Sales of Impressionist and modern paintings did not fare well in London in December 1996 with 40% of lots remaining unsold. The reason for this poor score was that the pictures offered for sale were of average quality. On December 2nd, Christie's sold 36 lots out of 60 with a global turnover of £ 12,67 million (US $ 20,20 million) while Sotheby's recorded a total of £ 13,55 million (US $ 21,9 million) for 29 lots sold out of 54. At Christie's, a pastel by Degas showing three ballet dancers sold for £ 2 million, some £ 1 million under the high estimate, while a painting by Fernand Léger, «Man with a pipe», went for £ 750,000 (estimate £ 800,000- 1,2 million). The best score was for a painting called «Simultaneity of centrifugal and centripetal groups », a masterpiece of the Italian futurist school which reached £ 1,7 million against an estimate of £ 1 million-1,5 million). Results for sales of contemporary works were even more disappointing in Paris, notably on November 29th, 1996 at Drouot with most prices below estimates. However, a gouache on paper by Bram Van Velde went for 480,000 francs ($ 87,500) (estimate : 300,000 francs) while an oil painting on paper by Willem de Kooning fetched 620,000 FF ($ 115,000) against an estimate of 300,000-400,000 francs). Otherwise most lots went at 20% under low estimates.
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