upon wave of
spectral luminescence. The matrix of multiple pictorial registers
at work in Abstraktes Bild (648-3) - spatial ambiguity, optical change,
tactile sensation and compositional complexity - delivers a kinetic and
sensual force rarely matched in brilliance and beauty.
Liquiescent teal dissolves into viridian green; staccato
punctuations of rich cadium yellow and fiery red and magenta riddle the
terrain disrupting the softly brushed aqueous turquoise and phthalo
blue. The stunning grandeur of Abstraktes Bild manifests as much
in the sudden burst of chromatic under-layer as in the flating droplets
of high-keyed chroma searing its vast surface. As if adrift in an
immense coral underworld, vividly hued textures pulsate as they
describe a seeming network of living organisms of almost preternatural
vividness - a grand expanse of blazing chromaticism and convulsive
materiality."
Despite such justified adultation, this work still cannot match the glories of Richter's above-mentioned grey painting.
It has an estimate of $20,000,000 to $30,000,000. It sold for $31,525,000.

Lot 38, "Demo (848-3)," by Richter, oil on canvas, 24 3/8 inches square, 1997
Richter,
of course, is not a one-trick pony and actually can occasionally see a
non-abstract world as evidence by Lot 38, "Demo (848-3), a 24
3/8-inch-square oil on canvas from 1997 that relates to the "aftermath
of a May Day demonstration by a group of asylum seekers, a physical
reminder of the complex politics of Germany's new role as a model of
European democracy. It is based on a 1993 photograph taken by the
artist. It is a fine composition that at first glance suggests an
overuse of the blur filter in Photoshop but which is much better. It
has an estimate of $7,000,000 to $10,000,000. It sold for $8,005,000.

Lot 36, "Pine House (Rooms for Rent)," by Peter Doig, oil on canvas, 70 by 90 3/4 inches, 1994
Not
as dazzling as some of Richter's works, Lot 36, "Pine House (Rooms for
Rent)," by Peter Doig (b. 1959) is extremely painterly with a wintry
luminosity that is rather mesmerizing. An oil on canvas, it
measures 70 by 90 3/4 inches and was painted in 1994. It has an
estimate of request. It sold for $18,085,000, an auction record for the artist.

Lot 45, "Seated Figure," by Francis Bacon, oil on canvas, 60 1/8 by 47 inches, 1960
Lot
45, "Seated Figure," is an oil on canvas by Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
that measures 60 1/8 by 47 inches and was painted in 1960. It is
obviously inspired by portraits of Pope Innocent by Velasquez
and the catalogue entry reproduces one at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj
in Rome. It is part of the artist's "Screaming Popes"
series that began in the1950s but it can't begin to compare with the
great "Study for Portrait VII" of 1953 at the Museum of Modern Art
which is mostly black with gold geometric lines containing a painterly
seated pope with his mouth wide open, a very haunting painting.This lot
has an estimate of $40,000,000 to $60,000,000. It sold for $44,965,000.
Lot 63, "Waste Ground, Paddington," by Lucien Freud, oil on canvas, 28 inches square, 1970
Lot
63, "Waste Ground, Paddington," is a fine and very painterly study of
the backyard of Lucien Freud (1922-2011) backyard in the Paddington
section of London. An oil on canvas, it is 28 inches square.
The artist also painted a version with a broader scape of the
cityscape. This work was painted in 1970. It has an
estimate of $6,000,000 to $9,000,000. It sold for $7,781,000.
Lot 51, "Julie and Martin," by Lucien Freud, oil on canvas, 48 by 60 inches, 2001
Lot
51, "Julie and Martin," is an excellent and very painterly oil on
canvas by Lucien Freud (1922-2011). It measures 48 by 60 inches
and was painted in 2001 and the next year it was featured in a
retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London, the La
Foundacion "La Caixa" in Barcelona and the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Los Angeles. It has an estimate of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000.
It sold for $16,965,000.
Lot 40, "Untitled," by Martin Kippenberger, oil on canvas, 95 1/4 by 79 3/8 inches, 1988
Lot
40 is an very large and very unattractive, untitled oil on canvas by
Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997) that was included in a retrospective in
2008-9 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Museum
of Modern Art in New York. It measures 95 1/4 by 79 3/8 inches
and was painted in 1988.
The catalogue entry reproduces the
1951 David Duncan Douglas photograph of Pablo Picasso in his underwear
that this "self-portrait" painting references.
It notes that
when he painted it the artist had been invited to Vienna to open a
disco: "The artist, raconteur, impressario, poet, DJ, night-club owner
and enfant terrible of the Berlin and Cologne art scenes....had agreed,
solely on the condition that its organizers put him up at the best
hotel in town....The grubby, delapidated and misleadingly-namned
Pension Elite was the best that could be arranged."
The entry
also notes that the artist's work is ambiguous and sometimes clumsy, a
"Post-Modern" fetish, it would seem, and it describes this work as
"deliberately ambiguous, anti-heroic, anti-iconic and unmonumental."
This is not comparable to a great and painterly Francis Bacon....
It has an estimate of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000. It sold for $22,565,000, an auction record for the artist.

