Despite the on-going international crisis, Dorotheum has met the challenges of 2020 very well. The auction house, the largest in the German-speaking world, was poised to introduce expanded online activities into the sale process even before the pandemic broke. "As a result, the transition from auction room sales to online auctions worked excellently during the lockdown in the Spring and Autumn," says Dorotheum’s Managing Director, Martin Böhm. "The opportunity to use our live online bidding facility has also been very well received. We are seeing an enormous influx of new customers as well younger people showing interest in our sales. In June alone, there were over a million visits on our website”.
Million Euro Pictures
The change-over to predominantly online operations enabled us to achieve continuity in our practice as well as stability for our sales. As a result, high prices, including several paintings which sold for over a million euros, as well as a number of world record-breaking prices have been achieved this year. The winning bid for Chaim Soutine's “Woman in red against a blue background” in the Modern Art auction on November 24th, was for 1,811,555 euros. An altarpiece entitled “Adoration of the Magi” by Pieter Coecke von Aelst made an outstanding 1,137,800 euros at the Old Masters auction on June 9th, achieving the world record price for a picture by the Flemish artist. Among the other world records broken during this year was another Old Master Painting, Massimo Stanzione's “Lot and his daughters” which made 393,700 euros.
Austrian Art
In addition to the small painting “Eye” by Maria Lassnig (€ 229,000) and a “Still Life with St. Sebastian” by Rudolf Wacker (€ 369,300), an early oil painting by Gustav Klimt produced excellent results for Austrian Art. Klimt's design for a painted ceiling-decoration for Vienna’s Burgtheater entitled “Altar of Dionysus”, was acquired for 475,064 euros by an anonymous Viennese couple who have subsequently donated it to the Leopold Museum, Vienna.
Top-Auctionlots 2020 Download list
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