The unexpected success of photography auctions in these quarantine days

It's not a secret that the world is shut down due to the Coronavirus emergency. In the background of a Milan that looks surreal, completely bent by the quarantine, there's an industry that last week registered some unexpected records: the industry of auctions. In the past few days, Finarte – perhaps the most famous action house in Milan – set a new selling record with the session hosted on March 17, 2020, by the Department of Photography. The results are surprisingly good: the total income is estimated at around 400.000€ (+40% compared to the total incomes of October) - and the most-paid photography was a shot by American photographer Cindy Sherman (almost 40.000€).

Forced on their sofas, collectors from all the world (35% of which American, mostly from New York) virtually met online to contend some of the finest rarities offered by Finarte's catalogue. The highest-sold photography was an untitled shot by Cindy Sherman, one of her famous portraits featuring a young woman with a yellow coat, New York on the background. The second place goes to Peter Beard, with his Spitting Cobra in Tsavo (1960), sold for more than 21.000€; then the conceptual art of Substrat 2001/2003 by Thomas Ruff, sold for more than 18.000€. Then Pictures of pigmenti: The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, after Sebastian Pether (2007) by Vik Muniz, sold for more than 14.000€ - and an untitled shot by Shirin Neshat, from the collection Women of Allah (1995), sold for around 10.000€.

When it comes to Italian photographers, the biggest success is for the picture of the silent deck of a boat in Genova by Luigi Ghirri (7.600€), the Ciba chrome by Franco Fontana (almost 4.000€), the view of Rome and Isola Tiberina by Gabriele Basilico (more than 5.000€) and Il Castello di Rivoli by Massimo Listri, sold for more than 6.000€.

In this particular moment, these results encourage us - despite the fact that we are forced to stay closed to the public, said from the Auction House. This auction had an enormous response from all our clients: a group of collectors, passionates and curious people from all around the world who participated from their homes and kindly let themselves be guided by the hand of our auctioneer.