The June 10 and 11 Contemporary Art auction at Dorotheum generated the highest-ever turnover of any contemporary art auction in the history of the auction house.

It was avant-garde 1960’s art that captured international interest at Dorotheum’s Contemporary evening sale on 10th June 2015 with Italian art proving to be a particular success.

Leading the sale was a work by Enrico Castellani which sold for just under €1million. The winning bid of €965,000 represents a new record for this early Superficie (surface). Enrico Castellani was one of the proponents of the avant-garde in Milan during the sixties and is considered one of the most innovative artists of the post-war period – together with Piero Manzoni, Agostino Bonalumi, and Paolo Scheggi, who likewise achieved phenomenal results at this auction. Their collective ‘father figure’, Lucio Fontana saw several early sculptures sold successfully, in particular a Female Bust, which fetched an impressive €588,533, while Fontana’s small scale Concetto Spaziale of 1963 - 1964 found a new owner for €405,600. Fausto Melotti’s sculpture Linee was sold for twice the expected sum, at €369,000.

An untitled box with cut-outs and studded with nails by the ZERO-artist Günther Uecker found a buyer for €295,800, whereas Ilya Kabakov’s allusive painting Landscape with Pioneer Camp reached €491,000.

Austrian art was also met with high demand. Not only was a new world record of nearly €400,000 for a painting by Max Weiler set, works by Erwin Wurm, Franz West, and Arnulf Rainer also saw bidding rise to new heights.

Another world record was set on the second night of the Contemporary Art auction:  The steel sculpture „Ellisse“ by Mauro Staccioli saw bidding rise to €204,300, the highest price to date paid for a work by this Italian artist. Additional highlights of the auction included works by Katharina Grosse, Cy Twombly and Keith Haring.

Video: Contemporary Art Auction June 2015 | Review & Top Results