A dinosaur, a diamond and Andy Warhol.

A conversation with the CEO of Christie's in Israel

Roni Gilat Beharev, CEO of Christie's auction house in Israel, is interviewed for the first time and tells what the differences are between the international company and its Israeli branch, what the corona virus has changed in the process and of course: what is the hot trend in the world of auctions

Dr. Maya Gaz

05/09/2022

Monday, 05 September 2022, 12:03 Updated: Friday, 09 September 2022, 16:44

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Roni Gilat Beharev, CEO of Christie's Israel. Speaking for the first time (Photo: Hagar Bader)

Stan the dinosaur must not have imagined millions of years ago that he was worth so much.

His skeleton was discovered in 1987, exhumed in 1992 and in October 2020 the magnificent T REX was sold to a confirmed anonymous buyer for $31 million at a Christie's New York auction.

A few months ago, The Rock, the largest white diamond ever seen at auction, was sold.

Its size is 228 carats, it is pear-shaped and it was mined more than two decades ago in South America.

The Rock was sold in Geneva at a particularly intriguing Christie's auction, for a final sum of 21.6 million Swiss francs and stirred up the diamond market.

Shortly before that, Christie's auction house made headlines with an auction in New York of the 20th century art collection of Thomas and Doris Aman.

As part of the sale, a portrait of Marilyn Monroe, "Blue Marilyn", painted by the pop art artist Andy Warhol in his "Factory", was sold for $195 million.

But the most famous work of art sold by the auction house belongs to none other than Leonardo da Vinci and it is Salvatore Mundi (The Savior of the World) which shows Christ crossing two fingers and holding a crystal ball.

The piece was sold in 2017 at Christie's New York for a final sum of $450 million.

Who saw my T-Rex?

Stan the dinosaur that cost 31 million dollars (photo: Christie's Images Limited 2022)

Ardon or Robin?

"It's the dream, it's the movie, collectors want to know what happens during the sale," explains Roni Gilat-Bahrab, CEO of Christie's Israel. "People come to see the show.

They stand in the room and clap their hands.

You say to yourself, 'There was a sale here.

An object is sold' and it excites people."

"You are sitting in a room with very rich people and before your eyes 100 million dollars change hands.

Why are people excited about it?

Maybe because it's something I don't have.

It's a show.

You are in the room, you are there and you see this record and one day you will tell your children about it, I have been to many such sales, including those of the Rockefeller collection, Elizabeth Taylor, Thomas and Doris Mann and many others."

In her first interview with the media, Gilat-Bahrab enters the intricacies of the glittering corridors of the largest and most famous auction house in the world.

The corona, she says, devoured the cards and the rules.

"Today you sit at home during the sale and can watch and participate in the process online. I wonder who is there behind the computer. It used to be a black tie event, people booked seats in the hall, it was also a social event. Today you can do it from the bed in your pajamas and have no idea Who is in front of you or in the room.

You decide after looking online at the sale catalog that an item interests you, you can find all the information about it on the computer, and get help with additional questions from the person who is physically present at the sale. This is true if you are in Shanghai, Tel Aviv, New York, you can contact us Asking and checking anything that interests you is true for every item we sell."

"People who have works of art for sale contact us or we contact them. We have experts in the company for almost everything and anywhere in the world. If someone in New York has Israeli art such as a picture by Mordechai Ardon or Reuven Rubin, they will likely contact me and I can give them an estimate Let

's

say a Tintoretto picture pops up in Tel Aviv, we'll send a photo to antique art experts in London or New York. Assuming the owner has accepted the estimate, and will agree on a minimum price, we'll sign a contract, the item will be sent abroad for inspection, and we'll help with the accompanying documents.

Abroad, our expert will check the item. There is sometimes a process of turning to external experts, for example, for a work by an artist like Marc Chagall, each of his works will be sent for inspection by an external committee to confirm the originality. The item will be included in the catalog of the sale and will be published several weeks before the sale.

"We used to print a catalog and the process was longer. Today you go to the Christie's website online, you can see dozens of auctions, you can go into an item to enlarge, reduce the image, in some catalogs there is an option to make a visualization inside your room and give you a sense of how it will look on The wall. You have a superzoom to the level of the artist's fingerprint.

Technology has changed a great deal in the way art can be consumed remotely. After the sale, the company pays the seller minus the commission and expenses agreed with you. The auction house has a five-year warranty on the item sold. If tomorrow you prove that it is If I don't redeem within the five years, the deal will be canceled. Each item is checked in detail according to market requirements. Every picture we sell and every item undergo a careful inspection."

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"The Rock", the most expensive diamond in the world (Photo: Christie's Images Limited 2022)

between Israel and the world

Roni Gilat-Baharev, Tel Avivian, married and mother of three children, graduated with a bachelor's degree at Tel Aviv University and a second degree at the Courtauld Institute in London.

Her field is impressionist, modern and 20th century art.

When she finished her studies in London she worked at Christie's London.

She returned to Israel and when auctions started in Israel in 1994, they were looking for an expert in the field.

At first she was responsible for sales in Tel Aviv.

In 2008 there was a sweeping decision in the company to reduce auctions outside the centers, it currently works mainly with the international market.

