Courtesy Sotheby's

Vincent van Gogh, "Fields (Wheat Fields)" (1890)

Courtesy Sotheby's

Pablo Picasso, "Tete de femme (Dora Maar)" (mid 1950s)

Damien Hirst Andy Warhol Edward Ruscha Willem de Kooning Gerhard Richter Francis Bacon Jean-Michel Basquiat Jeff Koons

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NEW YORK—With estimates at near-record highs for so many significant Impressionist, modern and contemporary works this month, some art market observers wonder whether this season’s results will be adversely affected by global jitters over the subprime mortgage collapse or the steeply declining U.S. dollar. No, say auction specialists, who add that even if the worldwide economy takes another hit, art prices probably won’t suffer—at least not right away. “There was a big interest in selling before the subprime meltdown,” says David Norman, Sotheby’s head of Impressionist and modern art. “And even with no big single-owner sales, we’re topping $300 million on the low estimate at the evening sales.”

The jewel in the crown at Sotheby’s Imp/mod sale on November 7 is Vincent van Gogh’s 1890 Fields (Wheat Fields), thought to be one of the last of his significant works in private hands (est. $28–35 million).

Christie’s kicks off the week on November 6 with a slew of serious goodies, notably a trio of rare-to-market Paul Cezanne watercolors, including Portrait de Vallier, circa 1902–06 (est. $15–25 million), and Henri Matisse’s Odalisque, harmonie bleue, 1937 (est. $15–20 million).

Records are expected to topple in the contemporary category. “The trick was trying to be judicious in estimating,” says Amy Cappellazzo, Christie’s cohead of contemporary art. With seven works estimated at $10 million and above, it seems the house didn’t sacrifice confidence to caution. The lots to watch are Ed Ruscha’s Burning Gas Station, 1965–66 (est. $4-6 million), and, from actor Hugh Grant, Andy Warhol’s Liz, 1963 (est. $25–35 million). On November 12, Christie’s offers works from the late New York dealer Allan Stone (total est. $40–60 million), including Willem de Kooning’s Man, 1967 (est. $5–7 million).

Notable works at Sotheby’s on November 14 include Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Electric Chair, 1981–82 (est. $8–10 million), and Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Can (Pepper Pot), 1962 (est. $7–9 million). New York collector Adam Lindemann consigned the cover lot, Jeff Koons’s stainless-steel Hanging Heart (Magenta and Gold), 1994–2006 (est. $15–20 million), from the artist’s “Celebrations” series. The 3,600-pound purple heart topped with a flamboyant gold bow is suspended 16 inches above the floor, making it seem “physically impossible,” says Tobias Meyer, worldwide head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s. “It has extraordinary artistic tension.”

Phillips de Pury & Company caps the week on November 15 with newly blue-chip works, such as Damien Hirst’s butterfly-strewn Love Affair, 2001 (est. $1.8–2.2 million), and Richard Prince’s joke painting What Can You Do? 2001 (est. $1.5–2 million).

With all three houses staking close to $800 million in financial guarantees, it sounds as if they’re betting that financial woes won’t keep deep-pocketed buyers away.

Pablo Picasso

Tete de femme (Dora Maar), mid 1950s
Estimate $20–30 million
Sotheby’s Imp/ mod

Pablo Picasso’s painted portraits of his wartime muse and mistress, Dora Maar, are typically distorted and aggressive. Witness Dora Maar au chat, 1941 (sold in May 2006 at Sotheby’s for $95 million), in which the dark-haired beauty is shown in a fragmented space, seated in a massive chair whose arms she grips with clawlike hands. In contrast, the bronze Tete de femme (Dora Maar) depicts her as almost goddess-like. Initially executed in plaster in Picasso’s famed Paris studio on the rue des Grands-Augustins in 1941, this classical portrait bust is set on a slightly rough-hewn base that suggests the work of Rodin or perhaps Greco-Roman sculptors. Maar serves as a kind of Mother Courage figure, meant to symbolize her and Picasso’s survival of the brutal Nazi occupation that kept them largely confined to his studio.