In a proudly South Africa second, Cape City-born Marlene Dumas set a brand new public sale report, turning into the most costly residing feminine artist after her 1997 portray Miss January offered for $13.6 million (R246 million) at Christie’s this week.
The art work, a last-minute consignment from the Rubell Household Assortment, had been estimated between $12 million and $18 million, with a third-party assure in place.
Bidding opened at $9 million and rapidly escalated, with the hammer coming down at $11.5 million (earlier than charges), prompting applause within the saleroom.
With charges, the ultimate value reached $13.6 million.
The profitable bid got here from an nameless phone purchaser.
Surpassed the earlier report
The portray is a towering oil-on-canvas piece measuring roughly 9 ft tall (281.9cm x 101.6cm) and revisits themes deeply private to Marlene Dumas, who has lived within the Netherlands because the late Seventies.
It attracts inspiration from Miss World, the primary recognized drawing she created at age 10, and connects to her earlier works such because the 1988 Misinterpreted – extensively seen as a self-portrait – and her 1992 survey exhibition Miss Interpreted on the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
This sale surpasses the earlier report for a residing feminine artist, held by Jenny Saville, whose Propped (1992) fetched £9.5 million ($12.4 million) at Sotheby’s London in 2018.
Earlier than this public sale, Dumas’s highest value was $6.33 million, achieved in 2008 for The Customer (1995) at Sotheby’s London.
Whereas her market has remained regular, solely a handful of her works have crossed the $1 million mark in recent times.
Between 2022 and 2024, 15 Dumas works have been offered at public sale, however solely 5 exceeded $1 million, and simply two surpassed their excessive estimates.
The sale was additionally notable as a result of rarity of deaccessions from the Rubell Household Assortment, one of the distinguished on the planet.
In line with previous statements, the Rubells have offered fewer than 20 items out of greater than 5 000 collected over 5 a long time.
Miss January was beforehand displayed at their personal museum in Miami throughout Artwork Basel in December.
Dumas’s historic outcome reaffirms her international significance and locations her firmly on the high of the up to date artwork market.
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