As the curtain falls on 2023, Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 stood as a grand finale in a packed calendar of art fairs. Attracting a staggering 79,000 visitors, North America’s largest art fair encapsulated this year’s trends and transformations....
As the curtain falls on 2023, Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 stood as a grand finale in a packed calendar of art fairs. Attracting a staggering 79,000 visitors, North America’s largest art fair encapsulated this year’s trends and transformations. Throughout the fair, exhibitors reported a revived enthusiasm among attendees, with several galleries remarking on a robust return of collectors and the palpable energy that defined this year’s edition.
“Our exhibitors turned out with works of extraordinary quality and ambition, met with a strong attendance of local and international collectors,” Vincenzo de Bellis, director of fairs and exhibition platforms for Art Basel, told Artsy. “The energy in Miami Beach this week is palpable.”
Featuring 277 galleries, Art Basel Miami Beach yielded several seven-digit sales, with notable successes reported across the fair. Miami-based Spinello Projects, for instance, sold out its solo booth of Esaí Alfredo paintings in the first hour and a half of VIP day—including one work to the ICA Miami. This year’s fair saw several significant museum acquisitions: A painting by Alicia Adamerovich was acquired by ICA Miami from Michael Kohn Gallery, and Hales Gallery sold one work by Jordan Ann Craig to a “prominent” U.S. museum.
As the art world bids farewell to a year characterized by uncertainty and volatility, Art Basel Miami Beach was also marked by enthusiastic participation and appeared to tie together 2023 by setting an optimistic tone for the year ahead. “Sales at the booth have been strong since the opening hours of the fair, signaling an optimistic shift in this year’s sleepier market and economy,” said Fionna Flaherty, a partner at Lehmann Maupin. “We’ve transacted with private buyers and institutions alike.”
Here, we round up the top reported sales from Art Basel Miami Beach 2023.
Top sales at Art Basel Miami Beach 2023
Hauser & Wirth logged the most expensive sale reported from the fair: Philip Guston’s Painter at Night (1979) for $20 million. The gallery’s other top sales included the following:
George Condo’s Smiling Aristocrat (2023) for $2.35 million.Henry Taylor’s MADE IN MEXICO (2016) for $1 million.Amy Sherald’s The Beauty of Change (A Happy Man) (2023) for $850,000.Charles Gaines’s Numbers and Trees: Arizona Series 1, Tree #5, Thunder (2023) for $795,000.Rashid Johnson’s God Painting ‘A New Day’ (2023) for $750,000.Jenny Holzer’s Working Copy (2023) for $550,000.Firelei Báez’s Untitled (Southern Building) (2023) for $495,000.Gary Simmons’s Trenchtown Dreams (2023) for $375,000.Flora Yukhnovich’s Bacchanalia (2023) for £320,000 ($402,000).
Upside Down Blue Nude , 2001
Tom Wesselmann
Almine Rech
Boop-Oop-a-doop, 2023
Javier Calleja
Almine Rech
Almine Rech’s notable sales included the following:
Tom Wesselmann’s Upside Down Blue Nude (2001) for $1.25 million–$1.35 million.Javier Calleja’s Boop-Oop-a-doop (2023) for €390,000–€430,000 ($419,000–$462,000).Tomokazu Matsuyama’s Cost Of The Cold Ceilings (2023) for $250,000–$290,000.Kenny Scharf’s LICKETY SPLIT (2023) for $210,000–$240,000.Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s YouTube Ray-Ray (2023) for $120,000–$145,000.Huang Yuxing’s Pier in the woods (2023) for $110,000–$120,000.Vaughn Spann’s Untitled (Marked Man) (2023) for $105,000–$115,000.Mehdi Ghadyanloo’s The memorial tunnel (2023) for €100,000–€110,000 ($108,000–$118,000).David Zwirner’s notable sales included the following:
