The sale of 19th Century and Impressionist paintings from the collection Rouart in Paris proved really successful on November 27th at Drouot Montaigne with many lots sold well above high estimates.
A painting by Paul Gauguin, landscape with horses dated 1901, sold for 24 millions FF (US $ 4 millions) while a 1882 pastel by Degas showing ballerinas behind the scene went for 25 millions francs (US $ 4,18 million) against a pre-sale estimate of 10 millions. Several works by Berthe Morisot,
a close friend of Edouard Manet, were sold above one million francs...
Paul Gauguin "Landscape with horses" Julien Rouart, son of Ernest Rouart and Julie Manet, had an important collection of paintings and such provenance was enough to attract collectors, notably Americans, from all over the world. The collection went to his widow and was sold to the benefit of a Paris orphanage. A stencil portrait of Manet by Edgar Degas was sold to the French State for 1,2 million FF (US $ 200,000), under its
1,5 million estimate, the reason being that it had not been allowed to leave the country. Paris has been booming regarding good works recently notably with Pierre Paul Prud'hon, a romantic artist, whose stencil study of a seated naked woman fetched 2,5 millions FF (US $ 620,000) against a pre-sale estimate of 800,000 FF while a 16th Century German drawing of Saint Augustine washing the feet of Christ sold surprisingly for 630,000 FF (US $108,000) well above a modest 10,000 FF pre-sale estimate.
The drawing went to an excited German collector whereas
a drawing by Géricault, a well-rated French artist of the beginning of the 19th Century, showing a procession and
a study of a seated man on its verso, fetched 1,4 million FF
(US $ 235,000) against a pre-sale estimate of 300,000 FF.
In another auction at Drouot, a painting by Berthe Morisot, in the Garden, 1894, went to a British buyer for 3 million FF
(US $ 505,000) against a top pre-sale estimate of 1 million and the study of a ballet dancer by Degas sold for 1,7 million
(US $ 300,000). At the same sale a painting of American painter Julius Stewart, the Viscount Lepic visiting the 1888 Salon, estimated a mere 20,000 FF was bought by an American amateur for 480,000 FF (US $ 82,000).
All these results prove that biddings can reach stupefying heights when works of good quality are ofered for sale.
Another indication about such high prices is a renewed interest in good paintings shown by investors who are more and more cautious about the present stock exchange unrest in Asia which might affect other countries.
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