The Most Expensive Artworks Sold in 2021
Cy Twombly, Untitled, 2007. Courtesy of Sotheby’s. This vibrant untitled Cy Twombly painting from 2007 was yet another work by a 20th-century icon that sold as part of the Macklowe sale at Sotheby’s in November. The late-period work, which features Twombly’s signature gestural marks spread across nearly 20 feet of canvas, sold near the top of its estimate range, hammering at $58.9 million and becoming the third-most-expensive Twombly work at auction in the process. Much of the late artist’s current auction standings hail from his iconic period of production ranging from the late 1960s to the early ’70s, when he was producing more muted, calligraphic works, like his current auction record, 1968’s Untitled (New York City), which sold for $70 million in 2015. This result, when coupled with the 2017 sale of a piece from the same era for $46.4 million, may signal a rising market interest in the artist’s late period.