Ladies first: the secret star of Dorotheum’s evening auction of Contemporary Art on 30 November 2022 was Carla Accardi. Her abstract fantastic animal Animale immaginario, a painting from 1988, sold for 303,000 euros - more than five times its estimate - establishing a world record for a work by the artist. Carla Accardi (1924-2014) is regarded as one of the most important representatives of the Italian avant-garde. A typical, small-format pumpkin painting by Yayoi Kusama, another important protagonist of the contemporary art scene, reached an outstanding 478,000 euros. Another lady was also successful: Andy Warhol's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II from the “Reigning Queens” series changed hands for 271,750 euros.
The top price at the auction was fetched by a work by Lucio Fontana. Bids for his pink Concetto spaziale from 1965 only stopped at 753,000 euros.
Works by Giuseppe Capogrossi, Alighiero Boetti, Paolo Scheggi and Enrico Castellani also achieved prizes far beyond expectations. Other outstanding results from the internationally appreciated offer were for works by Hans Hartung, Daniel Richter, Hermann Nitsch, and Franz West, among others
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