THE TELLURIDE REPORT Volume IV 2015 CHRISTIE’S CONTINUES TO SET WORLD ART AUCTION RECORDS Five world auction records for an artist set at Christie’s in The Artist’s Muse sale, as modernist masterpiece sells for second highest price ever paid at auction. Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché (Reclining Nude), painted in 1917-1918, led the way on a night of records at Christie’s New York, realising $170,405,000 (with buyer’s premium) in The Artist’s Muse, a curated Evening Sale. In doing so, the modernist masterpiece eclipsed the previous auction record for the artist by almost $100 million and became the second highest price ever paid at auction for a work of art.
REAL ESTATE MARKET
With the increase in commercial leasehold
UPDATE
redevelopment opportunities of commercial
Market is Holding Firm Through First Three Quarters of 2015
rates within the Historic Town of Telluride and structures, the commercial segment of the market has rebounded dramatically since the beginning of 2014 (sales up 100%). Values of
Following a strong 2014, both in gross dollar
this property type have increased nearly 50%
volume and incidents of sales, the first three
since the end of 2014.
quarters of 2015 indicate that the market is holding firm. Although the statistics indicate a
Additional artist world auction records were set with Roy Lichtenstein’s Nurse, an iconic Pop Art heroine painted in 1964, which sold for $95,365,000; Femme nue couchée, executed in 1862 by Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), realised $15,285,000, almost $12 million more than the previous record; Lady Abdy by Baltus, painted in 1935, sold for $9,909,000, more than three times the previous record for the artist; and The Little Star Dweller (2006) by Yoshitomo Nara, which realised $3,413,000 (all prices including buyer’s premium).
slight downturn from the previous year of 7.5%
Further records for an artist were set by Paul Gauguin’s Thérèse, 1902-03, which sold for $30,965,000, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Tänzerin mit gehobenem Bein, 1913, which realised $8,005,000, both world auction records for a sculpture by the artists.
According to the MLS, approximately $125.2M
($355M vs. $383.9M), sales data during 2014 included an extraordinary sale of the Madeline Hotel at $39.8M. Excluding this transaction, the market in 2015 is on par with the prior year.
of sales are currently under contract, which
For value-driven investors, Telluride Mountain
would seem to indicate that year-end totals will
Village homes and condominiums continue
approach the volume achieved in 2014.
to be quite attractive, together with regional homes. For those interested in a design / build
With premiums, the Artist’s Muse sale, which offered 34 masterpieces, realised $491,252,000 / £325,830,239 (87 per cent sold by value). On the night, 12 works sold for hammer prices of more than $10 million, including Homme à l’épée by Pablo Picasso ($20,885,000), L’homme à la pipe by Paul Cézanne ($20,885,000) and James Lord by Alberto Giacometti ($20,885,000). Excerpt from Christie’s
Given falling energy prices in key Telluride
process, excellent vacant ground opportunities
buyer market segments, volatility in the stock
exist in nearly all market segments. With the
and financial markets and the approach of
lack of standing inventory in the Town of
election year uncertainties, the Telluride real
Telluride, we believe that vacant lots will be a
estate marketplace appears to have maintained
focal point for investors and developers in the
stability.
upcoming year.