A large chandelier by Louise Bourgeois, the French‑American sculptor who lived from 1911 to 2010, fetched $32.8 million at a New York auction on Thursday, measured at about 3 feet tall and 5.5 feet wide. The piece led Sotheby’s contemporary art sale, opening with a price guidance of 30 to 40 million and drawing strong bidding that pushed past the minimum threshold for commissions and interest.
The 1996 sculpture marks one of Bourgeois’s early spider works. After its debut at the Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil that year, it was acquired by the Itaú Institute of Culture and has since remained a cornerstone of its collection. The sale was expected to set a new benchmark, yet the chandelier solidified Bourgeois’s standing by ranking among the top three most expensive works by a female artist. Her earlier chandelier sales have ranged from roughly 14 million to 32 million, with a 1996 Bourgeois chandelier previously reaching 32 million. The record for a female artist in certain categories remains with Georgia O’Keeffe, whose work Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 sold for about $44.4 million in 2014.
Born in Paris and relocating to New York at age 27, Louise Bourgeois became renowned for monumental sculptures and installations, including giant bronze chandeliers displayed in major museums. While many viewers find spiders unsettling, Bourgeois used the arachnid motif to explore memory and family. She described the spider as a symbol connected to her tapestry weaver mother, who died when Bourgeois was 21, and the ideas of repair and maintenance linked to both spider and mother. The spider’s psychological resonance also reflects Bourgeois’s personal history, including the trauma of her mother’s death and revelations about her father’s infidelity.
A 28.6 million Basquiat
In the same evening, a notable Basquiat work titled Now Is the Time sold for 28.6 million dollars. Basquiat has emerged as one of the most sought-after artists in recent years, with his output often commanding high prices. The piece presented a black circular canvas bearing the phrases Now’s the Time and PRKR, echoing a vinyl record of jazz legend Charlie Parker dating from 1945. The sale positioned Basquiat as the afternoon’s second‑highest earner, well ahead of most expectations and ahead of other major pieces.
In third place, Gerhard Richter’s 4096 Farben, a painting that evokes a mosaic of thousands of colored squares, fetched 21.8 million and concluded the Color Table series, though it did not meet the upper estimates. The auction’s top estimate was 25 million. The only other lot surpassing ten million dollars was Wayne Thiebaud’s Candy Counter, a modern still life featuring sweets and a scale, estimated at about 14.7 million.
Across the sale, thirty contemporary works brought in 165.6 million, nudging just above the lower bound of 144 million and far from the upper ceiling of 193 million. Buyers demonstrated a practical, measured approach, mirroring the results seen in an earlier ultra-contemporary round where twenty other pieces brought in 37.2 million—roughly aligning with expectations between 29 and 42 million—and included a notable 3.1 million by Simone Leigh. [Attribution: Sotheby’s overview]