New Delhi, Jul 15 (IANS): Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer, Christie's says, "Our results in the first half of 2022 have been remarkably strong, with many memorable moments like the sales of Warhol's Marilyn and of the Bass collection in New York, and of the Givenchy collection in Paris.

These results have been achieved in a challenging economic and political environment, partly thanks to the natural resilience of the art market and partly thanks to the transformation of Christie's business model over the last years.

We have accelerated our technological innovations and diversified the range of services for our clients (live and digital auction, private sales, art financing) to allow them to take advantage of a growing demand for art and luxury. In the second half, our strategy will be to continue to present the best objects and the best collections."

Some of the key insights released by Christie's reveals that total sales for H1 2022 surpass H1 2021 total (+34 per cent in GBP/ +18 per cent in USD), establishing the auction house's best performance since 2015 (surpassing H1 2018, when it sold the Rockefeller collection).

Andy Warhol's Shot Sage Blue Marilyn for $195 million sold by Christie's in H1, is the most expensive 20th Century artwork ever sold.

The house also saw remarkable results for its major collections, namely the Thomas and Doris Ammann, Anne H. Bass, Rosalind Gersten Jacobs and Melvin Jacobs and Hubert de Givenchy.

There was a superior sell-through rate of 87 per cent across all Christie's auctions, and a strong influx of new and younger clients. 30 per cent of all buyers in H1 are new to Christie's, and 34 percent of these new buyers are millennials (up from 31 per cent in 2021):

Christie's innovative 20/21 sales format brings new, younger, and more diverse artists to the international auction stage, achieving record prices for 21st Century art. It's philanthropic sales raise nearly $440 million in H1 2022, with $13.7 million for aid to Ukraine.