THE ART ADVISORY
ALEXIA WALKER: Record sales and major events make for a sterling art year
The $450.3m price for Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi tops 2017: the year of record art sales
In the art world 2017 will be remembered for several major events and record sales. Topping the list is Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, sold for $450.3m on November 15 at Christies in New York. The oil painting, known as The Last da Vinci, is one of fewer than 20 paintings accepted to be by the artist’s hand and the lingering doubts over its authenticity makes the sale even more fascinating. It was also the last known work of the artist still privately owned; the others are in museums. It was owned by Dmitry Rybolovlev, an avid Russian art collector who purchased it for $127m in 2013. A Saudi prince was identified as the buyer. Salvator Mundi shattered the world record for any work of art ever sold privately or at auction. The record was previously held by Interchange, a 1955 oil painting by Dutch-American abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning that was purchased by the hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin in September 2015 for a reported $300m in a private sale. Earlier in ...
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