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 "Le Printemps," an oil painting owned by the same family for
a century, had been estimated to sell for as much as $35
million, but half a dozen bidders competing for the work, most
of them via telephone, helped drive up the price.
The sale, including Christie's commission of just over 12
percent, nearly doubled the previous record of $33.2 million for
a Manet, set in 2010 by "Self Portrait with a Palette."
The strong results were a testament to "the widespread interest
in Impressionist and modern art," said Doug Woodham, president
of Christie's Americas.
For a second consecutive night, collectors of increasingly rare
Impressionist and modern trophy works spent heavily.
The auction was a far more modest affair than Tuesday's record
sale at rival Sotheby's, which saw the highest auction total in
its 270-year history, but managed to beat even the high pre-sale
estimate of $157 million.
Christie's officials worked to keep estimates conservative, and
the strategy paid off handsomely as more than half the offerings
exceeded the high estimate. Four of 39 went unsold.
"The sale was overwhelmingly well-priced and tailored to today's
tastes," said Brooke Lampley, head of Impressionist and modern
art. "We had participation from every part of the world," she
added, with strong representation from the United States, Europe
and Asia. Four of the evening's 10 highest-priced works were
bought by clients from Britain.
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Among other highlights, Alberto Giacometti's "Stele III" sculpture
fetched $9.9 million, well above the high estimate of $6.5 million,
while Joan Miro's "Tuilerie a Mont-roig" sold for $8.7 million,
against an estimate of $5 million to $8 million.
The lone significant casualty was Fernand Leger's "Les constructeurs
avec arbre," which had been estimated to sell for $16 million to $22
million, but went unsold.
The fall auctions continue next week, when Sotheby's and Christie's
hold their sales of post-war and contemporary art, a category marked
by spiking prices which for years has eclipsed
the once-dominant Impressionist and modern arena.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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