Christie's 20th and 21st Century Art sales in New York from 12-15 May 2025 achieved a total of $693 million across six sales, reaching 123% of the low estimate. The top lot was Piet Mondrian's 1922 painting *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue*, which sold for $47.56 million. Other highlights included Claude Monet's *Peupliers au bord de l'Epte, crépuscule* (1891) at $42.96 million, and Marlene Dumas's *Miss January* (1997), which set a record for a living female artist. The Leonard & Louise Riggio collection alone brought $272 million, while the 20th Century Evening Sale achieved $217 million with a 100% sell-through rate. New artist records were set for Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, Louis Fratino, Simone Leigh, and Emma McIntyre.
The results underscore the continued strength of the high-end art market, particularly for blue-chip modern and contemporary works. The success of the Riggio and Bass collections demonstrates that trophy collections from prominent American collectors can still command premium prices. The record for Dumas highlights growing recognition of living female artists at auction, while the strong sell-through rates and multiple lots exceeding high estimates signal robust demand among top collectors. The week also reaffirms Christie's dominant position in the auction market for 20th and 21st century art.