Christie's Impressionist and Modern Summary & Top 5 Lots

NEW YORK—There were no fireworks at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale last night, no electric buzz in the room, and no superstar lots. There was, however, a packed auction house, a steady stream of bids that stretched for more than two hours, and a grand total of $236,464,000—a solid number just shy of the auction house’s high estimate of $245,020,000.

There were also a few surprises, including a glut of European collectors, as auctioneer Christopher Burge announced following the sale. Nearly half of the evening’s winning bidders, 48 percent, were European, while only 29 percent came from the United States. Two percent were from Asia and 21 percent from other areas, Burge added. He suggested that currency rates, with a surging Euro and a weak American dollar, might have been a factor.

“We’re very pleased with the strength of the market,” Burge said. “We had furious bidding from every part of the world on lots big and small.”

Furious bidding was not the case, however, for Modigliani’s La femme au collier vert (Madame Menier). Christie’s had predicted the 1918 oil on canvas would be one of the most sought-after pieces, but it was among 10 works that didn’t sell out of the evening’s 78 lots. Burge chalked that disappointment up to the escalating market for the artist.

“It has risen so fast that it has been rather difficult to know where to estimate [Modigliani] pictures that are not of absolute top rank but are obviously fine works,” he said.

Christie’s prediction that Juan Gris’s Le pot de geranium would break the artist’s world record did prove to be spot-on. The 1915 oil on canvas fetched $18.5 million, just above its high estimate.

Two of the other top lots, Pablo Picasso’s 1921 oil on canvas Tete et main de femme and Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture L’homme qui chavire (1947, cast 1950) also brought in $18.5 million each, both above their high estimates. The latter set a world record for a Giacometti piece.

World records were also set by Maximilien Luce’s La Seine au pont Saint-Michel (1900), which sold for $2.8 million, and Joan Miro’s Projet pour un monument (1981), which went for $9.9 million.

Most works were purchased by anonymous buyers, the bulk of them bidding by phone, and bids inched along in 5 percent increments, an amount Burge said “is just the name of the game these days.”

Top Five Prices:

1-tie. Lot #51—Alberto Giacometti, L’homme qui chavire, sold for $18,520,000 (est. $6.5-8.5 million)

One of Giacometti’s quintessential bronzes, this sculpture of a man plunging through space surprised everyone by inspiring enthusiastic bids from a handful of collectors, both in the room and on the phone. The work soared to more than twice its high estimate, breaking the artist’s previous world record of $14.3 million. Again an anonymous phone bidder prevailed.

1-tie. Lot #59—Juan Gris, Le pot de geranium, sold for $18,520,000 (est. $14-18 million)

Christie’s called this vibrantly colored Cubist work from 1915 a “virtual guidebook to the artist’s compositional practices, preferred subject matter, formal interests, and chromatic concerns,” and collectors seemed to recognize its significance. Bids quickly climbed to $18.5 million, dwarfing Gris’s previous auction record of $8.4 million. An unidentified telephone bidder took the work home.

1-tie. Lot #12—Pablo Picasso, Tete et main de femme, sold for $18,520,000 (est. $14-18 million)

Bids escalated slowly but steadily for this work, which Picasso painted in 1921, when he embarked on a series of large neoclassical female nudes.

A mystery phone bidder snatched up the piece, which has remained in private hands since it was restituted to the Alphonse Kann family heirs in 2003.

4. Lot #64—Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Dodo mit grossem Facher, sold for $12,920,000 (est. $12-18 million)

Bidding flared up and died down quickly for this 1910 oil on canvas depicting Kirchner’s lover and preferred model, Doris Grosse, during the artist’s Dresdner years. The work brings together several influences that dominated Kirchner’s work, including a heavy dose of Fauvism. The opulent work went to an anonymous bidder in the back of the room.

5. Lot #35—Paul Signac, Arriere du Tub, sold for $11,688,000 (est. $6-8 million)