On Tuesday Christie's held its London Impressionist Modern evening art sale. The numbers keep rolling at the major sales, with a total of $113 million. The sale offered 50 lots with 42 selling for a sell-through rate of 84% and sold a decent 92% by value. The results were considered mixed, but the sale did not have any block-buster pieces, so I think the results were considered good but not exceptional. The top-selling lot was a Claude Monet, selling for $17 million against a pre-sale estimate of $9.43 million to $14.12 million.
Reuters reported on the sale
Source: ReutersChristie's kept the international art auction caravan rolling with an impressionist and modern art sale that brought in $113 million (£71.88 million) on Tuesday.
A Claude Monet study of mauve irises swaying against a pale blue sky in his Giverny garden was the star lot at $17 million. A 1969 Pablo Picasso head, with all the startling vigour of his old age, came in next at $7 million.
Jay Vincze, international director and head of department, said the results showed the super rich were still keen to buy art after two weeks of sales in New York in May brought in well over $2 billion at Christie's and rival Sotheby's.
Buyers routinely remained anonymous but Vincze said they came from across 32 countries, with Asia still strong and combining with interest from Russia and the United States.
"We saw good strong American buying in February (in London) and that was reflected again tonight," he told Reuters after the evening sale.
Sotheby's (BID.N) holds its equivalent London impressionist and modern evening sale on Wednesday.
Christie's, founded in 1766 and now owned by French retail magnate Francois Pinault's holding company Artemis SA, had global auction and private sales in 2014 that totalled $8.4 billion, its highest ever.
At the New York sale in May, Christie's scored a new record for history's top auction price with Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')," which fetched $179.4 million.
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