Robert Rauschenberg, Overdrive (1963)Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Will Rauschenberg’s Death Create a Feeding Frenzy at Sotheby’s?
A year ago, Sotheby’s sold a major work by Robert Rauschenberg, Photograph, for $9.5 million — the highest ever paid for a Rauschenberg, but slightly below the house’s estimate of $10–$15 million. Tomorrow night the house will auction off another major Rauschenberg, the silkscreen-oil Overdrive, again with an estimate of $10–$15 million. What effect will Rauschenberg’s death have on the sale of Overdrive, and the four other Rauschenberg works the house has up for bid this week? Forgive us for living up to our blog’s title, but will there be a feeding frenzy for the five pieces? We could see Overdrive easily making the low range of its estimate and setting a new record for the artist. If it does, we wonder what the mischievous Rauschenberg would have thought of this kind of response to his death.
Earlier: Robert Rauschenberg Dies at 82