Hopper painting breaks record at Christie’s auction

Edward Hopper painting East Wind Over Weehawken sold at auction on Thursday for $40.4 million – well in excess of its estimate of $22 million – 28 million.

The sale, at the Rockefeller Center New York, set a new world auction record for the artist. The auction as a whole achieved $76.8 million, the highest sale total ever for the category at Christie’s.

Other lots included Two Calla Lilies by Georgia O’Keefe, which sold for $1.8 million, far in excess of its estimate of £600,000-800,000.

“A saleroom filled with collectors eager to acquire rare museum-quality pieces led to a sale total of $76.8 million, the highest ever for an auction of American Art at Christie’s, “ said Elizabeth Sterling, Head of American Art for Christies. “This, combined with the record breaking price of Edward Hopper’s East Wind Over Weehawken, underscores the rising strength of the market for American Art, particularly for Modernist works.

“Illustration also performed consistently well throughout the sale, with all works by Norman Rockwell selling within or above their estimate. We look forward to the next three weeks of our Private Selling Exhibition Illustrating America: Norman Rockwell and His Contemporaries, as well as the mid-season sale of American Art in New York on February 26.”