Modern & Contemporary Art Auction Achieves $3.8 Million at Heritage Auctions

Beeple's 'The Everydays - The 2020 Collection' NFT sells for $250,000

DALLAS, Texas (May 14, 2021) - Salvador Dalí's Venus Butterfly, 1947, from the Property of a Distinguished New York collector, drew nearly three dozen bids before it finished at $300,000, five times its low pre-auction estimate, to share top-lot honors in Heritage Auctions' Modern & Contemporary Art Auction. The sale surpassed expectations to realize $3,804,494 May 13.

The auction included CHOKK, 1976, by Victor Vasarely, which sold for $300,000 and The Everydays - The 2020 Collection (three works), 2020, by the artist Beeple, a non-fungible token (MP4) artwork, ended at $250,000, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting The Open Earth Foundation.

'Heritage has always been a leader in technology,' said Holly Sherratt, Director of Modern & Contemporary Art, Heritage Auctions San Francisco. 'With more than 1 million registered online bidders and a devoted millennial art-collecting audience, we knew we could feature an NFT, start the bidding at $1 and receive a strong price for Beeple's work.

'Admittedly there was a learning-curve for me, but my younger colleagues were ready to step right in, embrace the craze, and give many of us a crash-course in NFT collecting. This is the beauty of having an intelligent, multi-generational staff. We are always being innovative.'

The auction included CHOKK, 1976, by Victor Vasarely, which sold for $300,000 and The Everydays - The 2020 Collection (three works), 2020, by the artist Beeple, a non-fungible token (MP4) artwork, ended at $250,000, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting The Open Earth Foundation.

Magdalena Abakanowicz's Figure On Iron Seat, 1988, from an edition of five, ended at $150,000 following 15 bids. A 1989 diptych by Christo and Jeanne-Claude titled The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan & USA sold for $131,250.

Composition, circa 1967, an oil on canvas by Le Pho, whose work has recently brought aggressive bidding in auctions around the world, sold for $100,000. Manuel Rivera's Espejo de Agua, 1965, fascinating wire mesh over painted wood panel artwork, ended at $93,750.

Highlights which soared beyond pre-auction estimates include, but are not limited to:

· From a private California collection, Jamaica Avenue, 1980, by John Register, sold for $80,000

· Code Blue, 1995, from George Rodrigue's Blue Dog series, sold for $75,000, against a $20,000 estimate

· Vu Cao Dam, Deux jeunes filles, 1966, brought $68,750, against a $15,000 estimate

· Alex Katz's fascinating Study for Portrait of Kynaston McShine ended at $65,625, more than twice its pre-auction estimate

Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.

Heritage also enjoys the highest online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,400,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of five million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.

Eric Bradley, Director, Public Relations
214-409-1871; [email protected]

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