Following a record-breaking 2022, Dorotheum can look back on another successful auction year in 2023. The second-best result in the company’s history is expected. Bidders from 90 countries competed for works by over 3,500 artists.

Top prices marked 2023: Osman Hamdi Bey’s painting Looking in a Mirror ranks at the top of the sales charts. This depiction of a young lady in an opulent interior was sold as the top lot of the 19th-Century Paintings spring auction for 1.275 million euros. A Venetian genre painting by Eugen von Blaas achieved another top price, changing hands for 520,000 euros.

CONTEMPORARY
A lively interest - via live bidding - and an excellent sale rate also marked the Modern and Contemporary Art auctions. A matte black Concetto Spaziale (Spatial Concept) by Lucio Fontana garnered a stunning 875,000 euros. Alighiero Boetti’s rare four-part ballpoint work, non parto non resto, fetched 650,000 euros. Italian art was very popular overall. Emilio Vedova’s abstract painting Per la Spagna, Enrico Castellani’s Superficie bianca (1983) and Salvo’s La Valle sold for € 416,000, € 429,000, € 390,000, respectively.

It has also been a successful year for ZERO veteran Heinz Mack, whose early pastel work Quartett, created in 1965, changed hands for almost half a million euros (€ 494,000). His untitled canvas dealing with the colour spectrum of light achieved an outstanding 452,000 euros, his Black Mountains 367,250 euros.

RECORDS
Gottfried Helnwein’s Burgundy Mouse 2 from 2014 achieved 182,000 euros, setting a world record price. In 2023, there were again numerous world records, including one for a work by Arte Povera pioneer Piero Gilardi (€ 136,500).

Austrian art also achieved excellent prices: a typical “seismographic” work on cardboard by the internationally renowned artist Martha Jungwirth was sold for 202.800 euros. There was strong demand for works by, among others, Franz West, Otto Zitko, Arnulf Rainer and Hermann Nitsch. 

COOL AND MODERN
In addition to highlights such as Klimt works from the Otto Glaser Collection and Tyrolean motifs by Alfons Walde, Austrian modernism also scored highly with Franz Sedlacek: The Magician and the Harlequin found a new owner for 309,400 euros. 

The same proximity to the cool, detached visual language of that time connects Sedlacek with the German industrial painter Carl Grossberg, who trained at the Bauhaus. His untitled view of a building sold for 221,000 euros marked the second-highest auction result for a work by this artist.
A 1904/05 oil painting by Alexej von Jawlensky depicting a laid table fetched 706,250 euros. Two results from paintings by Giorgio de Chirico also grabbed attention: 286,000 euros for a Venus, almost 300,000 euros for a view of Venice. 

OLD MASTER
One of the rare women in the Old Masters’ world was the highlight of the spring auction. Fede Galizia’s painting Judith and Holofernes doubled expectations, selling for 624,000 euros. This hitherto unknown work is a museum-quality signed masterpiece that constitutes an important contribution to a rediscovery of this artist. 

FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS - FROM VIENNA TO OUTER SPACE
Austrian private collections - including the interior of a Viennese villa and a Styrian collection - were sold with great success. International collections, including the excellent photographic collection by Parisian space historian Victor Martin-Malbouret with rare vintage NASA photographs from the early days of space travel, also met with enormous interest.  A selection of neo-classical furniture from the renowned dealer Otto von Mitzlaff and the painting collection from Langenstein Castle also reaped excellent results.

The sparkling highlight of the extremely successful jewellery auctions was a rare Kashmir sapphire measuring just under 14 ct., which sold for 455,000 euros.

FOCUS ON ONLINE AND CONTEMPORARY ART
The widespread popularity of online auctions continues unabated. A further expansion of digital activities remains on the agenda of the largest auction house in the German-speaking region, alongside the development of the modern and contemporary art sector. 

In spring, Dorotheum celebrated 20 years in Düsseldorf. In autumn, the Munich representative office also celebrated its 20th anniversary. After the opening of its Hamburg office in 2022, Dorotheum has emphasised its presence in Germany. As Head of Modern and Contemporary Art, art market professional Bernhard Brandstätter will strengthen this important auction department.