[intro]Art Institute of Chicago Makes $16m De-Accessioning[/intro]

[intro]Buyers: 23% UK, 49% Europe, 23% Americas and 5% Asia[/intro]

Christie’s sold nearly £85m of art this evening with 60 of the 76 lots on offer finding buyers for a dollar total of $136,316,959.

The Gauguin still life of sunflowers meant as a tribute to van Gogh failed without much fanfare. Numerous other lots were hammered down without reaching the low estimates. That was bad news but hardly a serious drawback on the good news.

• The auction offered 4 works from the Art Institute of Chicago which realized a total of £10,043,400 / $16,129,702 / €11,821,081 led by Sur l’impériale traversant la Seine, an early painting executed in Paris by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) in 1901 which sold for £4,857,250 / $7,800,744 / €5,716,983 (estimate: £2 million to £3 million). Nature morte à la guitare (rideaux rouge), 1938, by Georges Braque (1882-1963) realized £3,961,250 / $6,361,768 / €4,662,391 (estimate: £3.5 million to £5.5 million); Femme au fauteuil, 1919, a striking portrait by Henri Matisse, sold for £791,650 / $1,271,390 / €931,772 (estimate: £1 million to £1.5 million); and Verre et pipe, 1919, a cubist jewel by Pablo Picasso, realized £433,250 / $695,800 / €509,935 (estimate: £450,000 to £650,000).
• L’aimant (The Magnet) by René Magritte (1898-1967), a monumental canvas painted in 1941, sold for £4,745,250 / $7,620,872 / €5,585,159 (estimate: £3.5 million to £5.5 million).
• Etude pour `Le miel est plus doux que le sang’, 1926-27, a landmark work and one of the first Surreal paintings executed by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), realized £4,073,250 / $6,541,640 / €4,794,215, a world record price for the artist at auction (estimate: £2 million to £3 million).

• Etude pour `Le miel est plus doux que le sang’, 1926-27, a landmark work and one of the first Surreal paintings executed by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), realized £4,073,250 / $6,541,640 / €4,794,215, a world record price for the artist at auction (estimate: £2 million to £3 million).