Christie's London Evening Auctions of the Impressionist and Modern Art Realise $213.4M

Christie's London Evening Auctions of the Impressionist and Modern Art Realise $213.4M

New and Established Buyers from 19 Countries Result in

The Most Valuable February Evening Sale of the Category at Christie’s London

5 Artist Records - Led by Berthe Morisot’s Portrait which set a

New Record Price for a Female Artist at Auction

London – The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale and the auction of The Art of the Surreal took place on the evening of 6 February at Christie’s London, realising £136,462,100/ $213,426,725/ €157,340,801 and selling 89% by lot and 94% by value. The auctions had a combined pre-sale estimate of £89.8 million to £132.8 million. The top price was paid for Jeanne Hébuterne (au chapeau), 1919, by Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) which sold for £26,921,250/ $42,104,835/ €31,040,201 (estimate: £16-22 million,pictured right). In total, 32 works of art sold for over £1 million / 42 for over $1 million, and five artist records were set: led by Berthe Morisot’s portrait which set a new record price for a female artist at auction; a record for a sculpture by René Magritte; and records for a work by Alberto Magnelli, Kay Sage and Óscar Domínguez.

Jay Vincze, International Director and Head of The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, Christie’s London: “We were very pleased with the strength and depth of bidding tonight which drove this evening’s auction to achieve both the highest total for a February evening sale at Christie’s London, and our highest sell through rate for an evening sale in this category in London. The global teamwork of our Impressionist and Modern team, coupled with the international nature of buyers participating in tonight’s sale, ensured that the auction drew interest and bidding from around the world. We were very pleased to achieve five new record prices at auction including for Berthe Morisot, whose portrait set an auction record for a work of art by a female artist sold at auction.”

Olivier Camu, Deputy Chairman, Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s:“Having held the inaugural standalone Dada and Surrealism sale in 1989 and established the first annual Art of the Surreal Sale in 2001, we are very proud that this pioneering movement of 20^th century art now commands truly international attention, with our February sales eagerly awaited by collectors around the globe and across other collecting fields from Old Masters through to Contemporary art. This sale was the largest and strongest offering of Surrealist art ever offered at auction and the volume of bids reflected the enthusiasm for this sale format which is encouraging for the market and greatly rewarding for Christie’s. All 9 of the works by Magritte sold, with a new record set for a sculpture by the artist, beating the previous record set at Christie’s in 2009; the price for this work and Miró’s sculpture, which almost equalled the current record, highlights the strength of demand for sculptures in the field of Impressionist and Modern Art." 

The top price at the auction was paid for Jeanne Hébuterne (au chapeau), 1919, byAmedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) which sold for £26,921,250/ $42,104,835/ €31,040,201 (estimate: £16-22 million). One of the acclaimed elegant and lyrical portraits that the artist created of his muse and lover, this work has exceptional provenance having passed through the hands of several important dealers and collectors, beginning with Léopold Zborowski; it subsequently hung in the bedroom in dealer Paul Guillaume's apartment and was included in a 1929 exhibition of his collection. It was later acquired by the Belgian collector Henri Belien, who owned a number of works by Modigliani and other artists of the time. It is a tribute to the quality of this painting that it was included in the small posthumous retrospective of Modigliani’s works held at the XIII Biennale in Venice in 1922, the first such show to take place in his home country. Modigliani created relatively few paintings during his short life – during which he was increasingly accepted as a pioneer in the world of modern art - and, in comparison with those of his counterparts, his works rarely come to the market.