"There are Christie's in many countries in Europe, the United States, the Emirates, South America, Asia. The company is interested in maintaining contact with the local community, collectors, sellers and potential buyers and galleries. The Israeli branch had an early incarnation of a print gallery that very quickly became a branch of the auction house The public. I've been working at the local branch for 28 years."

Gilat-Bahrab differentiates between the local and the international market.

"The market in Israel is mostly for Israeli art, which is strictly speaking from 1906, when Bezalel was founded. The Israeli market includes great galleries, fantastic artists, auction houses, and all of them deal mainly with our art. It is a flat market, it has no historical depth. Most of the market is focused on twentieth century art And most of them are Israeli artists. This is a result of our history, we are immigrants and here we don't have the depth of art collections of generations that exist in countries like Switzerland or England, which were never invaded. Abroad, the art market reflects the history of the place and trades in objects that have been collected and represent an image of the historical local collection".

Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe.

More expensive than any diamond (Photo: Christie's Images Limited 2022)

Thoughts on the Holocaust

In the first half of 2022, post-pandemic, not normal years, Christie's turnover was four billion dollars.

"It is a huge, international market, very different from the Israeli market. We have great artists, a diverse artistic language, art of immigrants, but its value is determined in Israel because the market is mainly local.

In Israel, few families came to Israel with historical art collections, and the Jews in general were not known as art collectors The 19th century and the Enlightenment movement. As someone who grew up here, I have been thinking a lot in recent years about the generation that perished in the Holocaust and did not bring their cultural world to Israel. We know our history two generations back, no more than that. When you think the same way about the Israeli art market, you realize that Looking at a collection of art that is being monitored now or at recent history."

"The international market is super interesting - multi-layered, very dynamic. There is the upper layer of the deeds and dreams that we like to hear about in the news. For example, in November 2022, Paul Allen's art collection, valued at around one billion dollars, is going to be sold in New York. The proceeds will be devoted to a donation. Buying works At this level these are luxuries, it is not for bread and milk. Earlier this year we sold for 195 million dollars a picture of Andy Warhol, a portrait of Marilyn Monroe from the collection of Thomas and Doris Aman, also in this case in return it was transferred to support institutions that were important to the owner."

"In recent years, we have seen a lively and developing market of buyers in the Far East. In these places, the new collectors will not necessarily want to acquire European or American culture. Many times we see a flourishing of local art, ancient or contemporary. As we see in the Asian market. These items are also of interest to collectors In Asia and abroad. When the market is strong, important collections go up for sale, one of which will be sold this year is the collection of Anne and Gordon Getty. During the four-day sale in New York, 1,500 items, art, furniture and more from their home in San Francisco will be offered. This is a lot of energy."

"Not everyone consumes art. An interesting test is the contemporary art market, the market is driven by younger people, who are interested in technology and it is accessible to them. The corona kicked the art market forward in everything related to technology. The first half of 2022 we have about 30% more New buyers in online sales.

The dream is what you write about in the newspaper but the international art market consists of many sales at lower values ​​of items.

For example watches or prints or furniture from the twentieth century.

The jewelry market is huge, but women also buy jewelry in a store or at a jeweler, today they can also buy online for hundreds of thousands of dollars or a few thousand dollars."

You won't believe it, but Christie's also has NFT (Photo: Christie's Images Limited 2022)

Bags in the dark

What is the cheapest item?

"5,000 dollars or more. There are things we sell without a minimum price. In other words, we sometimes agree with sellers that the item will be sold at any price, regardless of the estimate that is published in the catalog. This is a tactic that makes buyers compete with each other. It happens in all areas: pictures, books, porcelain, carpets. You only need two people to compete for the item."

For several years there have been high prices for artists of the eighties such as Basquiat.

This is the taste of a generation of collectors.

Some buy contemporary artists, some people buy back the history of their childhood, of their country.

Today's generation of collectors came of age in the seventies and eighties.

They buy the things that are spoken to them.

You have art standards of an artist of your time because maybe Picasso speaks less to you.

The desire for ownership is significant and personal, it is not always related only to the price.

When a museum does an exhibition on a certain artist, it seems important to you.

You decide that you invest in what is close to you, what excites you and what you connect with.

It's deep, it's interesting, it's related to multiculturalism and it's a never-ending process."

"A relatively new market for us is the bag market.

It's not a work of art, it's a consumer product.

The Hermes bags are dominant in the market because some of them are not available to buy in the store.

You have to order the bag in the store and in front of you is a waiting list of women who ordered before you.

But you want it now and you can get it immediately at auction.

We sell them in excellent condition only, new or like new.

Sometimes the bag is still packed in the original packaging because someone bought it and it's still in the box because she has enough bags and hasn't opened it.

The dynamism of the market involves your inability to satisfy your need at the moment in the store.

We see a strengthening trend in the luxury watch market.

There are watches that cannot be purchased in a store for various reasons, because it takes time to produce them, because there are more consumers, because the manufacturer no longer produces this model.

When more people want less things it creates competition and a market.

While a bag or a watch are consumer products and they are used, in art you buy a work of an artist, which appeals to emotion but also to confidence in the investment. The artists are certain, you will use the watch on a daily basis."

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