newsfromchristies201102

Strong results in these last two evenings at Sotheby's and Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art auction's demonstrated a solid market for both classic impressionism and the masterpieces of the avant-garde.

A new auction record was achieved at Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale on yesterday's auction. Christie's realise £84,879,800 / US$136,316,959 / €99,903,525 (the sales had a pre-sale estimate of £72,580,000 to £107,060,000) of total revenue. Whereas last year sales total results - £76,834,650 - were on the same level as this year for the two auctions held on the same evening sale (The Art of the Surreal and Impressionist and Modern Art).

"Terrasse à Vernon by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), which realized £7,209,250 / $11,578,056 / €8,485,287", set a new world record price for the artist at auction and was the top price at the auction. "A masterclass in colourist painting executed in 1923, it was one of only 3 works that Bonnard selected to be exhibited at the Salon d’Automne that year where it was very well received. Acquired by the family of the vendor in 1935, it had since passed by descent and was offered at auction for the first time with a pre-sale estimate of £3 million to £4 million."

While at The Art of the Surreal evening sale, "Etude pour `Le miel est plus doux que le sang’", 1926-27, a landmark work and one of the first Surreal paintings executed by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), realized £4,073,250 / $6,541,640 / €4,794,215", and set a new world record price for the artist at auction (estimate: £2 million to £3 million). Both works were bought by anonymous collectors.

Auction data:
_ Sold by lot 79%
_ Sold by value 84%
_ Of the 76 lots offered, 60 sold (16 unsold)
_ Over 93% of the sold lots last evening achieved prices at or above their estimate
_ 3 works sold for over £5 million, 23 sold for over £1 million