Impressionist, Modern & Contemporary sales on view
February 5 2011
The atmosphere at Sotheby's and Christie's auction viewings of Impressionist & Modern art is very different to the Old Master sales I'm used to. The pictures are sparsely hung and strongly lit. Sharp-suited specialists slink silently between the high-rollers. Everyone whispers.
Of the two sales, I thought Sotheby's had the edge. But that's probably because I was drawn to the trio of Lucian Freuds, which was complimented by Francis Bacon's triptych portrait of Freud. The latter will surely beat its £7-9m estimate, in which case cue headlines saying 'Bringing home the Bacon'.
The picture I most liked was the tiny self-portrait by Lucien Freud. Painted in 1952, it is an intense work suffused with self-doubt. The estimate is £600,000-800,000, which in this market is probably rather low.
