Sotheby's London landmark two-day auction of new works by Damien Hirst realizes £111.4 million The historic two-day Beautiful Inside My Head Forever sale concluded in London having realized the remarkable sum of £111,464,800 (US$200,752,179/€140,160,487)
News-Antique.com - Sep 22,2008 - SOTHEBY’S GROUND-BREAKING TWO-DAY AUCTION OF NEW WORKS BY DAMIEN HIRST
BEAUTIFUL INSIDE MY HEAD FOREVER
REALISES £111.4 MILLION – WELL IN EXCESS OF ITS HIGH ESTIMATE*
- The Golden Calf commanded the highest price of the two-day sale £10,345,250 – establishing a new auction record for a work by the artist** -
- Four works sold for over $5 million and 48 for over $1 million
LONDON, 16 SEPTEMBER, 2008 – Following the tremendous result achieved last night for the
Evening session of Beautiful Inside My Head Forever - Sotheby’s historic and ground-breaking two-day
auction of new works by Damien Hirst - the Day Sale continued to attract unprecedented interest, bringing
the combined total for the entire two-day auction to the remarkable sum of £111,464,800
(US$200,752,179/€140,160,487) – well in excess of its high estimate (est. £68-98 million).
Following the conclusion of the sale today, Damien Hirst said: "I think the market is bigger than anyone knows,
I love art and this proves I'm not alone and the future looks great for everyone!"
Commenting on the exceptional results of this unique sale, Patrick Van Maris, Managing Director Sotheby ‘s
Europe, said: “With the 11-day pre-sale exhibition and two-day sale of new works by one of world’s most
successful living artists, Damien Hirst, Sotheby’s has made auction history. The sale has broken major new
ground and set several new and important benchmarks – including a new auction record for a work by the artist.
The sales attracted an unprecedented number of new buyers and bidders, with significant activity from a
remarkably broad range of geographical locations. Beautiful Inside My Head Forever is undoubtedly the sale of
the century… to date, and I am very proud that Sotheby’s has been the place where it happened. Remarkably,
the sale took place almost exactly 50 years after Sotheby’s staged the sale of seven Impressionist paintings from
the Estate of the Jacob Goldschmidt, the first evening sale since the 18th century, which revolutionised the art
world.”
Evening Sale
Statistics:
Estimate range: No of lots offered: Lots sold as a percentage of lots offered:
£0-100,000 1 100%
£100,000-£1 million 43 98%
£1-2 million 7 100%
£2-4 million 3 67%
£4-6 million 1 100%
£8-10 million 1 100%
• The Evening Sale comprised 56 lots, 54 of which sold during the auction (the remaining two in fact
sold privately before the sale closed), with 96% sold by value – the second highest sold by value rate
ever seen at a Sotheby’s London Contemporary Art auction.
• The auction saw three lots sell for over £5 million and 18 lots sell for more than £1 million, with two
lots selling for $10 million, four lots selling for over $5 million and 37 lots for more than $1 million.
• 35% of the buyers in the Evening Sale were new to the Contemporary Art department and 18%
were new to Sotheby’s.
• Of the bidders new to Sotheby’s, 25% came from the new markets.
• 74.1% of lots sold realised
