Monet Record, Disappointing Total at Christie’s Imp/Mod Sale

NEW YORK—Subdued bidding and a grand total that fell just short of the low estimate for Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale last night made for a somewhat lackluster evening, but six world records, a pared-down, super-focused roster of top-notch works, and a few surprises were enough to keep things moving and prove the market still has a foothold despite endless talk about the shaky economy.

Christie’s had estimated a $287 to $405 million total, but what the auction house got was $277.2 million, still a respectable sum given that almost a quarter of the 58 lots offered did not find buyers, including a much-touted Kees Van Dongen, two Claude Monets, a van Gogh, and three Picassos. That number also marked the third-highest total for an Impressionist and Modern sale in Christie’s history.

“Obviously there were one or two disappointments,” auctioneer Christopher Burge said at a press conference following the sale. “But the market is still alive and well.”

The evening’s star lot was Monet’s 1873 oil on canvas Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil, which sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for $41.4 million, above its presale estimate of $35 million to $40 million, setting a record for the artist (the price to beat was $36.5 million, paid for Nympheas [1904] at Sotheby’s in London last year). The seller was listed as anonymous, but Art+Auction reported that it was the art-dealing dynasty the Nahmad family, who bought the piece for $12.4 million two decades ago at Christie’s.

The second most expensive lot, and one that drew some of the evening’s most enthusiastic bidding, was from the modern category: Alberto Giacometti’s bronze sculpture with dark brown patina Grande femme debout II. The piece is from a series of four women the artist sculpted in 1960, and the largest he ever made, standing at nearly 108 inches tall. The sculpture, which plays on human frailty in Giacometti’s signature style, sold for $27.4 million to Gagosian Gallery. Christie’s did not publish an estimate, but the work shattered Giacometti’s previous auction record of $18.5 million.

Other works that performed well were Henri Matisse’s oil on canvas Portrait au manteau bleu (1935), which went to the U.S. trade for $22.4 million (estimate not published); Auguste Rodin’s bronze sculpture with brown patina Eve, grand modele-version sons rocher (1897), which sold to an anonymous bidder for $18.9 million, above its high estimate of $12 million; and Joan Miro’s oil on canvas La caresse des etoiles (1938), which beat its $16 million high estimate to bring in $17 million. The Rodin and Miro works set records for both artists. Records also were established for Edouard Vuillard and Rembrandt Bugatti. The works were part of a well-edited sale with significantly fewer lots — 58 compared with last year’s 78 — than usual.

Guy Bennett, head of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art department, told ARTINFO he was surprised at how sought-after sculpture was. “I really do believe in the sculpture market, but I was surprised at how aggressively the collectors pursued them,” he said.

Others said they were taken aback by the low percentage of American buyers — only 32 percent were from the United States, while 52 percent were European — but a look back at last year’s May Imp/Mod sale shows that only 29 percent of buyers were from the United States, and about the same, 48 percent, were from Europe.

Burge said those numbers only confirm what we already knew. “Thirty two percent is thirty two percent,” he said. “We already know that the dollar is on the weak side and the euro is strong.”

Click on the photo gallery to the left to see the top five lots from the sale.