Tonight’s Impressionist/Modern sale at Christie’s was brisk, thanks to the no-nonsense auctioneer, Adrien Meyer, but bidding-war fireworks came only once, for a snowstorm (Monet’s). Below is my Twitter recap.
Pro Tip: You’ll need to click each image twice to view the full picture.
Monet Water Lilies disappointed at $28m hammer ($30m low est.) Biggest failure: a van Gogh garden scene (without people), unsold at $30m vs est. “in region of $40m” pic.twitter.com/uyUriwNxOw
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 12, 2018
The recent acclaimed Magritte show @SFMOMA https://t.co/Dbg8b7nRTB help him in the auction room. Both Magrittes @ChristiesInc failed to sell. This 1964 bowler-hatted guy, coming up in Feb. @Sothebys London, may have more market appeal: pic.twitter.com/vYYoD42XXV
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 12, 2018
Actually, I meant to say that the SFMOMA show didn’t help Magritte in the auction room. (I inadvertently omitted that word.)
$239.45m hammer total @ChristiesInc fell far short of $304.68m low est., due to several expensive failures, also including Picasso’s Marie-Thérèse portrait, unsold at $14m vs $15m low est. Sale total w/fees: $279.25m. 9 of 61 lots unsold. 85% sold by lot; 79% by value
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 12, 2018
New auction record @ChristiesInc tonight: $9.09m for Tamara de Lempicka’s “Musician” ($7.8m hammer vs $6-8m est.) pic.twitter.com/y7rAfqd2ok
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 12, 2018
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