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AN exceptional selection of 54 works of every media by the most revered artists of the 20th century come up at Christie’s  Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, Including Property from the Estate of Edgar M. Bronfman  in New York on May 6.  The best Impressionist works by Monet and Renoir to come to market in many years from the estate of Huguette Clark are coupled with equally distinguished examples by Degas from the estate of Edgar Bronfman.  Important Modern works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Braque and Dalí from the collection of Viktor and Marianne Langen pair with an orientalist van Dongen and an arcadian Picasso also from the Bronfman estate. The evening sale is expected to achieve in excess of $245 million.

Claude Monet
Nymphéas, oil on canvas, 1907 ($25.35 million). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $27,045,000

Pablo Picasso
Portrait de Femme (Dora Maar) ($25-35 million) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014  UPDATE: THIS MADE $22,565,000

Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Jeunes filles jouant au volant circa 1887
($10,000,000-15,000,000) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014  UPDATE: THIS MADE $11,365,000

Andy Warhol’s White Marilyn, 1962, one of the most iconic portraits created by the artist and recognized as one of the finest examples of his Death and Disasters series comes up at Christie’s in New York on May 13.  Created immediately after Monroe’s death in 1962 it is estimated at $12-18 million. The work was one of eight Marilyns selected for Warhol’s first one-man exhibition at Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery in New York in 1962, and was once part of her personal collection.

“Compared to the perfectly coiffed media propagated publicity images of the actress, in White Marilyn she appears touched by humanity, and transcends reality to become a modern Saint. Warhol dedicated this work to Ward and expressed his gratitude scattering hearts on the reverse of the painting. Warhol gave Mint Marilyn to Jasper Johns, Gold Marilyn Monroe and Blue Marilyn were acquired by Phillip Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Barr before being gifted respectively to the National Gallery of Arts in Washington, and the Princeton University Art Museum.” declared Laura Paulson, Christie’s Chairman and International Director for Post-War and Contemporary Art.

UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $41,045,000 in the highest grossing sale in art history which brought in $744 million.

Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Big Family No. 3 sold for a world record price of $12.1 million US.

Auction records were established for Chinese, Japanese and South East Asian artists at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Asian Art sale in Hong Kong.  There were eight auction records in a sale which realised US$85.9 million.  The top lot was Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Big Family No. 3 which sold for US$12.1 million.  Collectors from around the world competed vigorously and Asian buyers took most of the top pieces. Seven bidders competed for Potted Chrysanthemums, a previously unrecorded painting by modern Chinese master Sanyu which sold for US$10.4 million.

Amedeo Modigliani
Portrait de Paul Alexandre, 1911-12 (5-8 million). Copyright: Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 13,537,500

A Modigliani portrait of his major patron Paul Alexandre comes up at Sotheby’s in Paris on June 4.  Never before on the market it portrays his patron during the seven years after his arrival in France in 1907.  It dates from 1911-12.  It has remained in the ownership of Paul Alexandre’s descendants to this day. Alexandre was Modigliani’s confidant, mentor and patron from his arrival in Paris until his conscription in 1914.  The painting is estimated at 5-8 million.

It is one of Modigliani’s five portraits of Alexandre (two of which are in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen). It was painted just after the death of Paul Alexandre’s mother, in dull tones and imbued with poignant melancholy. The picture has never left Paul Alexandre’s family, is in perfect condition, and boasts powerful paintwork, notably to the face and hands. It is one of the most individual and compelling Modigliani male portraits ever to appear at auction.

Tygers at Play by George Stubbs.

A masterful depiction of two leopard cubs by George Stubbs will lead Sotheby’s sale of Old Master and British paintings in London next July 9.  Tygers at Play, one of the most celebrated works by Stubbs, is estimated at £4-6 million. Painted c1770-75  it has been exhibited only four times in public since its original appearance at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Julian Gascoigne, Specialist, British Paintings at Sotheby’s commented: “Major big cat compositions by Stubbs very rarely appear at auction. Having only passed through two careful owners since it was painted, this work is in perfect condition, down to the delicate whiskers of the leopards, which is exceptionally rare for a work of this date. Never has the art market been so global and the universal beauty of Stubbs’s animals appeals today to an ever-growing array of collectors across the world. We therefore very much look forward to exhibiting this extraordinary work in Hong Kong, Moscow, New York and London in the three months leading up to the sale”.