Cezanne
self-portrait.
Rare
Cézanne Self-Portrait Sells for $17.4 Million
NEW YORK CITY -- A rare and compelling self-portrait by Paul
Cézanne that had not been on public view for more than 65 years
fetched $17,367,500 at Christie's evening sale of Impressionist
and Modern art at Rockefeller Center on May 7. The auction,
offering 31 lots -- 25 of which sold establishing an 81 percent
sold rate -- totaled an impressive $59,737,900.
Leading the auction was the penultimate self-portrait made by
Cézanne, the only one of its kind ever to appear at auction. The
painting sold to Stephen A. Wynn, the casino owner and art
collector, who bought the painting personally to be publicly
displayed in the Wynn Collection in Las Vegas. It will be hung
next to the Cézanne still life painted the same year.
"Nature Morte a l'estampe japonaise," Paul Gauguin, $3,143,500.
Eleven works of art achieved prices of more than $1 million in
the sale, with 21 of the 25 lots selling above or within their
presale estimates. Successful buyers were broken down regionally
with the auction house reporting that 60 percent of the lots were
sold to US clients, 24 percent to European buyers, 4 percent to
Asian buyers and 12 percent elsewhere.
"The bidding was aggressive for some lots and very solid
throughout the evening," said Christopher Burge, honorary
chairman of Christie's Americas and the evening's auctioneer.
"The strong percentages achieved demonstrate that the sale, while
relatively small, was of very good quality and tailored to the
current market."
The second highest price of the evening was $10,311,500 fetched
by Edgar Degas's "Petite danseuse de quatorze ans," one of the
most innovative and important sculptures of the modern age. Other
sculptures that sold well included Alberto Giacometti's "Homme
qui marche III," selling at $4,039,500, and Henry Moore's "Mother
and Child with Apple" which realized $1,687,500.
"Homme qui marche III," Alberto Giacometti, $4,039,500.
"Composition in White, Blue, and Yellow":C, an exceptional
example of Piet Mondrian's work from the mid-1930s and the only
significant work by Mondrian to be offered at auction in more
than ten years, was the second highest selling painting of the
evening, fetching $8,071,500.
Paul Gauguin's "Nature Morte à l'estampe japonaise," an
overt homage to Cézanne and an early indication of Gauguin's
interest in Japanese prints, realized $3,143,500. It is one of
only three or four still lifes that Gauguin made during a
ten-week stay in Paris following his return from Martinique,
which endows it with a special importance in Gauguin's oeuvre.
Among the top ten lots were two canvases by Gustave Caillebotte.
"La rue Halévy, vu d'un balcon," an excellent example of
Caillebotte's sophisticated style of urban Impressionism,
realized $1,407,500. "Gâteaux," a still life of pies and pastries
in the window of a Parisian patisserie and one of only a handful
of works in oil in which the artist employed a daring
compositional format, sold for $1,351,500.
Joan Miró's "Peinture," a Surrealist landscape from the renowned
Seagram Collection, fetched $847,500 against a pre-sale estimate
of $400/600,000.
Prices include the buyer's premium.