Lot 2, "Der Bruckechor (The Brucke Chorus)," by Georg Baselitz, oil on canvas, 110 by 117 inches, 1983
In
marked contrast to the Kippenberger, Lot 2, "Der Bruckechor (The Brucke
Chorus), by George Baselitz (b. 1938) is colorful as well as being
shocking in an upside-down way. An oil on canvas, it measures 110
by 117 inches and was painted in 1983.
The Brucke Chorus
refers to a group of Expressionist painters in Dresden and the
catalogue entry notes that "we find Karl Schmidt-Rottluff in the center
of the painting, Otto Muller to his left, the figure of Emil Nolde to
the far right and Edvard Munch's disembodied head flating mysteriously
to the right of center.
It has an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It sold for $7,445,000, an auction record for the artist.

Lot 57, "Untitled (Head)," by Jean-Michel Basquiat, acrylic and oilstick on paper, 30 by 22 inches, 1982
In
contrast to the "gimmicks" of the Kippenberger and Baselitz lots, Lot
57 is boldly better in its vibrancy and unambiguousity, a fine
demonstration of the virtuosity of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988).
An acrylic and oilstick on paper, it measures 30 by 22 inches and
was painted iunb 1982. It has an estimate of $3,000,000 to
$4,000,000. It sold for $3,749,000.

Lot
30, "Smash," by Ed Ruscha, oil on canvas, 71 3/4 by 67 inches, 1963,
hangs behind Laura Paulson and Brett Gorvy of Christie's at post-sale
news conference,
photograph by Michele Leight
Lot
30 is a huge oil on canvas by Ed Ruscha (b. 1937) entitled "Smash."
The word is emblazoned across the dark canvas in large yellow
letters and is also repeated three times in much smaller fonts at the
bottom of the canvas and on its two sides. The canvas measures 71
3/4 by 67 inches and was painted in 1963. The painting was once
owned by Charles Cowles and later by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Marron.
It has an estimate of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000. It
sold for $30,405,000, an auction record for the artist, and evidence
that a single word can make a "splash" or statement without an
exclamation point.

Lot
42, "Balloon Monkey (Orange)," by Jeff Koons, mirror-polished stainless
steel with transparent color coating, 150 by 235 by 126 inches,
2006-2013
The
showpiece of the auction is Lot 42, "Balloon Monkey (Orange)," by Jeff
Koons (b. 1955), a mirror-polished stainless-steel sculpture with
transparent color coating. It measures 150 by 235 by 126 inches
and was created between 2006 and 2013. There are other versions in
blue, magenta, red and yellow. Koons' balloon sculptures are
adorable, of course, and large. It has an estimate of $20,000,000
to $30,000,000. It sold for $25,925,000.

Lot
33, "Pink Panther," by Jeff Koons, porcelain, 41 inches high, 1988, the
artist's proof from an edition of three plus an artist's proof
Lot
33 is the "Pink Panther," the amorous and cuddly cartoon character that
dominated the titles of the movie of the same name. It is a
41-inch high porcelain that was made in 1988 and is the artist's proof
from an edition of three plus the artist's proof. One of the
others was included in the artist's retrospective in 2014-5 at the
Whitney Museum of Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. It has an estimate of $8,000,000 to
$12,000,000. It sold for $15,845,000.

Lot 41, "Land Fall," by Mark Tansey, oil on canvasw, 85 1/2 by 101 1/2 inches, 2007
Lot
41 is an oil on canvas by Mark Tansey (b. 1949) entitled "Land Fall."
It measures 85 1/2 by 101 1/2 inches and was painted in 2007. It
depicts some beachgoers noticing a boat powered by a truck carrying
refugees from Cuba in 2003. It has an estimate of $3,000,000 to
$4,000,000. It sold for $5,765,000, an auction record for the artist.