Sotheby's is an auction house, founded in 1744 by Samuel Baker. Sothebys is known globally for providing access to and ownership of luxury objects and outstanding art through auctions and buy-now channels, such as private sales, e-commerce, and retail. Over the years, Sotheby’s has auctioned off some of the most notable pieces of our time, including works from Monet, Degas, Pissarro, and Seurat. They take pride in being the first to present the idea of an auction as an event to the public.
Sotheby's auction house in Upper East Side Manhattan
Sotheby's Brand
Sotheby’s, a global auction house, has revolutionized the art market by turning auctions into high-profile events, starting with its first black-tie auction in 1958. Known for selling works by artists like Monet and Renoir, Sotheby’s played a role in reviving the Impressionism movement. In 2018, it made headlines when Banksy’s Girl with Balloon was shredded live after selling for $1.4 million, later reselling for over $18 million. Despite its success, Sotheby’s faced controversy in 2024 over allegations of aiding art collectors in tax avoidance, resulting in a multi-million-dollar settlement.
Changing the Auction Scene
In October of 1958, Sotheby’s held their first black tie auction that shifted the global auction market. This auction brought in celebrities, TV crews, and the young monarch Queen Elizabeth II. The sale took 21 minutes and featured impressionist masterpieces by Van Gogh, Renoir, Cézanne and Manet. By making auctions into events, Sotheby’s had found a way to attract a new crowd of buyers, putting impressionism back in the forefront of the market. Some notable examples of impressionist art that has been sold at Sotheby's include:
- Claude Monet Meules (1890), sold at Sotheby’s New York, 14 May 2019 for $110, 747,000
- Pierre Auguste Renoir Au Moulin de la Galette (1876), sold at Sotheby’s New York, 17 May 1990 for $78,100,000
- Claude Monet Le Bassin aux nymphéas (1917-1919), sold at Sotheby’s New York, 12 May 2021 for $70,353,000
Sotheby’s displays surrealist Magritte and rare works by other artists
Banksy's Love is in the Bin after being shredded at auction
Love is in the Bin, 2018
One recent occurrence caught attention and directed the focus of the event towards a performance art piece that shocked the public and gained publicity for the artist and Sotheby’s. Guerrilla artist Banksy, made history by shredding his work, Girl with Balloon (2006), just after it was sold in auction in 2018 for $1.4 million. According to Sotheby's it was “the first work in history ever created during a live auction.” There had been a shredder placed into the canvas and the moment the piece sold, the bottom half was shredded into thin strips and given the name, Love is in the Bin. This astonished the contemporary art world and even raised questions whether it was really shredded and if Sotheby's had been in on it, to which Banksy responded, “Some people think it didn't really shred. It did. Some people think the auction house were in on it, they weren't." The shredded painting made its return to Sotheby’s on October 14th, 2021 and was sold for $18,582,000, much more than its initial value. This work then became the most expensive work of art ever created during a live auction, but also the most expensive work of art ever created in an act of rebellious performance art at auction.
Sotheby's Today
This all goes to say that Sotheby’s still stands and is fully operational after 275 years, but not without controversy. In 2024, Sotheby’s was faced with a lawsuit for allegedly helping art collectors avoid taxes on works by Basquiat and others. They were made to pay more than 6 million dollars to settle these claims along with facing the social scrutiny that accompanied these issues. Sotheby's is still burdened with a significant amount of debt, with reports indicating over $1.8 billion in net long-term debt, though a recent investment from Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund is intended to reduce that load.
Protest outside art auctioneers Sothebys in London, in solidarity with locked out art handlers at Sothebys New York