The first Wednesday of May spring evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art at Sotheby’s New York brought a total of $195,697,000.
Forty-three works achieved prices over $1 million, ten works exceeded $5 million, four works brought prices over $10 million, and two works sold for over $15 million. The sale was 87.7% sold by lot and 92.4% sold by value. Asian buyers took four of the top ten lots.
Two artist records were set: Isamu Noguchi’s Undine (Nadja) made $4,226,500 and Salvador Dalí’s Spectre du soir sur la plage made $5,682,500.
The evening’s top price was achieved by Henri Matisse’s spectacular Bouquet pour le quatorze juillet, the artist’s emotional celebration of the first Bastille Day following World War I, which made $28,642,500.