Results: Sotheby's NY Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale

Sotheby's held its NY Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale on Tuesday evening. The sale offered artworks by Picasso, Jawlensky and Gauguin, and totaled $170.5 million, including buyers premiums. 59 lots were offered and 44 sold for a 74.6 sell through rate. The sale sold 84.8% by value.

The top selling lot was Picasso's Femmes lisant (Deux personnages),1934, which sold for $21.36 million including buyers premium (see image). The lot sold for several million below its presale low estimate of $25 ($35 million was the high estimate). Of the top ten selling lots, 3 sold below the low estimate, 4 sold within the estimates and three were above the high estimate.

From the released results and from other reviews of the sale, I believe it was considered more of a neutral sale, with the final hammer prices and totals not being terribly strong or weak. I will post more on the NY sales as results become available.

Sotehby's stated about the sale

“This evening’s sale saw solid bidding activity from around the world, both in the room and on the phones,” said Simon Shaw, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department in New York. “Pablo Picasso was our dominant artist tonight. We sold a fabulous selection of eight works spanning his career which was led by our cover lot, an exceptional image of Marie-Thérèse Walter and her sister reading that sold for more than $21 million. Another high point of the night was the Jawlensky, a prime work by the artist and the finest we have seen since we achieved the world record in 2008.”

“What unified the top-selling lots in tonight’s sale was great visual presence and vibrant color,” continued David Norman, Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department Worldwide. “As always, fair and conservative estimates really whet the appetite and increase bidding. The results demonstrate demand across all of the different categories represented. Surrealism did wonderfully, as we saw with the record-breaking price achieved by the Delvaux, and the strong prices brought for both Dalí and Magritte. Impressionist works held up well, with the Monet selling for nearly $6.3 million–twice the price it brought in 2004. Sculpture also performed well, as did the spectacular Expressionist artist Jawlensky.”