Overview
- On Thursday, May 21, Christie’s sold Gerhard Richter’s Kerze (Candle) for a hammer of $30 million and a final price of $35.1 million with fees, below the presale low estimate of $35 million.
- The painting was offered from the late dealer Marian Goodman’s estate; Goodman bought the work from Richter in 1989 and died in January 2026.
- Kerze carried a third-party guarantee and was bought by a phone bidder working through Kathryn Lasater, a Christie’s senior vice president.
- Goodman’s eight Richters totaled $78.8 million and made up nearly half of Christie’s $162.7 million evening sale, which featured guarantees on most lots to ensure sell-through.
- The result underlines a wider market pattern where heavy use of house and third-party guarantees secures headline totals while exposing uneven demand across Richter’s series, with his Abstraktes Bild works still commanding the highest prices.