A record was set for French artist Chaim Soutine on Wednesday at Christie's auction of Impressionist and modern art, which met expectations with a total of just under $160 million.
The tightly edited sale of 47 works exceeded Christie's auction a year ago by more than $40 million, but the earlier evening featured only 31 lots. Still, an impressive 94 percent of the works on offer found buyers which officials said was its best sell-through rate since 2006.
"We saw high demand for blue-chip names such as Picasso and Monet," said Brooke Lampley, Christie's New York head of Impressionist and modern art.
"But we also saw an educated marketplace for rarities like the Soutine and Chagall," she added, referring to the evening's two top-priced works.
Officials also pointed to global presence, saying more than 30 countries participated in the auction which totaled $158.5 million, near the middle of expectations of about $130 million to $190 million.
Soutine's circa 1927 oil "Le petit patissier" as expected achieved the sale's highest price of $18,043,750 including commission, breaking the artist's auction record. But the price was near the low end of the $16 million to $22 million pre-sale estimate.
Another highly touted work, Andre Derain's avant-garde portrait "Madame Matisse au kimono," was the sale's one major casualty. Estimated to sell for $15 million to $20 million, it went unsold when officials said initial strong interest in the work fell off at the 11th hour.
Other highlights included Chagall's "Les trois acrobats," which soared past its estimate of $6 million to $9 million to fetch $13 million, and Egon Schiele's "Selbstbildnis mit Modell (Fragment)," which nearly doubled its estimate and sold for $11.3 million.
Modigliani's "La Juive" was only estimated at $2 million to $3 million but sold for more than $6.8 million. Miro's "Peinture" fell short of its $10 million to $15 million estimate (estimates do not include commission of about 12 percent), selling for just under $11 million.
The auctions continue next week when both Christie's and rival Sotheby's hold their sales of post-war and contemporary art.
