Sotheby's Spring Auction in Hong Kong has always been a bellwether for the Asian art market, and its auctions can be roughly seen from the market conditions throughout the year. The 2022 Hong Kong Sotheby's Spring Auction officially raised the gavel from the evening of April 27, leading by the Modern Art Night Auction. The artists in this special exhibition can be called the most well-known artists in the Asian market, including Picasso, Renoir, Chagall, Wu Guanzhong, Zhu Dequn, Chen Yifei and other important works of super famous people. In the end, Picasso's "Dora Marr" sold for HK$169.42 million, and Chen Yifei's masterpiece "The Night Feast" sold for HK$54.52 million.
Chen Yifei", "Night Feast"
At this auction, a number of Mr. Run Run Shaw's old collections were auctioned, and what attracted special attention was Mr. Run Run Shaw's old collection of Chen Yifei's masterpiece "Night Feast" in the 1990s. "Night Feast" broke the world record of Chinese oil painting auctions at the auction site in 1992, and now that 30 years have passed, whether the work can set a record again has become a major suspense before the auction. However, the market was surprisingly calm, and with almost no bidding, it fell to the hammer for HK$54.52 million.
Chen Yifei's "Night Feast" was created in 1991, and the following year it appeared on the cover of the Hong Kong auction catalogue and was auctioned by Mr. Run Run Shaw for nearly HK$2 million, which not only broke the auction record of the artist's own works, but also set the highest record for Chinese oil painting auctions that year. Today, the highest auction record of Chinese oil painting has reached HK$236 million (Wu Guanzhong's "Zhou Zhuang" in 2016), chen Yifei's own work auction record has reached 149.5 million yuan (2017 Chen Yifei's "Yutang Spring Warmth"), the prominent creation and collection of "Night Feast" made it attract much attention before the auction, the auctioneer gave an estimate of 50 million to 80 million Hong Kong dollars, and the final transaction price was obviously not satisfactory. It also reflects certain tendencies and changes in the market.
Picasso's Dora Mare
In the same special session, Picasso's "Dora Mar" for his lover was auctioned for HK$169.42 million, which was only just below the end of the estimate previously given by the auctioneer; the impressionist master Renoir's work "Sitting Bathing Woman" even fell far below the price.
Wu Guanzhong "Red Plum"
Mr. Wu Guanzhong's oil painting "Red Plum" created in 1973 has also attracted much attention before, with an auction valuation of 90 million to 120 million Hong Kong dollars, and finally only 1039.27 million Hong Kong dollars, within the rational range.
Zhu Dequn "Windward"
Chagall's Peony
A good deal is Zhu Dequn, a painting "Windward" sold for 34.255 million Hong Kong dollars, reaching the upper edge of the estimate, in addition, Chagall's "Peony" sold for 14.895 million Hong Kong dollars.
The special transaction is quite flat, indicating that the market is very rational in the valuation of modern art works, and how the art market is this year, we must continue to observe the next few special performances of Sotheby's in Hong Kong.