Will Sotheby's fishes for art collectors flourish?

Sotheby's is attempting to regain market trust after acquiring Leonard Lauder's £400 million art collection, which includes Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer

Now that summer is over, the crucial autumn auction sales are approaching. This season is even more significant than usual for Sotheby's, the auction house. It revealed a pre-tax loss of £248 million for the preceding 12 months in July, which is twice as much as it was in 2024. Does each and every sale matter?

Like all other auction houses, Sotheby's is dealing with the triple threat of declining demand from Asian art collectors, comparatively high interest rates, and political unpredictability. The New York Times claims that this indicates consignors have been "loath to part with their most prized artworks unsure of being able to attract top prices."

Thankfully, the £400 million art collection of the late cosmetics tycoon Leonard Lauder has been acquired by Sotheby's. Lauder passed away in June. According to Sarah Cascone on Artnet News, the portrait of "a striking young woman with dark hair and pale skin, clad in a flowing, gauzy white dress and patterned blue robe" is the lot that has generated the most excitement out of the 24 lots in the collection's core sale, which is taking place in New York on November 18th. Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (19141916) shows the daughter of one of the artists' most significant Austrian patrons. Sotheby's claims that the painting is worth £150 million would "obliterate" the record price of £108,4 million for a Klimt painting, which was set by the sale of Lady With a Fan in 2023.

Sotheby's is to roll the dice.

According to The New York Times, Sotheby's ran the risk of guaranteeing the Lauder estate a minimum price for the painting. It is unclear if Sotheby's has used third-party guarantors, as is customary, to mitigate that risk. However, "I would still like to know if Sotheby's is profiting from this. "Or are they losing money to give the impression that they are confident" art adviser Jacob King tells the newspaper. Grande tte mince, the "£70 million star" of the spring season, a 1955 sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, was not sold by Sotheby's in March. The art market will be observing to determine whether the assurance that Sotheby's has attempted to project with the guarantee is real or just a mirage.

Christies provided a glimmer of hope last week, stating that wealthy buyers are still present in Asia. Pablo Picasso's 1944 work Buste de femme sold for HK£196.75 million (18.9 million) in Hong Kong, significantly more than the estimated HK£106 million (10.1 million). Interestingly, on October 24, Lucien Paris will be selling a second portrait of Dora Maar, Picasso's wartime inspiration. After 80 years, Buste de femme au chapeau fleurs (1943), which is estimated to be worth 8 million, is being seen in public for the first time.