Sotheby's Imp/Mod Sale Small but Solid

Pablo Picasso Alberto Giacometti Henri Matisse Wassily Kandinsky Rene Magritte Claude Monet Diego Giacometti Paul Signac

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The picture was last offered at auction at Christie’s London in June 1998, where it went unsold against a pre-sale estimate of £1.8–2.5 million. It took only 11 years for it to be properly rehabilitated.

Another late Picasso also registered a strong price as Nu debout (1968), resembling in part the artist’s wife and muse, Jacqueline, attracted at least four bidders and sold to the telephone for £4,297,250 (est. £3–4 million).

On the post-Impressionist side of the ledger, Paul Signac’s pointillist water view Constantinople, La Corne d’or. La Suleimanie (1907), went to yet another telephone bidder for £1,385,250 (est. £1.2–1.8 million). It last sold at Christie’s New York in November 1998 for $563,500.

“What’s reassuring about tonight’s sale,” said Sotheby’s worldwide head of Impressionist and modern art, Melanie Clore, “is that there are people ready to stand up to the plate for the right works. That should give consignors confidence to consign in future auctions.”

The evening action resumes on Thursday with Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale.

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.