What sold at Art Basel Paris 2024

Two further seven-figure sales were for paintings by female artists. One of them was Alice Neel’s oil painting Irma Seitz (1963), which sold for USD 1.2 million. Renowned for her intimate and candid portraits painted from life, Neel is one of the most celebrated figurative painters of the 20th century, making her work highly sought after around the globe. In this canvas, Neel depicts the philanthropist and painter Seitz with her legs crossed, wearing a white dress and heels, gazing outward while holding a cigarette with a chicness so natural that it might even be described as French.

Finally, one of Surrealism’s most enigmatic forces, Meret Oppenheim, continues to draw interest in France. It was almost 90 years ago that her fur-covered teacup, Object, stirred intrigue at the 1936 Surrealist exhibition in Paris. From then on, solidified as a key female figure in the movement, she would provoke audiences with her daring explorations of eroticism and femininity. This year, it was her 1934 figurative painting Anatomie d’une femme morte (1934) – depicting a possibly decapitated figure – that turned at least one head in Paris, fetching USD 1.5 million at Michael Werner’s booth.