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All 28 lots sold, as the auction, run by Christie’s, contained no reserves. The sale was expected to earn €3 million.

Seventy-six percent of buyers were European; the rest were from the United States.

“The market is not so high,” said Florence de Botton, Christie’s head of contemporary art in Paris. “This was a beautiful gift from everyone.”

The evening’s top lot was Serra’s Backstop (to Thurman Munson) (1987), a diamond-shaped sculpture made from two steel slabs meant to commemorate the late New York Yankees catcher. The work sold for €700,000, below its low estimate of €1 million.

Christie’s charged no buyer’s premiums for the sale, which was held in honor of French oncologist David Khayat and whose proceeds are to benefit AVEC, or Association pour la Vie et l’Espoir contre le Cancer (Association for Life and Hope Against Cancer).