The art of creating value for a leading auction house

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyse the role of auction houses in the global art market. More over this study investigates the internal process flow of Christie’s, the leading auction house, with an explanation on the different roles and steps in order to create extraordinary sales.

The study deals with examining cases of artworks coming from important private collections which obtained outstanding prices, exceeding their original estimates. The main finding of this thesis, demonstrates that provenance is a key element and has a significant contribution to creating value and reaching high prices.

This paper will consider and report the exceptional success achieved from four legendary sales: the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, the personal collection of Audrey Hepburn, Les Giacometti d'Hubert de Givenchy sale and finally the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé.