Top Lot: Monet, “Le Pont du Chemin de fer à Argenteuil,” 1873, $41.48 million
Last November’s anemic results at Sotheby’s evening Impressionist/modern sale in New York did little to dampen the art market’s overall ebullience. So I won’t go so far as to say that Christie’s lackluster performance tonight signals a market correction.
But even though it gave itself an exceptionally wide spread for its total presale estimate—$287-405 million—it failed to hit the target, achieving a hammer total of just $246 million ($277.28 million with buyer’s premium). Some 14 of the evening’s 58 works failed to sell: Two “vans” were among the vanquished—a racy Van Dongen of a gypsy dancer, estimated at $12-16 million, and a van Gogh landscape from 1887 that the auctioneers had thought would bring $13-16 million.
The sale was 82% sold by value, 76% by lot. Europeans enjoyed their currency advantage, taking home 52% of the sold lots, compared to only 32% for the dollar-disadvantaged Americans.
The big work of the evening, Monet‘s “Le Pont du Chemin de fer à Argenteuil,” 1873, achieved a hammer price of $37 million, against an estimate of $35-40 million. Its $41.48 million total price (with buyer’s premium) set an auction record for the artist. Auction records were also set for Rodin, Giacometti and Miró.
Only four of the unsold works bore guarantees (undisclosed prices that Christie’s and/or third-party guarantors agreed to pay the owner, even if the works did not sell). The priciest of those was the van Dongen. The record-setting Monet had also been guaranteed.
For the full list of results, go here. Works that have “Estimate” (rather than “Price Realized”) in the righthand column are the ones that failed to sell.
Another fizzle: Apparently the Wall Street Journal‘s “On the Block” is not going to weigh in “from the auction floor and updating this blog with the latest sales and
sightings during and after the evening auctions,” as it had promised on its website and as I reported earlier today. They removed that online phraseology, and they have posted nothing about tonight’s results at this writing.
So I’ve broken my promise too, blogging tonight when I said I wasn’t going to (although I did not actually attend the sale).
If it manages to turn in a better performance tomorrow, Sotheby’s has a chance to improve its competitive standing.