Impressionist & Modern Art evening sale at Sotheby’s New York on May 3 made $170,478,000. This was within but very much at the lower end of the overall estimate of $158.9-229.7 million. The 59 lot auction was 74.6% sold by lot, and saw a total of 37 works sell for over $1 million.
The top lot was Pablo Picasso’s Femmes lisant (Deux personnages). It made $21,362,500 in a sale where auction records were established for the Surrealist artist Paul Delvaux and for a sculpture by Paul Gauguin. Jeune tahitienne sold for 11,282,500. It was carved during Gauguin’s first trip to Tahiti between 1890 and 1893, and is the only fully-worked bust portrait the artist is known to have created. It marks the eighth highest price for any work by Gauguin at auction.
Les Cariatides by Paul Delvaux from 1946 made $9,042,500 in a sale which saw strong prices for Surrealist works.
The Expressionist Alexej von Jawlensky’s Frau mit grünem Fächer (Woman with a green fan) made $11,282,500, just under its high estimate of $12 million. This is the second highest price for a work by Jawlensky. There were strong prices too for Magritte and Dali. The art illustrated represents the top five highest prices for the sale.
The Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale on May 5 at Sotheby’s in New York brought in $38,982,225.