Impressionist/Modern Art Sale - $160.9 Million At Christie's

NEW YORK CITY

:Christie's November 1 sale of Impressionist and Modern art totaled $160,931,200, the highest total for a various owners Impressionist and Modern art evening sale at the firm since May 1990. The sale was 90 percent sold by value and 92 percent by lot with 82 percent of the lots selling within or above their estimated value. Buyers were 38 percent American, 47 percent European, 10 percent Asian and 5 percent other; four world auction records were set.

"The sale was a triumph," commented Christopher Burge, honorary chairman of Christie's and the evening's auctioneer. "One extraordinary price after another was set. The market is hungry for spectacular Impressionist works as the smashing results for paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne and Monet indicate The sale was a shot in the arm for the Impressionist market."

Property from a private American collection, a group of paintings and sculpture chosen over the course of just a few years, realized $41,566,400 and was 77 percent sold. The ensemble included the most eye-catching painting of the season, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's "La Blanchisseuse," which was offered with a presale estimate of $20/25 million. Recently returned from the Chicago exhibit "Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre," where "La Blanchisseuse" took center stage, it again became a focal point when it was acquired by an anonymous buyer at the sale for $22,416,000, setting a new world auction record for the artist.

One of the evening's most iconic images was Claude Monet's "Nymphéas," painted in 1907. Few artists have interlaced their image so much with one theme, and the present painting shows an exquisite rendering of the mysterious flowers that Monet turned into his hallmark. The painting realized $14,016,000, against a presale estimate of $10/15 million.

Cézanne's still lifes have long been counted among the artist's greatest achievements, and "Pommes et Gâteaux" was a splendid example of the master's genius and a very obvious favorite of the sale's audience. The painting effortlessly swept past its conservative $3.5/4.5 million presale estimate, and was acquired in the room for $10.32 million.

Property from a distinguished private collection offered Miró's "Le soleil rouge ronge l'araignée," a work he painted in 1948, after an eight-month stay in the United States. The work is a major statement of Miró's mature style and it was recognized as such, realizing $7,744,000.

The sale also offered property from two private collections. Property from the collection of Lee V. Eastman totaled $16,475,200, was 100 percent sold and included as highlights Alberto Giacometti's "Buste de Diego" ($3.6 million); "Grand nu accroupi (Olga)," a bronze by Matisse ($1,472,000); and Picasso's "Buste de Femme," ($6,736,000).

The second collection, property from the collection of Edward R. Broida, achieved $8,384,000 and was led by Brancusi's "Le Baiser," a sculpture that reflected everything Brancusi wished to convey - a sense of immediacy and authenticity as well as a taste for the "primitive," achieved through its sharply stylized simplification of form. This fabulously tender statue was sold for $3.6 million. Other Broida highlights in the sale were Henri Laurens' "Le Matin," which sold for $1,472,000, and Jean Arp's "Sculpture de silence, Corneille" which also realized $1,472,000, both setting new world auction records for the artist.

The other world auction record set in this sale was for Théo van Rysselberghe's "Port de Cette, les tartanes," 1892, which sold for $3,152,000.

Further highlights of the evening were Picasso's "Sylvette au fauteuil vert" ($8,080,000); Modigliani's portrait, "Moïse Kisling seduto" ($5,616,000); Picasso's formidable "Buveuse accoudée" ($6,288,000); and Fernand Léger's "Esquisse pour 'Le Grand Dejeuner,'" ($4,832,000).

Prices reported include buyer's premium. For information, 212-636-2000 or www.Christies.com..