IL PONTE BUCKS THE TREND BETWEEN REDISCOVERY
AND QUALITY
Through careful and rigorous selection, the Modern and Contemporary Art auction confirms the auction house's leadership with results that reward quality and informed choices
Head of Department
Freddy Battino
Assistants
Elena Pasqualini
Specialist
+39 02 8631496
Erica Risso
Specialist
+39 02 8631497
Serena Marchi
Specialist
+39 02 8631422
Federica Sampietro
Assistant
+39 02 8631410
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On 27 and 28 May, Il Ponte in Milan also presented a catalogue featuring some of the most important figures in 20th- and 21st-century art, receiving an enthusiastic response from the public: total sales reached €5.7 million, with 92% sell-through rate and a 150% increase on starting prices.
In a moment marked by uncertainty and heightened selectiveness among international collectors—who are now far more cautious than in the past, particularly with high price ranges—the modern and contemporary art sale at Il Ponte in Milan (27–29 May) not only confirmed the authority and effectiveness of the auction house’s catalogue, but also signalled a renewed momentum in the buying behaviour of those who see art as both a coveted object and a safe haven, combining cultural value with investment potential.
A few days after the conclusion of the Modern and Contemporary Art auction, we can say the public responded enthusiastically: € 6 million in sales, 92% sell-through rate, and a 150% increase on starting prices. Despite a cautious and selective market phase, curatorial quality and strong provenance were duly rewarded. Leading the results were the metaphysical poetry of Giorgio de Chirico (Piazza d’Italia, € 448,000) and the spiritual intensity of Lucio Fontana (Crocifisso, € 384,000).
It is instead in the name of the color blue that the best results of the modern and contemporary art auction that Il Ponte held in Milan on 26 and 27 November stand out, totaling over €4.9 million in turnover. It is a Spatial Concept, Attese by Fontana from 1966, absent from the market for 50 years, which reached 640 thousand euros (estimate 300-500 thousand) and an extroflection by Bonalumi, Blu, from 2000, of museum dimensions (190x360 cm) sold for 108,800 euros (from 35-50 thousand). «The latter was not an easy work, also due to its size, but starting from low estimates it found an admirer who fell in love with it», comments Freddy Battino.
The two-day session dedicated by Il Ponte Casa d'Aste to modern and contemporary art ended with a total of over €4.9 million, on 26 and 27 November 2024. A highly anticipated event for our national market, for which the maison, acquired a few months ago by the French Millon & Associés, was ready, with an extensive catalog of 134 lots focused on the futurist avant-garde of the early twentieth century, without neglecting the most contemporary Italian, but also foreign influences with the presence of works by Vladimir Velickovic, Sam Francis, Wilfredo Lam and Pablo Atchugarry.
The auction by Casa d'Aste Il Ponte in Milan enchants collectors from every latitude. So much so that the results of the auctions held on May 28 and 29, 2024, for Modern and Contemporary Art have once again amazed everyone not only in the European market but especially in the global market. These results are the outcome of targeted and unbeatable work by the entire team of the Modern and Contemporary Art Department, nobly directed by Freddy Battino.
It could be inferred from the numerous visits to the catalog (the maison reports more than 10,000 digital readings and over 110,000 online views), but the actual sales, which are what matter, confirmed it. The modern and contemporary art auction by Il Ponte (Milan, May 28-29, 2024) saw great national and international participation, resulting in a total turnover of 5.7 million euros.
The art market travels on autopilot. Starting from Italy (28-29 November) Il Ponte auctioned off the Modern and Contemporary art auction: totaling 5.5 million euros and three world record prices for as many Italian artists: Ennio Morlotti (Collina a Imbersago 201 thousand euros) Bruno Munari (Buccia di Eva 176 thousand) Edgardo Mannucci (Spirale 18.5 thousand). Worth mentioning is the internationally brilliant achievement by Hans Hartung (T1962-E44, 252 thousand).