Further leading highlights of the sale:

• Painted during the height of Impressionism, L'ombrelle, 1878, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) realised £9,673,250/ $15,128,963/ €11,153,257 (estimate: £4-7million). Offered for the first time in almost 25 years, L'ombrelle has excellent provenance, having been owned by Erwin Davis, one of the earliest American collectors of Impressionism, who lived in New York and donated two of Edouard Manet’s pictures to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as early as 1889. It was subsequently owned by the Boston collector and philanthropist, Robert Treate Paine II, who bequeathed many significant works to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
• Nu accroupi, 1960, by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) realised £7,321,250/ $11,450,435/ €8,441,401 (estimate: £3-5million). During the course of 1960, when Pablo Picasso was staying increasingly at Château de Vauvenargues, he painted a succession of pictures which explored the theme of the female nude. Painted on 14 February 1960 – Valentine’s Day – Picasso’s diagram-like rendering of the profile, shown with the pared-back, cubistic triangle of the nose and the curves of chin and lips facing the opposite direction, relates this picture to the portraits that Picasso painted of Jacqueline Roque, the woman whom he would marry the following year. It was offered from the property of a private American collection.
• Aprés le déjeuner, 1881 by Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) realised £6,985,250⁄ $10,924,931⁄ €8,053,993, becoming the most valuable work of art by a female artist sold at auction (estimate: £1.5-2.5million). Offered for the first time in 15 years, this is an historic painting by Morisot, considered by many of her contemporaries to be 'l'impressioniste par excellence.' 
• Murnau - Ansicht mit Burg, Kirche und Eisenbahn, 1909, by Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)realised £6,761,250/ $10,574,595/ €7,795,721 (estimate: £5-7 million). The landscapes that Kandinsky painted in Murnau between 1908 and 1909 reflect the first full flowering of his art and mark the beginning of the artist’s epic pioneering journey into abstraction. This work epitomises the way that he magnified and intensified colour to the point where it begins to float freely and operate as a dynamic, abstract and interactive pictorial entity on the painting’s surface. 
• Femme (Femme debout) by Joan Miró (1893-1983) realised £6,313,250/ $9,873,923/ €7,279,177 (estimate: £3-5million).  Miró’s sculptures were the crowning achievement of his late career. This monumental work is a powerful celebration of fecundity, primal instincts and the creation of life. Conceived in 1969, it has not been seen in public for over two decades, having been in a private New York Collection for over 30 years.
• Le plagiat (Plagiary), 1940, by René Magritte(1898-1967) realised £5,193,250/ $8,122,243/ €5,987,817 (estimate: £2-3 million). Never before offered at auction, this work had been in a private Belgian collection since it was painted. This is an incredibly rare work as while many of Magritte’s motifs were revisited in a string of pictures, he created only one other oil painting titled Le plagiat, in 1942 in a vertical format.
• Le peintre, 1967, by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) realised £3,513,250/ $5,494,723/ €4,050,777, having been offered for the first time in four decades from the property of a private collector (estimate: £2.5-4.5 million). This work is an allegory of the artist, through which he looks at the continuing influence of Velázquez and Rembrandt who was obsessed with the depiction of self; Picasso picks up on this and makes the subject his own, resulting in a very powerful painting of a bearded and ruffed figure working at his easel.
• Arbres à la maison bleue, 1906, by Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) realised £3,401,250/ $5,319,555/ €3,921,641 (estimate: £2-3 million). Vlaminck painted this work when the Fauvism which he had helped to pioneer was at its apogee. It was only the previous year that he had exhibited his bold, colouristic works at the Salon d'Automne, causing extreme reactions in viewers ranging from rage to fascination.
• Dating from near the beginning of the artist’s time in Nice, Jeune fille à la moresque, robe verte,1921, by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) realised £3,065,250/ $4,794,051/ €3,534,233 (estimate: £2.5-3.5 million). This picture occupies a seminal place within Matisse’s oeuvre, having featured in a number of important collections over the years, including those of Marcel Kapferer, Lillie P. Bliss and Ralph F.Colin among others.

For more information on this or Telluride area luxury real estate, please contact Telluride Real Estate Corp., Christie's exclusive affiliate in Telluride, Colorado, at 970-728-3111, info@telluriderealestatecorp.com or visit www.telluriderealestatecorp.com.