Marlene Dumas’s The Schoolboys (1986–87) for $9 million. Three Robert Ryman paintings from 1961–64 for prices in the range of $2 million–$3 million.A 1970 painting from Alice Neel for $2 million. A painting by Noah Davis for $1.6 million.A painting by Elizabeth Peyton for $1.3 million.A new painting by Chris Ofili for $700,000.A painting by Josef Albers from 1954 for $600,000.A recent work by Portia Zvavahera for $400,000.A recent work by Barbara Kruger for $350,000.A new painting by Oscar Murillo for $350,000.Top reported sales at Thaddaeus Ropac included the following:
Robert Rauschenberg’s Copperhead-Bite IX / ROCI CHILE (1985) for $1.7 million.Georg Baselitz’s Alles fällt vom Tisch (2020) for €1.5 million ($1.62 million) and Grüße aus Dinard (2023) for €1.2 million ($1.3 million). Tony Cragg’s Points of View (2019) for €900,000 ($967,000). Emilio Vedova’s Dal ciclo della natura ‘56 - 1 (Brasile) (1956) for $850,000. Alex Katz’s Marine 1 (1999) for $725,000. Robert Longo’s Untitled (Windy Palm) (2023) for $700,000.White Cube’s top sales included the following:
Park Seo-Bo’s Ecriture No. 191-75 (1975) for $1.5 million.Richard Hunt’s Years of Pilgrimage (1999) for $1.2 million.Tracey Emin’s You Let Me Fall (2022) for £600,000 ($752,000).Antony Gormley’s TIE (2022) for £600,000 ($752,000).Imi Knoebel’s Bild 06.07.2018 (2018) for €230,000 ($248,000).Xavier Hufkens’s top sales included the following:
A painting by Tracey Emin for £1.2 million ($1.5 million).A painting by Nicolas Party for $520,000.A painting by Joan Semmel for $300,000.A sculpture by Danh V? for €240,000 ($258,000).A painting by Sayre Gomez for $215,000.A painting by Matt Connors for $135,000.
Untitled, 1950
Lee Krasner
Kasmin
Kasmin reported seven-digit sales, including the following:
Alex Katz’s Leigh (2007) for $1.4 million. Lee Krasner’s Untitled (1950) for $1 million.Diana Al-Hadid’s Ala Rasi (2023) for $75,000.Alexis Ralaivao’s La Serviette (2023) for $75,000.More key sales at Art Basel Miami Beach
Swallowed, 2023
Emma Webster
Perrotin
Marigold Cup, 2023
Emma Webster
Perrotin
Blue Nip, 2023
Loie Hollowell
Jessica Silverman
Without Borders, 2023
Margo Wolowiec
Jessica Silverman
The Old Lie, Dulce Es, 2023
Ilana Savdie
Michael Kohn Gallery
I See Red: We All Look Alike, 1995
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Garth Greenan Gallery
Passiflora, 2023
Jean-Michel Othoniel
Kukje Gallery
Harlequin Star, 2023
Mark Handforth
Luhring Augustine
Untitled, 2023
Sarah Crowner
Galerie Nordenhake
More notable sales from Art Basel Miami Beach
Pulling, 2020
Hector Mendoza
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
At the fair’s Nova section, dedicated to new works by one to three artists, notable sales included the following:
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles sold Hector Dionicio Mendoza’s Coyota (2022) for $50,000–$75,000 to a prominent Southern art foundation. The gallery also sold two sets of Ken Gonzales-Day’s “Erased Lynchings V” postcards for $35,000–$40,000 to separate “major East Coast institutions.” A large-scale sculpture by Hector Dionicio Mendoza, Jalando/Pulling (2020), sold for $30,000–$40,000 to a bicoastal collector.
La Ciudad Carmesi? (The Crimson City), 2023
Esaí Alfredo
Spinello Projects
In the Survey section of the fair, dedicated to historical works, notable sales included the following:
Piero Atchugarry Gallery sold Nelson Ramos’s Untitled (1975) for $55,000.Polka Galerie reported the sale of three works by Franco Fontana for prices ranging from $8,000–$10,000. RYAN LEE sold a painting by Vivian Browne for $250,000 to an East Coast museum, as well as two drawings by the artist for $19,000 apiece.In the Positions section of the fair, focusing on emerging galleries and rising artists, notable sales were as follows:
Galatea Fine Art sold 10 works by Allan Weber for $7,000 apiece.Spinello Projects sold out its solo booth of Esaí Alfredo within the first 90 minutes of the fair’s VIP opening day for prices ranging from $11,000–$35,000.