World Records and Million-level sales at Modern Art & Design

This week, Modern Art & Design — the leading live auction for modern art and design in the Nordics — went under the hammer at Bukowskis.

The auction once again demonstrated a strong market for both art and design. Among the highlights were high final prices within design, several multi-million hammer results, and a spectacular new world record for Isaac Grünewald’s masterpiece “Cirkus”

Grünewald’s groundbreaking masterpiece “Circus”, was part of a suite of three paintings from 1917–18, which originally held a place of honor in the dining room of the Grünewalds’ villa in Saltsjöbaden. The painting opened at 8 million SEK and, in a packed sale room, achieved an impressive final price of 17,25 million SEK – a new world record that reinforces Grünewald’s position as one of Swedish modernism’s foremost artists.

The Design Department

Highlights from the furniture department included two iconic café chairs designed by architect Carl Bergsten for the Art and Industrial Exhibition in Norrköping in 1906, an Art Nouveau sculpted and carved pine chair by Knut Fjaestad from 1915, and a selection of pine furniture by Axel Einar Hjorth. One of the department’s standout pieceswas a high-quality Jugend corner cabinet from the early 1900s which, despite a modest estimate, sold for a final price of 450 000 SEK.

In the ceramics section, notable items included monumental works by Hans Hedberg and highly sought-after pieces by Axel Salto and Pablo Picasso. The department’s most spectacular lot was a unique, signed jug by Picasso, which achieved a final price of 831 000 SEK.