Christie's has announced a series of public events including exhibitions and auctions from October 10 to 18 in London, to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair.
The highlight of the week will be the "Post-War & Contemporary Evening Auction" on Thursday, October 14.
The sale is set to include a strong selection of photography, as well as a piece of work from Damien Hirst, which is the first piece from the popular artist to be offered at auction since September 2008.
As Francis Outred, Head of Post-War & Contemporary art at Christie's Europe explains:
"Every year in October in London, the Frieze art fair gathers art lovers from around the world for one of the most enthusiastic and vibrant celebrations of Contemporary art. This year we will be opening our salerooms and presenting one of our busiest and most accessible ever weeks of event"
Prior to their auction at 6.30pm on October 14, collectors will be able to view an exhibition of the 51 pieces up for sale in the "Post-War & Contemporary Art" event.
In total, the art on offer carries an estimated price of £15,950,000 - 22,710,000 (24,811,000 - 35,326,500).
And leading the way will be Damien Hirst's "I am become death, shatterer of worlds" which represents the largest sized butterfly painting to ever be executed by the artist.
It's also the most important work by Hirst to be offered at auction since "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever" which sold back in 2008.
Measuring over 5 metres wide, the title of this piece is a reference to the famous words of J Robert Oppenheimer following the detonation of the Atomic Bomb.
 Hirst's "I am become death shatterer of worlds" |
The piece comes to auction with an estimated price of £2.5-3.5m ($3.8-5.4m)
Elsewhere, the auction is also set to offer 3 works spotlighting a new generation of American artists whose work is said to reflect the legacy of modern America.
These works include Mark Bradford's 2006 piece "Krypotnite" which has a target price of £200,000-300,000 ($310,000 - 466,000) and Jules de Balincourt's "The People that Pau and The People that Play" from 2004 which is expected to sell for £70,000 - 100,000 ($108,000 - 155,000).
The final piece of the set is Kelley Walker's 2006 work "Black Star, Black Press, Star Press" which has been given a pre-sale estimate of £500,000 to 700,000 ($777,000 - 1,088,000).
Elsewhere, two 1980s pieces from Gerhard Richter are set to dazzle collectors at the October auction.
The 1981 work, "Abstraktes Bild", a unique abstract from the German visual artist is expected to realise £600,000 - 800,000 ($933,000 - 1,245,000). Whilst a 1987 photorealist landscape entitled "Zwei Bäume (Two Trees)", could reach a price of £800,000- 1,200,000 ($1,245,000 - 1,890,000).
 Gursky's "New York, Stock Exchange" is estimated to sell for £100,000 - 150,000 ($155,500 - 233,250) |
The auction will also feature an array of photography from 7 leading contemporaries of the art field, which include Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Jeff Wall and Cindy Sherman, to name but a few.
With just under a month until the Frieze art fair, these developments and the inclusion of a Hirst piece could see Christie's making headlines for world record prices on October 14.
