The priciest artworks of 2021

The temperature in the art market keeps soaring. Chris Carter reports on 2021's biggest art deals.

Pablo Picasso's Femme assise pres d'une fenetre (Marie-Therese)
Pablo Picasso's Femme assise pres d'une fenetre (Marie-Therese) fetched $103.4m
(Image credit: © Getty Images)

1. $103.4mFemme Assise près d’une Fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) (1932). Pablo Picasso’s portrait (pictured) of his muse “as a winged goddess, a modern-day Nike”, was the only artwork to sell for nine figures in dollar terms last year, according to Christie’s in New York. That was an improvement on 2020, when none breached the $100m mark.

2. $93.1mIn This Case (1983). Jean-Michel Basquiat underscored his status as the artist of the moment with the sale of this, the last of his three iconic Skull paintings with Christie’s. It was only the second of the three to come to auction, but it didn’t quite reach the $110.5m that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa paid for Untitled (1982) in 2017.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.