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The London auction scene appeared calm during the first six months of 1998 until a medieval manuscript was sold for over
£ 3 million (US $ 5 million) a few days before a major Sotheby's sale of Impressionist and modern paintings on June 30th which produced impressive results, notably for Claude Monet's water garden painted in 1900 sold at a record £ 18 million (US $ 30 million).
The Monet, bought for £ 4,500 (US $ 7,500) at Sotheby's in 1954 and estimated between £ 4 million and 6 million, was purchased by a private collector after hectic bidding.
Such price meant good omen for the art market which remains strong and unaffected by those speculative moves which rocked it seven years ago.
Overall, the Sotheby's sale produced £ 37,6 million
(US $ 62,66 million) with 85% of lots sold.
The portrait of Henrik Ibsen by Norvegian master Edvard Munch, an oil on canvas, 72 x 100.6 cm, sold for £ 1,7 million
(US $ 2,833 million) against a £ 500,000/700,000 estimate.
Gauguin's gouache on paper of a girl cow-keeper, a work of the Pont-Aven period (1889) fetched £ 551,500 (US $ 925,500) just over the low pre-sale estimate. It was bought by Paris dealer Daniel Malingue.
A rare still live ( oil, pencil and sandpaper on sculpted wood relief) by Russian artist Alexander Archipenko, 44 x 48 cm, painted in 1915, went for £ 584,500 (US $ 976,100) against a pre - sale estimate of £ 200,000/300,000. Archipenko produced almost 40 sculpto-paintings between 1914 and 1920 of which only half are known to exist.
A pastel by Edgar Degas, young women dancers preparing behind the stage, 64.8 x 49.9 cm, sold for £ 2,4 million
(US $ 4 million) just under the low estimate while a portrait of Baranowski, a Polish emigré living in Paris, by Amedeo Modigliani (112 x 56 cm) went for £ 4,2 million (US $ 7 million) in accordance with the low estimate.
Sotheby's fared better than Christie's, the newly-owned French firm which organised its sale of Impressionist and Modern paintings on June 24th and 25th. A Painting by Monet,
«Promenade in Argenteuil» fetched £ 3 million (US $ 5 million) while three women dancers by Degas sold for £ 1,4 million (US $ 2,33 million).
Overall, the two-day sale produced £ 17,5 million (US $ 29,166 million) with however 50% of lots sold.
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