2007 in Review: Auction Lots We'll Remember

On the Money
Chaim Soutine, "L’Homme au Foulard Rouge"
(ca. 1921)
Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Sale,
London, February 7, 2007
£8,756,000 ($17,200,000)
Est. £3.5–5 million

Soutine easily ranks as one of the premier portrait painters of the 20th century, yet his jangly, hyperactive style puts off a large swath of collectors. This record-setting masterpiece, with its scorching, Fauve-like colors and turbulent surface, hits all the right buttons for aficionados of his work.

Even though a posse of bidders drove the price well beyond expectations, it’s very much in line with the current market logic for A+ works—the sky's the limit. Hats off to the anonymous seller, who bought the picture at Christie’s London in December 1997 for a then-record £1,541,500 ($2,544,570). Not bad for a ten-year investment.

Courtesy Sotheby’s