Jackson Pollock painting fetches record £134 million at auction in New York
Jackson Pollock has created another piece of history, with one of his most acclaimed pieces selling for a record price at auction.
Christie’s in New York managed to sell Number 7A, 1948 for a total price of £134.93 million on May 18th, beating out the previous record for a Pollock piece by a significant margin.
According to Artnews, this makes the three-metre piece the fourth most expensive artwork to ever be sold at auction, marking a massive milestone in the art market.
The previous record for one of Pollock’s pieces was set in 2021 when another of his works sold for almost £45.5 million, although some of his other pieces have sold privately for upwards of £148 million.
In terms of Number 7A, 1948, Christie’s said in a statement that the black splattered paint marks of the piece, combined with startling touches of red across a sprawling canvas represented the “work that Pollock finally frees himself from the shackles of conventional easel painting and produces one of the first truly abstract paintings in the history of art.”
It marked a historic day for the auction house on the whole, with other personal records being broken in the sales of pieces by Constantin Brancusi, Mark Rothko, and Joan Miro.
In regards to Pollock’s work, the sale granted the artist access to an exclusive and limited group whose paintings have sold for over £100 million.
The painting was sent to auction from the private collection of media mogul SI Newhouse, who died in 2017, aged 89. It was thought that Number 7A, 1948 was the last of Pollock’s esteemed drip paintings to have been owned privately.
Although the piece sold for a record price, it didn’t quite manage to beat out expectations, with some spectators initially believing it could have surpassed the sale of the all-time highest auction for a Leonardo da Vinci painting, which sold for £335 million in 2017.
