Christie's

Christie's is a British-American auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie, who opened its first saleroom in London's Pall Mall. Today it operates as a for-profit business owned by Groupe Artémis, the holding company of French billionaire François Pinault. With dual headquarters in London (8 King Street, St James's) and New York City (Rockefeller Center), Christie's holds auctions across major cities including Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shanghai, and Dubai, and maintains representative offices in over 40 countries.

The company is a dominant force in the global art market, handling Old Masters, Impressionist and Modern Art, Post-War and Contemporary Art, jewelry, watches, wine, handbags, and real estate through Christie's International Real Estate. It also operates Christie's Education, offering courses in art history, connoisseurship, and the art market. In 2022, Christie's achieved $8.4 billion in total sales, an all-time high for any auction house, driven by both private sales and auctions. That year, its revenue reached $6.6 billion.

Christie's has set numerous world records, including the highest price for a single artwork: Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, which sold for $450 million in New York on November 15, 2017. The company also holds the record for the highest total for a single auction, the Paul Allen collection in 2022, which realized $1.6 billion, and the highest price for a living artist, Jeff Koons' Rabbit at $91.1 million in 2019. Its sales often dominate global headlines and influence museum acquisitions, private collecting, and art investment.

Christie's has faced controversies, including criticism over the sale of looted antiquities, opaque provenance, high fees, and its role in facilitating tax avoidance through art storage and freeport services. In 2020, a dispute arose over the sale of a Roman statue allegedly looted from Libya. In 2023, a Christie's employee was implicated in a scheme to sell fake Basquiat paintings, though the company stated it was not involved.[edit]

Christie's mission is to connect collectors with exceptional works of art, luxury goods, and real estate, serving as a bellwether for the global art market through high-profile sales, market intelligence, and expert curation.[edit]

James Christie opened his first auction room in Pall Mall, London, in 1766, conducting sales of fine art and household goods. The company moved to 8 King Street, St James's in 1823, a location that remains its London headquarters. Through the 19th and early 20th centuries, Christie's built a reputation for handling major estate sales and aristocratic collections.

International expansion began in 1977 with a saleroom in New York. In 1998, the company was acquired by Groupe Artémis for £1.2 billion, providing capital for global growth. The Hong Kong saleroom opened in 2006, strengthening its presence in Asia. Under the leadership of CEO Guillaume Cerutti, appointed in 2017, Christie's achieved record sales and embraced digital innovation, including the 2023 launch of Christie's 3.0 for NFT auctions. In 2024, the company opened a new Hong Kong headquarters in The Henderson building.[edit]