Sotheby's rides to the rescue...
November 3 2011
Picture: Sotheby's
After the very poor showing at Christie's Impressionist and Modern art sale on Tuesday (a sale even Reuters called 'dismal'), Sotheby's came to the rescue of the modern art market last night with a solid sale totalling $200 million.
The Klimt sold well for $40m (inc. premium), beating its estimate of $25-35m, as I expected. Other strong performers included a Caillebotte Le Pont d'Argenteuil et la Seine (above), which sold for £18 million. Just three years ago it made $8m. Caillebotte seems to be all the rage these days. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston will be pleased that their Monet, Antibes, Le Fort, which was being deaccessioned to raise funds for a new acquisition, went well above its $5-7 million estimate to make $9.2 million (inc. premium). Presmuably they'll have to insure their other version for more...
Sotheby's were delighted with the sale, using the usual trick of including the buyer's premium to say the final total was 'well within' the pre-sale estimate (which does not include any premiums) of $167 million-230 million. Tobias Meyer, the auctioneer, said:
You could really see the market rallying. If ever there was a turnaround, I think it happened tonight.
Now we wait to see what happens next week with the contemporary sales...
