Sotheby’s is very happy with their sale of tonight’s Miró trophy:

A new benchmark has just been set in Sotheby’s London saleroom. Moments ago, Joan Miró’s Peinture (Étoile Bleue) – a painting from 1927 that the artist identified as absolutely key to his oeuvre – sold for the record price of £23,561,250 /$36,946,396  /  €29,260,764. The work was contested  by four determined bidders who together pursued the painting to its final price in dramatic increments to a sum that outstrips the previous record* for Miró by a wide margin (*£16.8 million, established just four months ago in London) and represents a figure almost triple the price achieved when the same work sold at auction in 2007 (€11,59 million / £8.35 million).

Artinfo’s Judd Tully tells us a little more about the painting’s sale’s history and underbidders:

The star Miro last sold to the Nahmad gallery at Aguttes, the Paris auction house, in December 2007 when it made €11,586,520 (est. €5-7 million), beating out underbidders Giraud Pissarro Segalot. It is believed the painting changed hands since then, before it almost tripled in value. The Miro, which earlier this year was exhibited in the Pace Gallery‘s “Mythology” show in New York, also carried a third-party guarantee.

The Market Hits a Queasy Patch . . . (Artinfo)