Impressionist & Modern

Christie’s Improves Its Imp-Mod Category Performance

June 21, 2018 by Marion Maneker

This look at the last 12 years of Christie’s June Impressionist and Modern Evening sale performance is available to AMMpro subscribers. Subscribers get the first month free on monthly subscriptions. Feel free to cancel at any time before the month is up. Sign up for AMMpro here.

Christie’s had a stronger sale than Sotheby’s but both events showed that the market for Impressionist and Modern art may have been affected by the tidal pull of the massive Rockefeller sale which featured a full sales season’s worth of Impressionist and Modern art just a month before these auctions.

For many years, Christie’s was the weaker player in the Impressionist and Modern market with results not unlike those seen at Sotheby’s the night before. These last two June sales cycles were quite different and echo the strong years of 2010 and 2011 when Impressionist and Modern art was seen as a long-term store of value.Continue Reading

Christie’s NY Imp-Mod Eve = $289.2m

May 15, 2017 by Marion Maneker

Christie’s had a solid sale tonight. Here’s the release from Christie’s:

The top lots of the sale were Constantin Brancusi’s (1876-1957) La muse endormie which sold for a world auction record price of $57,367,500 to client in the room after 9 minutes of bidding and Pablo Picasso’s (1881-1973), Femme assise, robe bleue which realized $45,047,500.

Exceptional collections realized strong results:

PROPERTY FROM CLEVELAND CLINIC GENEROUSLY DONATED BY MRS. SYDELL MILLER – $55.7 million and will continue in our Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale, led by Picasso’s Femme assise dans un fauteuil, $30,487,500

PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF HUNT HENDERSON, NEW ORLEANS – $30.5 million and will continue in our Impressionst and Modern Works on Paper Sale as well as our American Paintings Sale

Sotheby’s to Sell Picasso from Paris During the War

February 10, 2017 by Marion Maneker

Picasso, Tomato Plant

Sotheby’s has a big sale brewing in London this Winter. The auction house announced a £35m Klimt to follow up on the private sales of the artist’s work. There are also a £10-15m Modigliani, £7-10m Gauguin and four Picassos in the sale. One of the Picassos is this painting of a tomato plant that carries a £10-15m estimate.

Here’s how the auction house described the painting:Continue Reading

Sotheby’s Paris Impressionist & Modern = €23.78m

June 5, 2014 by Marion Maneker

Bloomberg was very excited about the idea of a Modigliani selling in Paris judging by this video. And they were mostly right as the portrait of Paul Alexandre sold for €13m. There a few other nice bids in the sale: