American actor and film producer Leonardo DiCaprio acted as a guest auctioneer and managed to persuade other actors and art collectors to raise almost $39 million at Christie’s. DiCaprio urged buyers to bid as if there was no tomorrow. The ‘Titanic’ actor co-hosted the 11th Hour Charity Auction on April 13, 2013.
Reports said that the actor spent months soliciting donations from various artists and attracting interests from collectors. The star co-hosted Christie’s auction in order to raise money for the ‘Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’ that deals with environmental issues. The actor issued a statement which said, “Nature is abundant and it is resilient, but we have to take action now to protect our planet before it’s too late.”
The auction displayed work of over 30 different artists, including British artists like graffiti artist Banksy, photographer Adam Mcewen and sculptor Anish Kapoor. Together the artists raised $38,827,000 which $18 million more than the organizers were hoping to raise.
The event experienced 13 world auction records for individual artists. Nine works of art were sold for more than $1 million. American painter Mark Grotjahn’s ‘Untitled’ sold for $6.51 million. Even a portrait of DiCaprio by Elizabeth Peyton sold for $1.05 million.
