Sales Sizzle at Opening of Art Basel
- June 17, 2015 11:51
About $3.4 bllion worth of art is offered by 284 exhibitors at Art Basel this year, according to insurer Axa Art. The ultra-rich descended on the Swiss town of Basel Tuesday night, snapping up works priced in the six-and-seven-figures by Robert Rauschenberg, Takashi Murakami, Alexander Calder, Christopher Wool, Cy Twombly, Oscar Murillo, Marlene Dumas, and more.
Billionaires Daniel Loeb, Steven Cohen and Laurence Graff were on hand. Art advisor Jeffrey Deitch made a beeline to first-time exhibitor JTT Gallery to acquire Borna Sammak's electronic paintings for his client, a billionaire Indonesian collector, reports Bloomberg.
"It's probably been the strongest start we've ever had," exhibitor David Zwirner told Bloomberg of the opening night sales.
![Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.](/images/c/e2/2e/Jan20_Rape_of_Europa100x100_c.jpg "Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.")
100x100_c.jpg "Boba Fett L-slot rocket-firing prototype action figure, predecessor to the Boba Fett figure in Kenner’s popular 1979 Star Wars toy line, 3.75in tall, AFA-graded 80+ NM (archival case). Encapsulated with notarized CIB COA. Sold for a world-record price of $236,000 against an estimate of $100,000-$200,000")
