Sale image. © Sotheby's Images.

NEW YORK.- Tonight, on the evening of Valentine’s Day, over $40 million was raised to fight AIDS in Africa in an historic auction -- the most significant charity auction of Contemporary Art ever -- organized by Bono, Damien Hirst, Sotheby’s, Gagosian Gallery and dozens of donating artists in the (RED) Auction. The proceeds will go the United Nations Foundation to support HIV/AIDS relief programs in Africa conducted by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Bono opened the auction with an a capella rendition of “All You Need Is Love” before a star-studded crowd, including Queen Noor, John McEnroe, Takashi Murakami, Martha Stewart, Dennis Hopper, Michael Stipe, Helena Christensen, Liya Kebede, Russell Simmons, Brian Williams, Ziyi Zhang, Ed Burns and Christy Turlington, who purchased Francesco Clemente’s Red Flower on Scorched Earth for $170,500 (lot 61, est. $50/70,000). The auction achieved $42.58 million, far beyond its high estimate (est. $21/29 million), and records were set for seventeen artists, including Marc Quinn, Banksy, Howard Hodgkin, Keith Tyson and Bernar Venet. Among the many highlights of the evening was Damien Hirst’s Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way, a pill cabinet which is filled with HIV antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV, which sold for $7,150,000 (lot 54, est. $5/7 million). The sale had been preceded by a preview exhibition of the works at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea.

Damien Hirst contacted dozens of the world’s leading artists to ask them to contribute works for the auction inspired by the colour red and the concept of love. Their response was exceptional, with offers of major works Matthew Barney, Georg Baselitz, Cecily Brown, Douglas Gordon, Antony Gormley, Subodh Gupta, Andreas Gursky, Sir Howard Hodgkin, Gary Hume, Jasper Johns, Anish Kapoor, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Marc Newson, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Richard Prince, Marc Quinn, Ed Ruscha, Yinka Shonibare, Sam Taylor-Wood, Keith Tyson and Bernar Venet, among others.

Damien Hirst himself contributed seven works to the auction, which together made a spectacular total of $19,085,000. In addition to There’s A Will, There’s A Way, the highlights were a red rectangular butterfly painting entitled Love You, which sold for $3,300,000 (lot 53, est. $1/1.5 million) and a red heart-shaped butterfly painting entitled All You Need is Love, which brought $2,420,000 (lot 16, est. $1/1.5 million).

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