Edvard Munch – Girls on the Bridge.
Led by Munch’s Girls on the Bridge which sold for $54.5 million the Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York last night brought in $157.7 million.
Pablo Picasso’s large-scale late work Le Peintre et son modèle brought $12.9 million; Auguste Rodin’s Penseur, petit modèle sold to an Asian private collector for $1.8; Picasso’s Tête de femme sold for $8.5 million; Maurice de Vlaminck’s Fauve landscape Le Verger made $7.6 million; László Moholy-Nagy’s EM 1 Telephonbild, a masterwork of early conceptual art, achieved $6.1 million and František Kupka’s La Forme du bleu from 1924 sold above the high estimate for $2.2 million.
“Tonight’s solid results, coupled with those in London this June, demonstrate there is strong demand for top-quality works at every price level,” said Simon Shaw, Co-Head of Sotheby’s Worldwide Impressionist & Modern Art Department. “We were pleased to offer for the third time Edvard Munch’s Girls on the Bridge, which achieved $54.5 million – a price that is second only to his iconic The Scream, sold at Sotheby’s for $120 million. Munch has only recently been recognized for his tremendous impact on both 20th and 21st century art, and our team has worked to build his appreciation in the market as well.”