Editor’s Note

I’m not sure that virtual, online auctions will ever really rival the real thing. Glaring at competing bidders or feeling the rush of adrenaline as you wonder whether the auctioneer’s gavel will fall after your last, overzealous bid — these things can’t be replicated on a screen. I had a job filling up seats in an auction house in Atlanta, Georgia, when I travelled with a friend across the US in my early 20s, so I’ve seen a few. But despite not being as much fun under the circumstances, auctions are doing well.

In fact, Sotheby’s marathon evening auction last week is its most successful online auction ever. It lasted five hours and ended as the sun thought about rising. Eighty lots together brought in more than $363m. That’s six billion two hundred and seventy million rands. The mind boggles.

One work, Francis Bacon’s Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus, sold for R1.4bn — someone clearly brought home the Bacon. Another work, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Head) sold for R260m, a record for a Basquiat work on paper. The rich must be aching to spend their money after being holed up in their mansions under lockdown. Art seems a good option if you’re not scratching the itch with a Hermes bag, the most expensive of which is the Kelly Rose Gold – around R34.5m — and you can’t travel.

Closer to home, Session 2 of Strauss’s current auction of South African art closes for bidding tomorrow. The art won’t sell for anything comparable to that at Sotheby’s but there is a good story behind the collection. Tymon Smith spoke to barowning art collector Bruce Gordon.

If you’ve got money to burn, Capri is a pretty good place to do it. That’s where you’ll be going if you pick up the new Kevin Kwan book. Kwan spoke to Jenn Platt in our featured story this week. His new characters adore the Italian island, and so will you. And let’s face it, there’s no other way you’re going there any time soon.

Comments, criticism or praise to nagela@sundaytimes.co.za