The Modern and Contemporary Art of Il Ponte auction house closes with a turnover of over € 6.1 million, the numbers speak of a 204% revaluation on estimates and 91% of lots sold. Three internationally renowned names illuminate the Palazzo Crivelli auction: Lucio Fontana with the glazed terracotta “Concetto spazio” of 1963-64 (€ 453,600), Mario Schifano with “Cielo per A.” of 1964 (€ 327,600) and again the white marble by Igor Mitoraj entitled “Stella”, year 1981 (€ 302,400).
Modern and Contemporary Art. Il Ponte touches the sky thanks to Fontana, Schifano and Mitoraj. From Il Ponte Auction House, on 23 and 24 May 2023, modern and contemporary art issued its verdict: 6.1 million euros in turnover, compared to a 204% revaluation of estimates and 91% of lots sold. There is an element that links three of the best results that Il Ponte achieved in Milan in the modern and contemporary art auction. It's not the artist, it's not the quality of the works or even the hammer price. But the sky, which in the works in question returns by explicit mention, but also as an indirect suggestion.
Fontana, Boetti, Burri, Morandi. It's "easy" to make records at auction with ultra-established names in the market. However, there are those who prefer research, to track down brilliant talents buried by time and suddenly forgotten by the art system. [...] «We are the only auction house that has set 25 world records by offering works by Italian artists that I like to define as "out of the box", that is to say not yet exploded on the market or even never gone to auction, without history on Art Price [...]».
It is from Milan, in particular, that the sound of sensational awards rises that seem to be the echo of the super sales from overseas. Like those created by Il Ponte in the Modern and Contemporary Art auction of 29-30 November, with 90% of lots sold and a turnover of over 7.6 million euros. The symbol of the magical auction round is Fausto Pirandello who can now boast a new world record.
Il Ponte Casa d’Aste shakes the seismograph of the contemporary art market, totaling mind-boggling numbers in two auction days. Modern and contemporary art, in the two auction days held at the headquarters of Il Ponte Casa d'Aste on 24 and 25 May 2022, recorded a surge in sales and attention on the seismograph by collectors of worldwide [...] total turnover of over € 6 million, registering 211% revaluation of estimates and 93% of lots sold.
Il Ponte Auction House pulverises the estimates and flies to over € 8.3 million [...] A new high point for Il Ponte Auction House, which yesterday closed the Modern and Contemporary Art sale with a total of more than € 8.3 million, with 220% increase by value and an average of 96% of lots sold.
Astonishing, a spectacular art market event, a contemporary art exhibition, even before the sale, with works of exceptional value and surprising aesthetics, masterpieces, the best of the best [...] Only "Il Ponte Auction House" in Milan could give us this wonder of wonders. All this is due to the invaluable professionalism and competence of Freddy Battino and his team.
Another winning chapter closes in the halls of Palazzo Crivelli. Il Ponte's auction dedicated to Modern and Contemporary Art, on 25 and 26 May, totalled an extraordinary result of € 8 million, with peaks of 99% of lot sold, new world records and over 1000 bidders connected from all over the world
(...) Irma Blank, Gianfranco Baruchello and Mario Ceroli are well represented in the catalogue of Modern and Contemporary Art of the Il Ponte auction (25, 26 May 2021). "We offer several works of Mario Ceroli at auction from the 1960s particularly representative of Pop Art" anticipates Freddy Battino, Head of the Modern and Contemporary Art Department at Il Ponte Casa d'Aste, "including the sculpture" Orologio "from 1964 (estimate € 8,000 - € 12,000) exhibited in the same year in which the artist's solo show was organized by Plinio de Martiis at the Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome. (...)
News
At a time marked by delicate balances and highly selective markets, Il Ponte Casa d’Aste reaffirms its authority within the international collecting scene...
A journey through the catalogue of the Modern and Contemporary Art auction...
A catalogue born from passionate research, which rediscovers previously unseen masterpieces and presents works of extraordinary provenance and quality...
Discover the lots of the upcoming Modern and Contemporary Art Auction of the 27 and 28 May 2025...
Records and results
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