A Marlene Dumas painting, *Miss January* (1997), sold for $13.6 million at a Christie’s auction, making the South African artist the most expensive living female artist at auction. The work, consigned from the Rubell Family collection, had an estimate of $12–18 million and was backed by a third-party guarantee. It was won by an anonymous telephone bidder represented by Sara Friedlander, Christie’s deputy chairman for postwar and contemporary art.
The sale matters because it resets the record for a living female artist at auction, surpassing Jenny Saville’s 2018 result for *Propped*. It also marks a rare sale from the Rubell Family, who have sold fewer than 20 works from their collection of over 5,000 pieces. The painting references Dumas’s first known drawing and her early survey exhibition, highlighting her enduring influence and the strong market demand for her work.